"There are more people actively learning a language through DuoLingo than in the entire US public school system." says Luis von Ahn, founder of the free language learning app. Since its launch (投放市场) in 2012, more than 30 million people have downloaded (下载) the app, which gamified education and attracted many language learners.
The growth of technology for educational use has changed the way in which people learn and receive education. This is particularly true for languages, an area in which the explosion of mobile apps and interactive software has provided choices to a range of people who were previously unable to receive foreign language education.
Von Ahn says that when he founded DuoLingo he decided to find a way for people to learn a language for free. Free use of languages was something he had a personal interest in addressing: he grew up in Guatemala, where he was surrounded by people all trying to learn English, half of whom were failing to do so and a lot of whom could not afford it.
One of the big changes caused by tech is the change in language learners. Languages have long been connected with the rich people, but now people from less rich backgrounds are finding affordable ways to learn.
Von Ahn says an unexpected result of DuoLingo being an app is that it's attracting an unlikely type of user. DuoLingo was designed (设计) to be like a game, and what the company has found is that many users aren't even necessarily diehard language fans, they're just looking for an educational way to kill some time.
"They're still procrastinating from something else, but at least it's somewhat useful." says Von Ahn, "The truth of the matter is that learning a language takes months or years. We have to find a way to keep them interested and that's where the gamification came in."
