DUOLINGO: THE LANGUAGE-GAMING CONVERSION

Learning a language made fun and free!

This application combines the tough task of learning a language with a game. It becomes addictive because not only do you level up at certain times; you also earn points that unlock bonus rounds. The neat thing about this program is that it is not only a website, but also exists in application form for iOS and Android, making it easy to learn on the go!

How it all began

In 2009 the creator of reCAPTCHA, Luis von Ahn, came up with the idea to launch a game that combined teaching its users a foreign language and classic gamification. In 2012, with the help of co-founder Severin Hacker, the language-learning platform was launched.

Much like his first creation, the native Guatemalan wanted to ensure that there was also a purpose behind the game; Duolingo helps translate simple phrases in documents.

“By using technology and a little bit of fun, you can harness tiny bits of time and energy from people all around the world and make them collectively useful” (Business Insider, 2014).

Clever business plan

Coming from a poor country where people wanted to learn English, but couldn’t seem to afford is, von Ahn vowed to keep Duolingo free for its users. This means that he had to come up with another tactic to keep the program, not only up and running, but also to produce revenue. To do so Duolingo offers the option to practice language skills by “immersion”, which boils down to users translating actual documents on the Web.

This application of crowdfunding principles turns our mindless Internet activities into something productive. The documents come from companies such as CNN and Buzzfeed that pay Duolingo to translate them.

How it works:

• Documents are added to Duolingo for translation
• A user applies for an 'upload account'
• Multiple users work on translating the same document
• Users can then up/down vote translations
• A final translation is sent to the company

“For the users, it's another language-learning tool; for Duolingo, it's a way of generating hundreds of thousands of dollars” (Business Insider, 2014).

Since 2015, Duolingo has shifted gears in their business model and will focus future endeavors on language certification as a revenue source because they didn’t want to turn into a translation business. The platform also boasts over $83.3 million from venture capitalists, private investors and other investment firms that hold a stake in Duolingo (Techcrunch, 2015).

Products

Language Courses

There are 20 languages offered to native English speakers and 9 in development. For non-native English speakers there are a handful of other language courses offered.

Languages are taught through written and oral exercises. When a lesson is completed users earn points, and validate the lesson when they reach 10 points. It is also possible to loose a life if the lesson cannot be completed successfully. Skills are considered “learned” when the user completes all the lessons associated with that skill.

There is also the possibility to unlock bonus skills with lingots (see section about currency). Some of the bonus skills include themes such as ‘Flirting’, ‘Idioms’ and ‘Proverbs’.

All data is saved to the program so that Duolingo keeps a record of where users struggle and what sorts of mistakes they make in order to cater more precisely to specific needs and make sure languages stay fresh in the users memory.

Currency

The currency of Duolingo is called a lingot. These are earned by finishing a skill, leveling up, playing for a week straight or by uploading documents to the Immersion section. With your lingots you can buy power-ups, practice or bonus skills, and in the mobile version of the application you van even customize the appearance of the Duolingo mascot, which is by default a green owl.

Test Center

To be recognized as speaking a language one needs to be certified. Most often this certification happens by taking a standardized test. Those tests tend to cost a lot of money.

So what did Duolingo do? On July 22, 2014 Duolingo Test Center was launched. Making it possible to take the test in the comfort of your own home for the price of $20. The test can be accessed through the website or the mobile application and will be graded within 48 hours.
According to a study conducted by University of Pittsburgh, there is a substantial correlation between the scores on Duolingo Test Center and TOEFL iBT.

“34 hours on Duolingo teaches the equivalent of one semester of a college language course” (von Ahn).

This makes it clear why this new media form is and will stay free. There are endless alternatives to monetizing this platform. This democratisation of language-learning should be for individual worldwide.

Let’s keep learning fun and free!

An easy way to learn a new language!

Learning new languages develops human beings. It is a kind of a bridge to fantastic opportunities of the 21st century. By knowing a foreign language we can entertain ourselves in much more interesting way. We can read new and fresh media, books, watch films in original languages. It is very helpful and useful to know as much languages as possible for our career too. Every company needs to have at least a few workers who speak different languages. If you know a foreign language you are able to get access to much more information in the internet space, to play an active role in various trainings and also to lead business correspondences. You can meet interesting people. In other words, you open new opportunities for your business development and you get a chance to experience a new culture and heritage. Do not forget about travelling! Any foreign language will help to: buy food or book a table in a restaurant, find your way or some place, buy tickets, and again to meet and communicate with new different people.

There are traditionally several methods of learning foreign languages. Among the most well-known is the teacher-student method where there is a lecturer teaching one person or a group of people. Today due to new technologies and mainly the Internet we can witness the rise of new methods and approaches. Not so long ago a professor of psychology at Loyola University in Chicago has developed a so-called Community leanguage learning (CLL) method.[1] Generally the idea of CLL is that students (those who want to learn a new language) work together during the whole process of learning. They decide together which part of the language to learn and revise. In CLL the teacher plays a role just of an adviser or a councellor. In other words, the students contribute to language learning of everybody, while the teacher simply observs them and time to time steps into the process and helps if necessary. The most interesting thing about this method is that the students are becoming «co-authors» during the learning process. They work together and finally form a product which all of them benefit from and this expirience could be used by other people too.

