DUOLINGO PARTNERS WITH CYMRAEG 2050

• Duolingo, the Welsh Government and National Centre for Learning Welsh will collaborate to reach 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050
• Welsh was the U.K.’s fastest growing language in 2020
• 1.62 million people now learning Welsh on Duolingo – up 100k since October 2020
• Welsh learners ranked third in the world for most dedicated and hardest working
• St Dwynwen’s day marks the 5th anniversary of the Welsh course on Duolingo

On St Dwynwen’s day (Monday 25 January, 2021) Duolingo will #CaruCymraeg (love the Welsh language) by committing to support the government’s Cymraeg 2050 strategy to reach 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050.

Duolingo will align course content and share knowledge with the National Centre for Learning Welsh, and use its global reach to attract new learners. To date over 1.62 million people worldwide have started learning Welsh on Duolingo – up 100k since October 2020 – with 474k active learners today. At the 2011 census the number of Welsh speakers stood at 562,000.

The 2020 Duolingo Language Report has revealed Welsh was the fastest growing language in the U.K. (up 44% in 2020) beating Hindi, Japanese, French and Turkish. The report also found Welsh learners were some of the most committed and most dedicated in the world, ranking third for the longest average daily streaks, and third for the most number of lessons completed in 2020.

The Minister for Mental Health, Well-being and Welsh Language, Eluned Morgan, said: 

“We’ve set a goal of a million Welsh speakers by 2050, around a third of Wales’ current population, and in recent years we’ve seen a surge in demand for Welsh in early years and school-age learning.

“To reach our target, it’s important to also grow the language among adults and apps such as Duolingo are a great way to get a taste for learning Welsh in a fun way which fits around people’s busy lives. I’m really pleased the National Centre for Learning Welsh has developed a partnership with Duolingo and it’s inspiring to hear of people around the world who’ve learned Welsh through the app.

“So on St Dwynwen’s Day, our national day of love, it’s a perfect time to fall in love with learning Welsh!”.

Efa Gruffudd Jones, Chief Executive at the National Centre for Learning Welsh, said:

“Creating and promoting opportunities for our learners to practise and enjoy their Welsh is an important part of our work at the National Centre and we’re delighted to be working in partnership with Duolingo.

“We encourage our learners to use Duolingo’s language learning app, to practise their new skills and reinforce their classroom learning, and I would like to thank Duolingo’s team of enthusiastic volunteers in Wales for their work.

“We would like to congratulate Duolingo on reaching this important milestone – llongyfarchiadau!”

Welsh language tutor, Richard Morse, who helped create the Welsh course for Duolingo;

“It is amazing to have brought a Welsh course to so many people in five years. Thanks to everyone who has helped on the way. Ymlaen i’r miliwn o siaradwyr!

Colin Watkins, Duolingo’s Country Manager in the U.K. 

“We hope that by aligning with Cymraeg 2050 and working with the National Centre for Learning Welsh we can help reach the goal of having 1 million Welsh speakers much sooner than 2050. We want everyone in Wales, the U.K. and Welsh diaspora worldwide to see the benefits of learning a language, and have fun doing it.”.

“Duolingo is the gateway. Because our courses are free there is no barrier, you can learn on your own at your own pace. The fear many people have when starting, being embarrassed, not having the time, the cost is removed.

“Our data shows if you have a positive experience you stay motivated and go on to consume media, music, literature, or join in person events like those run by the National Centre.”

Filip Radu, a Romanian student who recently moved to Cardiff University; 

“Duolingo has been key in helping me practice outside of my course and it provided aid in expanding my vocabulary, particularly as quarantine has prevented me from interacting with other Welsh speakers in the university and the city. I am happy I can contribute to the number of Welsh speakers and keep the Welsh language alive and contribute to the goal of getting 1 million speakers. Duolingo helped me expand my vocabulary in Welsh. Particularly in the areas of numbers, foods, months, and days and provided me with more opportunities to hear the Welsh language being spoken.”

COURSE HISTORY

Duolingo’s Welsh course has a rich history. In March 2015 Richard Morse and Kathy Dobbin (leader of a campaign to get Welsh on Duolingo) wrote a letter to the Guardian in support of our mission. Our community team read the letter and contacted Richard to see if he could create a course. Richard corralled a team of native Welsh speakers and set about scripting the course which launched on St Dwynwen’s Day 2016. Since then the course has been updated with many new skills, and is one of Duolingo’s largest courses by the number of words you can learn. New skills are added all the time including more references to Owen’s parsnips.

Duolingo’s Welsh course is available for free on the app of the year winning iOS and Android apps, and at duolingo.com

WELSH ON DUOLINGO

• Launched on 25 January 2016
• 40% of Welsh learners are in the U.K., 21% are in the US, 3% in Canada, 2% in Australia, India and Germany, with 1% in France, Netherlands and Brazil.
• The remaining 17% are split between every country on earth and as far afield as Nauru and Antarctica with one learner each.
• 22% of new learners in 2020 chose School as their primary motivation to learn followed by Family 17%, Culture 15%, Brain 15%, Work 9% and Travel 8%.

DUOLINGO IN THE U.K.

• Duolingo is the world’s number one language learning app with over 500 million downloads worldwide, including over 13 million in the U.K.
• Duolingo’s mission is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available.
• We offer 99 language courses in 38 languages for free, from Spanish, French and Italian to Welsh, Japanese, Scots Gaelic and Latin.
• Our last course launch was Finnish. The next one will be Yiddish.
• A new study found getting to checkpoint 5 on our Spanish and French courses was the equivalent of 4 semesters of studying at University. Learners also got to the same proficiency level as university students in half the time!