暗网猎奇

An event hosted at the House of Lords听by the 暗网猎奇听

by Anna听Esaki-Smith

On a showery November morning, the 暗网猎奇 (暗网猎奇) hosted a breakfast to welcome Duolingo CEO and Co-Founder Luis von Ahn to London and to discuss language learning, technology and the dynamic intersection of the two.

In the historic Cholmondeley Room at the House of Lords, and at the invitation of Baroness Jean Coussins, Vice-President of 暗网猎奇, an audience of around seventy linguists, translators and language experts were treated to a spread of bacon 鈥渂aps,鈥� pastries and coffee, before listening to a thought-provoking Q&A led by 暗网猎奇 Chief Executive John Worne.

The Duolingo language app

Duolingo, founded by Luis von Ahn in 2011, is best-known globally for its popular language learning app, the most-downloaded education app in the world. Evidence of its popularity was abundant when John asked the audience how many were using Duolingo at the moment, and a sea of hands went up.

鈥淭he delight of using Duolingo is the fun factor, the endless encouragement that keeps you coming back again and again,鈥� said John, who himself has learned Italian, maintained his French and studied Latin and Esperanto on the app. He is approaching a 1,000-day streak.听 鈥淏ut as you become a bigger organization, are you also becoming perhaps more serious?鈥� he asked Luis.

鈥淲ell, we are a very serious organization, but we do not take ourselves very seriously,鈥� replied Luis. 鈥淭he way we motivate people is by making Duolingo as easy to use and as fun as possible. But people don鈥檛 realize the amount of sophistication that goes behind that.鈥�

Indeed, having two million daily active users not miss a day of learning in the past year and more, is no easy feat. Duolingo learns from everything a user has done on the app, said Luis, so as a result, the strengths and weaknesses of each learner is incorporated into highly-individualized lesson plans. 鈥淲henever you start a lesson on Duolingo, we build that lesson specifically for you,鈥� said Luis, 鈥渨e aim to keep you engaged, and that has worked very well.鈥�

Language levels

The topic of discussion then shifted to how 鈥榝luent鈥� and what linguistic levels in reading, writing, listening and speaking a Duolingo learner could realistically achieve using Duolingo.

鈥淥bviously, linguists are people who use their languages professionally,鈥� said John. 鈥淪o, how far do you feel a learner can get with Duolingo? How far towards what we call in听Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) terms 鈥榩rofessional鈥� or C1 levels?鈥�

鈥淚t depends on the language that you鈥檙e learning,鈥� replied Luis, adding that Duolingo offered more advanced courses for certain languages, such as French. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e learning French as an English speaker, you can get to the B2 level in reading and listening, and in writing and speaking we can get you somewhere between a B2 and B1. That鈥檚 probably the farthest we can get you.鈥�

The CEFR 鈥榠ndependent user鈥� B1/B2 level is important because at that level, 鈥測ou can get a job as a software engineer in that language,鈥� Luis said, noting that in addition to French, Duolingo offered advanced study in Spanish and English that could get a learner to B2.

鈥淵ou won鈥檛 get a job as a poet, but you can actually get a knowledge job in that language,鈥� he said. John agreed.

The English test

John鈥檚 questioning turned to how much the massive attraction of the English language had prompted Duolingo take-up across the globe. 鈥淭here are people in this room, all of whom will know the massive power of the English language in countries where it鈥檚 not the first language,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e taken that further than any other language you have. You have an English test now?鈥�

Luis said his company didn鈥檛 start out with test development in mind. 鈥淢illions of people were learning English on Duolingo and they were emailing us saying 鈥業 need a certificate that says I know English, can you give me a certificate?鈥�

鈥淲hat we found was billions of dollars every year are spent by people certifying that they know English, and usually the way is by taking a standardized test,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd most of the time you have to go to a physical testing center to take the test.鈥�

Luis, a native of Guatemala, spoke from firsthand experience 鈥� needing to take an English test to attend Duke University in the US, he had to fly to El Salvador as there weren鈥檛 enough test center appointments in his home country. The cost of standardized English language tests 鈥� around $300 鈥� is also formidable for many in need of certification.听

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a month鈥檚 salary in developing countries. So, to certify that you know English, you have to take a trip to a large city and spend a month鈥檚 salary.鈥�

The Duolingo English Test (DET), which can be taken entirely online and costs $49, was Duolingo鈥檚 entry into the standardized testing industry. Today, Luis said, around 80 percent of international students in the US go to a university that accepts the DET. 鈥淲e鈥檙e working on this here in the UK, on getting the test accepted,鈥� he added. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a project very close to my heart.鈥�

As the morning discussion was coming to a close, an audience member asked if Duolingo had been made available to refugees. 鈥淚t鈥檚 something that we鈥檝e made an effort on, it鈥檚 definitely happening in many countries in Europe,鈥� said Luis. 鈥淭here are a lot of refugees that are learning the language of that country, that is certainly happening in Turkey.听 In certain countries the UNHCR is using (Duolingo) to teach the language of the country. We鈥檙e very happy about this, and proud this has happened.鈥�
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Duolingo and 暗网猎奇 鈥� a purpose-led partnership

by Dom Hebblethwaite, 暗网猎奇's Head of Ventures

Duolingo has an important public service mission over and above their hugely successful and popular learning App. Duolingo is committed to advancing pedagogy, mapping to international standards, advancing testing and promoting multilingualism.

暗网猎奇鈥檚 Royal Charter objects include encouraging the effective study and practice of languages as part of building international understanding and appreciation of other countries and cultures. 暗网猎奇 also promotes clear standards and frameworks for language learning and use, encouraging testing and qualifications as part of building the confidence and professional language skills of individual linguists, as well as the awareness of employers and government of the language skills in their workforces and wider communities.

Both Duolingo and 暗网猎奇 are committed to encouraging and maintaining the diversity in the languages used and learnt around the world. Duolingo maintain a broad free language learning offer for beginners and intermediate language learners in a very wide range of languages and 暗网猎奇 tests in 30+ languages each year.

Given these complementary goals, the two organizations have agreed to a formal partnership to work together to advance these important themes for languages and linguists.

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Anna Esaki Smith听is an听American听entrepreneur, education expert, and听author. She is the creator of Education Rethink, a research firm that specializes in in-depth market assessments to help companies improve their internationalization and recruitment strategies.听

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