There are several companies that provide us with the CLL method of language learning. Some of the most famouse are: Babbel, English Portal, Language Kompis, Penal Parade, Fluent Future, Livemocha, Language for Exchange, and others…

The leader in community language learning is Livemocha (www.livemocha.com). Here what the official site of Livemocha says about itself: «Livemocha is the world’s largest online language learning community, offering free and paid online language courses in 35 languages to more than 9 million members from 195 countries around the world».[2] Already the numbers tell us that Livemocha is really popular among language learners. The following languages are avialable at present: American English, Spanish (Castellano), Persian, French, Hindi, German, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Mandarin, Icelandic, Korean, Arabic, Turkish, Polish, Ukrainian, European Portuguese, Greek, Dutch, Estonian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Finnish, Hungarian, Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Urdu, Catalan, Swedish, Hebrew and Esperanto. And also, it is possible to vote for new languages to be introduced, which makes Livemocha flexible for changes and modernization.

Generally, Livemocha offers grammar instructions, reading comprehension exercises, interactive role playing and both live and asynchronous interaction with other native speakers within the Livemocha community. When learners submit coursework for peer review, native speakers in that language can provide feedback on how that learner is progressing. Users can aid others in learning the languages that they are proficient in while learning other languages themselves.[3] There are usually four types of exercises in each lesson. You first learn new vocabulary by reading and listening to new words. By the way, all recordings are made by the average users as us. After that you are offered to check whether you remember new vocabulary by a short quiz. Then there is usually a writing part where you are working only with those words that you have learned so far. And finally, and here is probably the most interesting thing about Livemocha, there is a talking exercise. You simply have to record yourself reading a few sentences (possibly adding a few words in some places). It is interesting because after you are done with all four exercises a native speaker will check your work.

Also, the Livemocha web-site tells us: «Global interest in language learning is exploding. Trade, immigration and travel are conducted across countries and continents like never before in human history. The result is a powerful desire shared by people around the world to communicate with one another and understand different cultures. Not surprisingly, the size of the language learning market is estimated at a staggering $50 billion USD. In a world hungry for new language skills, and increasing broadband Internet access and VOIP adoption, our mission is to provide a more accessible, affordable, and engaging way to learn a language. Livemocha allows people around the world to help each other with language learning, and provides our community with opportunities to learn and practice new languages together».[4]

The last two paragraphs shows us some of the elements of collective intelligence. I do not think that all CLL method based establishments are part of collective intelligence, but I believe that Livemocha is defenetely one of them. There are almost 10 million users of Livemocha. They all contribute to language learning both in the interests of themselves and in the interests of others. Together they (we) build a huge platform which is avialable for everybody.

I also believe that another concept is used in Livemocha. With the internet growth and the boom of social networking technologies Livemocha is able to take advantage of the Web 2.0 concept of information sharing and collaboration tools, for which users can help other users to learn languages by direct communication or mutual correction of proposed exercises.[5]

Livemocha partly takes after popular social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. It allows its users to create profiles so as to communicate with others on the website. You can edit you profile, add images and add friends, which is again a very useful tool to practice a language.

Livemocha is partly connected to the transmedia storytelling concept. It uses many ways to attract people who search for learning languages. It is fully connectable with Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Youtube, and others… There are many articles about Livemocha written in newspapers, blogs, forums. Also, if you will search on Youtube, you would find many videos both official made by Livemocha's team and also amateur made by its users. The result of such work and such «transmedia storytelling» is that when you search (or simply google) information about language learning then Livemocha is in the top of the list. That means that Livemocha is highly popular and that search engines view Livemocha as a reliable sourche of information.

In addition to that, the official web-site says: «Livemocha is proud to have two of the world’s leading language publishers as partners. With unsurpassed educational publishing expertise, our partners provide Livemocha with world-class language learning content. The first is Pearson Education – the international media company. The second is Collins – the leading brand for bilingual dictionaries in the UK and Europe».[6]

To conclude with, there was a recent scholar research regarding studying new languages. The research has shown that language learning changes the brain density the same way as physical exercises develops your muscles.

I encourage you all to learn new languages bucause due to foreign languages you can easily travel in the ocean of information, opening new continents and islands, meeting and communicating with new people. It is up to you whether you will use Livemocha or something else.

Written by Bulat K.

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[1] Richards, Jack C. (1986:113) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching

[2] http://www.livemocha.com/pages/about

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livemocha

[4] http://www.livemocha.com/pages/about

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_language_learning#cite_note-0

[6] http://www.livemocha.com/pages/about