Anybody else feel a little nervous when a free language tool is valued in the hundreds of millions?
The DuoLingo Test Center is currently free but it won’t be for long. Give it a try if you’d like to see how it works. Once the DuoLingo Test is accepted at schools and employers, the company plans to charge $20 to take its test.
There’s an established incumbent (monopoly) in this market called TOEFL. If you’ve come to the US to study, you’ve probably taken this test. It’s a lot more expensive than $20 per test and DuoLingo is out to prove it can do this testing less expensively and better.
http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/21-0634479/educationa...
They are not wrong. I passed Duolingo Spanish course (it might have been extended since then) and barely remember anything now. I was also studying German in school, and later French by myself to the point where I could even speak with native speakers a little. Hardly remember anything either. English is the only foreign language that I haven't forgot because I use it constantly. But if you're not using a foreign language, after passing the test you will completely forget it in 2 years.
You usually take this test because you will have to speak this language, so the case where you take the test and then do nothing with it seems pretty unlikely. Also, I disagree with your assumption that you will completely forget another language in 2 years (even when not used). I cannot confirm this from my own experience.
I spent a lot of time barely using certain foreign languages (+ than 2 years). Of course you get 'rusty', but far from forgetting everything.
And it came up back quickly
This tell me Duolingo doesn't make you learn it, but rather memorize their game.
I'd love to see a independent study into its reliability/retention. But even if it is completely useless, it is still no more wasteful than any other mobile game people play daily.
I have seen the effects myself. After a month or so, even though I had learned some spanish before, native speakers suddenly slowed down (in my perception).
An important clue: Use the "Strengthen your skills" button frequently to keep the tree golden. Duolingo itself doesn't nag you enough to do that, but it's essential for mastery of the language.
Remember this: everyone is taught their perfect grammar and spelling and quizzed on it for years in school. How many people can say what a past participle is, or even what an adverb is? How many people who passed geometry can still do that level of math from the top of their heads?
Of course you can't permanently learn something. You have to keep it in practice.
It's hard to master and complete a Duolingo course without getting a grip on the language. You'd have to pretty much ignore the "Strengthen your skills" button and never repeat anything.
Even after finishing a course you should use the repetitions for weeks and months to keep refreshing your memory. That's the only way it may stay forever.
I can guarantee you that you didn't forget everything. If you completed the Spanish course, your brain has been rewired for Spanish...
I was thinking at the time (it was in 2005) that they were really out of touch with common sense, and right now I wonder if anybody outside academia gives some credibility to the TOEIC or the TOEFL.
I don't have a business model but I'm trying to bootstrap an iOS language software company. Duolingo is really good but I think language learning is difficult enough that there are other good ideas worth pursuing.
Anyway, if anyone is learning another language, I'd appreciate any feedback on my apps. Here's my Spanish app:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/h4-spanish-lite/id388918463?...
> As a company spokesperson told me, the company actually tabled its ambitions around translations about a year and a half ago and hasn’t scaled the businesses or accepted new clients (it’s still working with CNN, though).
The funny thing is Duolingo is now valued higher than Rosetta Stone: https://www.google.com/finance?q=RST
Suppose they even managed to come up with that classroom solution for language learning. How does what they currently have help them? Teachers, schools & government education departments make the purchasing decision for classrooms, so what students use in their time outside class isn't especially helpful in driving more sales of a classroom solution.
If they came up with something good for classrooms, they might as well axe or install paywalls into their existing stuff.
It helps the user better understand the language, which I believe is their goal to begin with. For example, their current approach presents a conjugated word in the context of a provided sentence or phrase. When I'm refreshing a language this isn't a big deal, but if I'm starting from scratch I don't have the foreknowledge to understand exactly when and why the word appears as such. I don't really need to argue that learning the language structure is much easier than memorizing a large list of words and phrases.
More simply a better tool for learning, is a better product on their end. They don't have to sell it to schools, but if teachers see that it can work in tandem with their curriculum then it will translate to more users.
> If they came up with something good for classrooms, they might as well axe or install paywalls into their existing stuff.
You're only looking at monetizing and forgetting about growth.
Because of the valuation size, and because I think they've succeeded at growing quickly and becoming the most well-known language learning solution. Everything else about Duolingo looks really good, but the monetization side of things seems to be the elephant in the room.
What I'm also pointing out is that the growth among language learners cannot be easily translated into growth in institutions. To grow in institutions they will still need sales teams, and their consumer userbase doesn't necessarily gain them much of an advantage in that game.
All that said, in this article they hint at having plans beyond the $20 certification they've announced. To achieve the valuation they've now got, I think it's fair to say they do have a solid plan that they just haven't made public knowledge yet. It's probably something that will be a bit controversial among their userbase, like paywalls.
Originally they were going to provide translation services, which hasn't worked out. Now they're trying to provide certifications for people who pay a fee. Will that work? Maybe it will. What feels odd is that the valuation is so high for a company that hasn't yet figured out a reliable way to make money from what it does.
If all else fails, they could install paywalls, but a substantial portion of their users might abandon them at that point.
He can monetize this in a similar way. Crowd sourced translation service where the more advanced language learners translate books or something. It will be higher quality than google translate for sure.
"As a company spokesperson told me, the company actually tabled its ambitions around translations about a year and a half ago and hasn’t scaled the businesses or accepted new clients"
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7698130
So it's not free in the free beer sense.
Evidently they're planning to make money from paid certification tests and they have "other plans to monetize".