Duolingo launches app in Hindi

NEW DELHI: Online language education platform Duolingo has announced the launch of the Duolingo App in Hindi with an experience completely customised for Hindi speakers.

“The app has organically attracted over 110 million users worldwide learning languages for free, as well as earned prestigious awards from Google and Apple, yet the company has never altered its app experience for one country before,” the company claimed.

“Customisations include reducing the size of the app to reduce the amount of memory required to install it, removing the need to type in Hindi, improving the placement test experience to help people quickly determine their proficiency level and customizing the content to make it more appealing to Hindi "speakers. Hindi speakers can learn English with Duolingo, while Indian natives who already speak English can choose from 16 other languages,” it said.

“Duolingo’s mission is to make free, high quality language education available to all. It is the most downloaded education app worldwide for Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices. It was designed to feel like a game and its method is scientifically proven to be effective: an independent study by the City University of New York has shown that 34 hours on Duolingo are equivalent to a university semester of language classes,” the companys aid in a statement.

“In developing markets like India, learning English is crucial to people's professional development and can double or triple their income potential. Our goal is to give everyone in India the best possible language education money can buy, but for free,” said Luis von Ahn , Duolingo’s cofounder and CEO.

Under the strategy, Duolingo has partnerships with governments, schools and companies around the world to improve language education, and is keen on establishing similar partnerships in India.

Awaneesh Verma, Product Head at Duolingo , said, “Being an Indian myself, I am excited to say that India is an integral part of Duolingo’s growth strategy. Hindi is the most widely spoken language in the country, hence we are focused on Hindi speakers first, but we plan on launching the app in other languages as well.