Hindi among the top 10 languages learnt on Duolingo; Korean picks up in India

Language learning apps have always found favour in the Indian market. A country, where just about 10 per cent of the population (~130 million) is conversant in English, is contributing heavily to the global downloads of learning apps like Duolingo. The US edtech company, which is the world’s largest language learning platform, counts India as its fifth biggest market, and its second fastest-growing as well. 

Interestingly, Hindi — the second-most learnt language by Indians after English — ranked among the top 10 languages on Duolingo globally in 2022. Hindi replaced Portuguese as the 10th most popular language (out of 40+ offered by Duolingo), with 8.4 million learners opting for it. While a majority of Hindi learners may be coming from the Indian subcontinent, there’s a sizeable user base for the language in the US and other Western countries, Bob Meese, Chief Business Officer of Duolingo, told Business Today. 

Other languages in the Top 10 were English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Chinese, and Russian. In India, specifically, languages like French, Korean, and Spanish are also finding favour outside of English and Hindi. Korean, in fact, saw one of the fastest adoption rates in the country last year. “The huge popularity of K-culture with younger audiences in India is one of the key drivers for the rapid growth of learners choosing Korean on Duolingo,” Meese shared. 

Overall, NASDAQ-listed Duolingo counts 60 million monthly active users (MAUs) and 16 million daily active users (DAUs) on its platform. Without sharing country-specific numbers, Carrie Wang, Asia Head, Duolingo English Test & Regional Business Lead, Duolingo, told Business Today, “We have had a phenomenal growth trajectory for the product post the pandemic. About 3-4 years ago, India was not even in the top 10 markets for Duolingo, but now it is in the top 5.”

“For the Duolingo English Test (DET), India is the #1 most important market, with users growing 80 per cent year-on-year in 2022,” she added.

Almost 75 per cent of Indian users on Duolingo are below the age of 30, making the app a youth phenomenon. As the company notes, college-aged learners and people in their 20s are especially well-represented among Duolingo’s Indian learners. 

The company also recently launched two new reports, with one specifically about the India market. As per the company's India Report Card 2022, Indians are learning new languages for a variety of use cases from admission in foreign universities to brain training to travel and exploration and so on. They spend ~13 minutes each day on the app. “India is a huge hub for language learning—by 2025, the market will reach $1.7 billion by spending. India is also the largest market behind China by education app downloads,” the report stated.

 

English continues to be the most popular language among Indian learners as well as global users. As per Duolingo's Language Report 2022, last year also saw a spurt in learners opting for Ukrainian. “After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, over 1.3 million people around the world began studying Ukrainian in a show of solidarity,” states the report. “In the six months following the invasion, people studying Ukrainian grew 1,651 per cent year-over-year in Germany, 1,615 per cent in Poland, and 1,515 per cent in Czechia,” it added. 

At present, Duolingo’s focus is to grow the user base in India. Globally, 75 per cent of its revenues come from paid subscriptions, while the rest is spilt between ads, gamification, and in-app purchases. In India, however, Duolingo’s immediate strategy is to expand its subscriber base before it focuses on monetisation. 

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