Duolingo, a United States-based language-learning platform, is intensifying efforts to expand its presence in China by launching specialized updates on courses aimed at Chinese users who want to learn new languages while seeking opportunities for international study and career development.
Xiang Haina, marketing director of Duolingo Asia-Pacific, said that currently, China is one of the fastest-growing international markets for Duolingo, with huge development potential, while its first dialect course — Cantonese for Mandarin speakers — is gaining popularity among Chinese users.
Since entering the Chinese market in 2019, Duolingo established its first international office in Beijing, and has been attaching great importance to the Chinese market.
The Duolingo English Test, or DET, an online self-adaptive English language proficiency exam, could be used as proof of students' English language proficiency for applying to universities overseas, Xiang said, adding the number of DET users is increasing continuously.
"Chinese users have shown a special requirement for language learning. They learn languages mainly for academic and career development, while the purpose of users in many other countries of learning foreign languages is to communicate with others and for travel. That's why we develop higher-level English courses for Chinese users," Xiang said.
The company is optimistic about the long-term prospects in the China market, she said, adding they have seen strong demand among Chinese users toward Cantonese learning, and launched its first dialect course in 2022. So far, the Cantonese course has attracted more than 4 million users in China, ranking third in popularity in the country.
At present, Duolingo offers more than 40 languages by utilizing mini-games to test the reading, listening, writing and speaking skills of users. The app has been downloaded over 500 million times worldwide.
According to its latest financial results, the number of Duolingo's global monthly active users surpassed 100 million in the second quarter, an increase of 40 percent year-on-year, while its daily active users surged 59 percent year-on-year to 34.1 million.
The company announced significant product innovations at its annual conference, Duocon 2024, on Tuesday. These new features — video calls and adventures — demonstrate Duolingo's commitment to leveraging cutting-edge artificial intelligence to enhance the learning experience for millions of users worldwide.
The new video call feature allows Duolingo Max subscribers to engage in spontaneous and realistic conversations with "Lily", one of the company's most popular characters. The company hopes to create new and immersive ways to practice languages and build confidence for learners. This function is currently launched in some overseas markets.
It also emphasized the investment in music education by announcing its partnership with Loog, a leading portable instrument manufacturer, to create a compact and portable electric piano designed for its music courses.
Kevin Yang, head of product for Duolingo China, said the company has witnessed rapid growth in the Chinese market in the past few years, and rolled out some specific updates, such as advanced monolingual English experience for Chinese users, adding that English, Japanese, and Korean language courses are favored by Chinese learners.
The company's revenues are mainly from subscription fees and advertising. In addition, an increasing number of people study Chinese via Duolingo, as over 12.9 million active users learned Chinese on the platform last year and the language is ranked ninth among Duolingo's most popular courses.
Experts said the speedy growth of innovative digital technologies, such as 5G, AI, virtual reality and augmented reality have accelerated the process of e-learning and is one of the main reasons for the rapid expansion of online learning courses.
Li Yue, an analyst at internet consultancy Analysys in Beijing, said growing investment in the e-learning process and rapid integration of advanced technology such as AI in learning platforms are creating enormous growth opportunities for the online language learning market.
