{"id":14715,"date":"2016-11-17T23:51:42","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T04:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/duolingo\/"},"modified":"2016-11-17T23:55:22","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T04:55:22","slug":"lost-in-translation-duolingo-makes-language-learning-mobile","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/lost-in-translation-duolingo-makes-language-learning-mobile\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost in Translation: Duolingo Makes Language Learning Mobile"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah, language<\/em>. Perhaps the most human and most analog thing around. Think back to when you first learned a language. Oh wait, you probably can\u2019t remember because you were a baby. Alright, think back to when you first learned a second<\/em> language. If you were like most Americans, you probably sat in a classroom with a blackboard and drilled verb conjugations. But the traditional classroom approach doesn\u2019t work. Indeed, only about 25 percent of Americans can speak a foreign language and only 7 percent of those learned that language in school [1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Enter Duolingo. Launched in 2011 by the same man who invented Captcha [2]<\/a>, Duolingo\u2019s mission is twofold: first, they want to make free, high quality language learning software available to everyone. Second, they want that software to be adaptive to each and every user, such that language learners receive a uniquely tailored educational experience. This is delivered through a mobile app that serves up gamified language lessons for use on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

While the aims are noble, how well does a mobile app replace a language teacher? Just as importantly, how does a company offering \u201cfree language education \u2013 no hidden fees, no premium content, just free\u201d [3]<\/a> make money?<\/p>\n

The Product<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"img_2032\"
The “Skill Tree” which maps out your journey to fluency. Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, if you\u2019re the average Duolingo user, what exactly do you get when you fire up the app? Duolingo breaks down a language into compact and discrete modules, covering both thematic content (food, clothing, colors) and grammatical concepts (the preterite, question words). Users run through a battery of vocabulary quizzes and translation, conjugation, and pronunciation exercises (see the author’s feeble attempts at Spanish below) that build on each other. As you progress through the exercises, you\u2019re rewarded with \u201cLingots,\u201d a sort of gamified currency which you can redeem for some, um, interesting in-app digital prizes, such as a \u201cflirting\u201d lesson in the target language, as well as a new outfit for the owl mascot. Kind of lame, but\u00a0the joy is in the learning, right?<\/p>\n

\"Attempting<\/a>
Attempting to learn clothing and colors.
Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Business Model<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, we get that Duolingo is a fairly cool way to learn a language. And there\u2019s all that great talk about \u201cfree and open for all.” But how does Duolingo keep the lights on? The answer comes back to that old adage about the Internet: if you\u2019re not paying for the product, you are the product. <\/em><\/p>\n

Duolingo might seem like a straightforward language learning app, but it\u2019s in the business of translation. Turns out, all those exercises and practice sentences generate an enormous amount of crowdsourced data, data which can then be packaged and sold as translations to sites such as Buzzfeed and CNN [4]<\/a>. That\u2019s right, all those important and ground-breaking articles (15 Hedgehogs With Things That Look Like Hedgehogs<\/a>, What Is Your Inner Potato<\/a>, Which Ousted Arab Spring Ruler Are You?<\/a><\/em>) are translated by Duolingo users for the entire world’s edification.<\/p>\n

While the company is still young (and because they don\u2019t disclose financials), it\u2019s hard to say how effective the model has been. Globally, translation and language services is a huge<\/em> industry, worth approximately $40 billion annually [5]<\/a>. On the old-fashioned side, most translators available today charge a relatively expensive fee (around $0.21 per word [6]<\/a>) for their craft. Duolingo is betting that it can produce translations of comparable quality at a fraction of the price, as their translation staff (that’s you<\/em>, by the way) works for nothing but Lingots. If traditional translators are the skilled artisans, Duolingo and its legion of 120 million users [7]<\/a> want to disrupt the industry with mass production.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The virtuous Duolingo Cycle
Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But this whole model is predicated upon two big assumptions<\/strong>. The first is that crowdsourced translation can hold up against bespoke professional translation. The second is that enough users will keep coming back to Duolingo for language instruction to satisfy demand for translations. The first question is hard to answer, as it’s yet to be proven that there’s a market for crowdsourced translation.\u00a0Recent moves by Duolingo towards other channels of monetization, such as fees for language fluency exams [8]<\/a>, suggest translation consumers have yet to come around.<\/p>\n

However, the second question seems to be testable even today: does Duolingo work for learning a second (or third, or fourth) language? Duolingo commissioned a study which found that 34 hours using Duolingo was the equivalent of one semester of a college-level language class [9]<\/a>. There\u2019s likely just a bit of bias there and professional educators have much more mixed reviews [10]<\/a>. Certainly, if Duolingo is to keep growing little linguists, such that an army of translators can rise from the crowdsourced depths, they\u2019ll need to keep delivering a consistent and high quality product that both works for users and incentivizes them to contribute more and more data. If they can’t, it might be the traditional translators who get the final word.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Word Count (797)<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

<\/a>[1]\u00a0Pew Research Center: Learning a foreign language a \u2018must\u2019 in Europe, not so in America<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>[2] The Verge: Duolingo will translate the internet while teaching languages<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>[3] Duolingo Company Site<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>[4] PC Mag: Duolingo Users Translate BuzzFeed, CNN Into Spanish, French<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>[5] Common Sense Advisory<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>[6] USD 0.21 per Word: America\u2019s Translation Rate<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>[7] Pittsburgh Business Times: Duolingo moving to East Liberty, plans to add employees<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>[8] Duolingo English Test Info Page<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>[9] Duolingo Effectiveness Study<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>[10] International Journal of English Linguistics: Learning a Language for Free While Translating the Web. Does Duolingo Work?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Duolingo democratizes language learning to create a crowdsourced translation business. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2133,"featured_media":16770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[2029,2067,73,2068],"class_list":["post-14715","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digitization","category-duolingo","category-education","category-languages"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/digitization-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"\nLost in Translation: Duolingo Makes Language Learning Mobile - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/lost-in-translation-duolingo-makes-language-learning-mobile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lost in Translation: Duolingo Makes Language Learning Mobile - 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