Language app Duolingo launches “English Course for Tagalog Speakers” – Manila Bulletin

Duolingo, the world’s #1 language learning platform, has some exciting news for the Philippines! In March, the most downloaded educational app in the world launches an English course specially designed for Tagalog speakers!

Tagalog, the language of one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, is derived from the endonym taga-ilog (“river dweller”), made up of tagá- (“native of” or “of”) and ilog (“river dweller”). ”). It is spoken by more than half of the Filipino population.

Duolingo’s English for Tagalog Speakers course is designed for Filipino English speaking beginners. It aims to make learning basic English fun and easy, it includes words and situations that will be useful to the learner. Interesting vocabularies such as expressions of hunger, emotions and activities that are popular in the Philippines – all make up good basic conversational English.

The course is a representation of the history of the founder of Duolingo. Luis von Ahn, CEO and Founder of Duolingo was born in Guatemala. He realized that education sometimes led to inequalities between socio-economic classes. People with money can afford the best education in the world. People who don’t have a lot of money barely learn to read and write. Realizing that language is important for personal growth and career development, Luis created Duolingo and aims to make it universally accessible. Now, Duolingo is used by people from all economic backgrounds, from celebrities like Bill Gates to refugees.

Likewise, not all families in the Philippines are blessed with a good education. With the English course for Tagalog speakers, Duolingo is expanding its mission to the Philippines, which provides free and accessible education to everyone around the world.

With over 500 million downloads and growing daily, Duolingo is the most popular and fun way to learn a language around the world. Duolingo shares the joy of learning, as it can be used anytime, anywhere, thanks to gamification – setting goals and collecting XP points, a playful interface and fun in-game elements.

Duolingo is well recognized in the US, UK, and many other countries. The app was awarded “Free iPhone App of the Year” shortly after its launch and received high accolades from Apple and Google. The company has been nominated for Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies”, CNBC’s Disruptor 50, Fortune’s “Change the World” list, among others.

Beyond English, Duolingo offers over 100 total courses in 41 distinct languages, from Spanish, French, German, and Japanese to Navajo and Yiddish. Those with a good command of English can learn the diverse languages ​​of English.

According to Haina Xiang, Marketing Director of Duolingo, currently 20% of Filipinos on Duolingo are learning Japanese, 19% are learning Korean, and 16% are learning Spanish. “We marvel at the diversity of Filipino passions for learning. We want to share the fun and make language learning more accessible to Filipinos. »