Duolingo, a language app from the US, wants to become more popular in Southeast Asia. There are already many other educational technology companies in this area, but Duolingo already has around 1 million people using it every day.
Duolingo is a popular app that helps people learn different languages. It is growing really quickly in countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand. In these countries, people spend about 13 to 15 minutes every day using the app to learn languages.
Around 7% to 8% of all the people who use Duolingo are paid subscribers. In Southeast Asia, the number of paid subscribers is even lower.
In Vietnam, it costs 599,000 dong (US$24.3) per year to be a paid subscriber, while in Thailand it costs 949 baht (US$25.9) and in Indonesia, it costs 419,000 rupiah (US$26.3).
These prices are much cheaper than the monthly Duolingo Plus plan in the US, which costs US$12.99.
ELSA is a company that helps people learn English. They have a tool called ELSA AI Tutor that uses voices to help people get better at speaking English. They just got a lot of money to help them grow and help more people in Southeast Asia.
Xiang didn’t say if Duolingo wants to buy a local company that teaches through technology in that area, but he mentioned that they are keeping a close watch on the market to see if there are any good opportunities for them.
In simple terms, if you have a Vietnamese dong and you want to know how much it is in US dollars, you would need 24,612 dong to make 1 US dollar. The same goes for Thai baht, where you would need 36,54 baht to get 1 US dollar. Lastly, if you have an Indonesian rupiah, you would need 15,928 rupiah to get 1 US dollar.
The competition in SEA
Companies in the Southeast Asian language education market are quickly using AI technology to help them improve and be better than their competition.
The company recently secured US$23 million in a Series C funding round and introduced ELSA AI Tutor to enhance English proficiency. These funds aim to bolster ELSA’s growth in the region.
Xiang didn’t confirm if Duolingo plans to acquire any local ed-tech startups but mentioned that they are actively observing the market.
Recent changes in the app
In August 2023, Duolingo made some big changes to how their app looks and works. They made a new picture for the app that shows a melting owl called Duo.
They also made the app easier to use so that it’s simpler for people to learn languages.
Duolingo now has more things for kids to learn! They have added math and music courses.
In the math courses, kids can learn about numbers, solving problems, and shapes. In the music courses, kids can learn how to read music and play some simple instruments.
Duolingo is always using smart technology to make its app better and help people learn.
For example, Duolingo uses smart technology to make lessons just right for each person and to give them advice.
Duolingo, the app that helps people learn languages, is always coming up with new things to make it better.
One of the things they did was release a special feature called “Duolingo Max” in September 2023. This feature lets people do lessons even without the internet and gives them as many chances as they need to get the answers right.
In May 2023, Duolingo and Crunchyroll joined together to create a special way for people to learn Japanese.
They made a new course on Duolingo that uses scenes from anime shows to help teach the language. This course is made for people who are just starting to learn Japanese and it has more than 100 lessons.
