Duolingo

⭐️ This just in ⭐️   Many people assume that Duolingo can’t match the effectiveness of in-person language classes, especially when it comes to practicing speaking skills. But a recent study conducted by university professors shows that learners using Duolingo improved their speaking as much as students in university French courses! 👏🏼 And now that we're developing new and interactive features including Video Call with Lily, learners will have even more opportunities for speaking practice. 👀 Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/emnUuGmx #duolingo

*slams laptop shut till January* 🧖 Duo is officially in ~vacation mode~ and he is hoping you can do the same.  You have earned a well-deserved break! 💪🏼 He says to take care of yourself so you can come back refreshed and ready to hit the ground running. 💚 See you on the flip side. #duolingo #onlyatduolingo

📬 We love receiving mail from our learners! We just received a note from Carson, an 8th grader who is claiming to be our 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗻. Swipe to see his receipts ➡️ "𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘧𝘢𝘯! 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱 2% 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦, 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩, 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘒𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘯. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 200+ 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 (𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴!). 𝘔𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘋𝘶𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘔𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘪𝘴 “𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘳 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩” (𝘵𝘰𝘱 0.05% 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴)! 𝘔𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 “𝘓𝘦 𝘋𝘶𝘰 𝘦𝘵 𝘭𝘢 𝘋𝘶𝘢”. 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘋𝘶𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘱𝘱. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘋𝘶𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘰, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘋𝘶𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤. 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘋𝘶𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘬𝘪𝘯! 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘋𝘶𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘶𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘰."  🫶 Anyone competing with Carson for our number one fan spot?! Tag them below ⬇️ #duolingo #onlyatduolingo #duolingo365

When we shared our very first “How to Draw Duo” ✏️ video, many of you asked for more. Well, we’re here to give the people what they want! Animator Derek Gieraltowski is back. This time with a little surprise 🎁 for you (or a big one… depending on how you draw it). Drop your 🍑 drawings in comments below! #duolingo #onlyatduolingo

We’re sharing some 🤐 insider Duolingo 🤫 information on how we operate. (Yes, we cleared this with our Legal Team first.) One of the most important (and most expensive!) regular meetings at Duolingo is, Product Review. Product Review enables us to move quickly on product decisions, while driving alignment across teams, functions, and leadership. 🤷♀️ What is Product Review? Product Review is a meeting where Product and Design leadership review and approve changes to our products, from small changes like 🔘 buttons to entirely 🌟 new features. Anyone in the company can participate in Product Review and get transparent insight into how decisions are being made for our products. 📐So, how does it work? Get a sneak peek into one of our latest Product Reviews, where Amia Ross and Leah Lee propose a new promotion for our subscription-tier Video Call ☎️💜 feature. Read more ⬇️ about how Amia and Leah’s Product Review went and why Product Review is so important at Duolingo. #duolingo #onlyatduolingo #productmanagement

We hire people who are driven to make a global impact. But we know that making a global impact does not happen on day one of being an employee. A key learning we’ve found is that helping Nuos (new Duolingo employees) achieve a small win in the short-term is an important stepping stone to achieving big wins in the long-term. 🏆 To help with this, we created a program for our Nuos called “small wins”. Here’s our playbook in case you find this useful:   𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝗻? An event or activity that a Nuo is very likely to complete within their first 45 days. For example, completing their first feature, fixing a UI string, or contributing to a team OKR. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀? Celebrating small wins is an opportunity to get Nuos excited about their future contributions to our mission and company’s overall success. Recognizing a small win can also: 💪 Motivate: create a sense of purpose 📈 Enhance productivity: allow the Nuo to demonstrate creativity or problem solving skills 💚 Strengthen engagement: Encourage the Nuo to develop a stronger connection with the team and company OKRs 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀? -Role managers identify the small win in the onboarding plan with their Nuo -After the Nuo completes the small win, the role manager sends an email to the Nuo, their team, and executives to formally recognize and celebrate their small win -Nuo gets to choose free swag! What else do you find useful in onboarding new employees? #duolingo #onlyatduolingo 

Group Product Manager Jackson Shuttleworth joined Lenny Rachitsky on his Product podcast to break down our billion-dollar feature: 🔥 Streaks 🔥 The streak feature, which gamifies consecutive days of learning, has been one of our most important and innovative growth levers. It has also been a key growth driver, contributing to our $14B business with over half a billion users.   👉🏼 Here are key highlights from their discussion: (06:00) The impact of streaks on Duolingo’s success (24:38) User psychology and engagement strategies (50:47) Balancing monetization and retention (54:08) Notification strategies (01:18:57) Who can benefit from streaks (01:22:58) Jackson’s favorite recent show (hint: It’s about a girl named Emily set in Paris) 😂 🎧 If you want to learn how to build a feature that keeps people coming back, listen to their convo here:  https://lnkd.in/e3z3DjTD What did you find most insightful? #duolingo #productmanagement

When it comes to character design, it is important to consider how a character may be perceived by a global audience. 🌎 When we designed the character of Vikram, we received some internal feedback that the design mirrored some of the harmful stereotypes of Sikhs that are portrayed in Bollywood films. So what happens when we make a mistake? We own up to it and try to rectify the situation. Although this was unintentional, it’s something that matters for us to get right. Language is deeply tied to culture, and representation matters greatly when we have learners all over the world. It’s also just the right thing to do. Because of this, two of the members of the Duolingo Design Department, Samia Khalaf and Derek Gieraltowski, led the charge to redesign Vikram in a more authentic way. 🙏 A heartfelt 'thank you' to the employees who spoke up and to the Duolingo Design Department’s dedicated and talented artists. Read more about the process of redesigning Vikram below. ⬇️ #duolingo #design

"I am still floored to this day that I met him on a language learning app. Who would have thought learning a language on a mobile app could bring you true love?" 💚 No, this quote from Amanda Lopez is not talking about Duo 🦉, she’s talking about her husband, Rob Ciesielski, whom she met on Duolingo in 2021! Amanda had been perfecting her Mandarin, French, and more since 2013, while Rob joined in 2020 to brush up on Spanish. The next year, Amanda started receiving congratulations from a Duolingo user, and was intrigued enough to look him up on Facebook! After exchanging messages and getting to know each other virtually, they finally met in person when Rob traveled to meet her family in the Philippines in 2022. They finally tied the knot in 2023, and will soon be moving to DC to start their lives together. From language streaks to wedding bells, Amanda and Rob’s story is a testament to love finding you when you least expect it. #onlyatduolingo #duolingo

☕️ Need a caffeine boost? In our Pittsburgh and NYC offices, we have the Green Bean Café. The design was inspired by the question, “if Duo made a coffee shop, what would it look like?” The Green Bean serves as a community space for Duos and visitors to grab their favorite drink, a smoothie, or try Duo’s featured drink (currently salted lavender latte in NYC and blueberry lavender macchiato in Pittsburgh). 😋 The Green Bean features fun design elements like coffee bean bags adorned with our characters and Duo being squished in a french press. Wanna grab coffee with Duo? Check out our ~60 open roles → https://lnkd.in/eiGY_mdW #onlyatduolingo #duolingo