Duolingo turns focus on Thais
Duolingo, a US-based free online language learning platform, has arrived in Thailand with an English language course for Thai speakers.
“We see potential for Duolingo in the Thai market as English proficiency among Thais tends to be quite low. Because of this many Thais may miss out on certain employment opportunities,” said Luis von Ahn, chief executive and co-founder of Duolingo.
In many parts of the world, he said learning English has the potential to double one’s income.
According to Ambient Insight report, the global market for online English language learning products reached US$1.8 billion (62.4 billion baht) in 2013, and revenues are expected to reach $3.1 billion by 2018.
“Asia has one of the highest growth rates for online English language learning. In terms of revenue growth, Thailand is among the top 10 countries with the highest growth rates,” said Mr Ahn.
Duolingo provides a total of 70 courses in 25 languages. It offers free learning content through Android and iOS applications and its website. The company earns revenue through optional in-app purchases such as extra outfits for avatars or short ads at the end of lessons.
It also offers the Duolingo English Test (DET) for $49 per test, a fifth of the cost of similar tests such as the TOEFL, which generally charge about $250. The DET is accepted by more than 60 universities.
According to an independent study conducted by the City University of New York, 34 hours on Duolingo is equivalent to a university semester of language classes.
Duolingo has 170 million customers globally, with the most users in US, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and India.
“We expect to break even by end of this year and become profitable in 2018,” said Mr von Ahn.
There are 1.2 billion people worldwide learning foreign languages, and 800 million of them are learning English in order to access better opportunities. The online English language learning market is large and has a lot of potential to grow much more, he said.
Duolingo recently raised $83.3 million in venture capital from investors including Google Capital, Union Square Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Kleiner Perkins and Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher.