Unbelievable Breakthrough: AI Translation Set to Outshine Language Learning Methods!

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Dear reader,

“Can anyone really learn a language using Duolingo?” This was my reaction a couple of years ago when my friend Dmitry mentioned that he had started learning Spanish on the language app.

This opinion may need to be revised. Companies like Duolingo are using AI to improve their language learning apps. The results so far are mixed. But the technology is promising.

This is important in my hometown of New York, which remains a melting pot of languages ​​and cultures. Dmitry is a young doctor working in a low-income neighborhood of New York. Many of his patients come from Latin America. He wanted to learn Spanish to be able to communicate better with them.

But I wasn’t convinced that a flashy app that had a lime-green owl as a mascot was for me. At that time I too was learning Spanish, but from a human being. My teacher was a lively and nice Colombian woman named Daniela. She had the class do silly hand gestures to help us memorize the new vocabulary. She even managed to get a reasonable sounding R out of me at times.

The sometimes haphazard achievements of teaching human languages ​​to students have provided comedy for writers such as David Sedaris. His book Me Talk Pretty One Day he described his losing battle with the French.

Duolingo, founded in 2011 by Guatemalan-born computer scientist Luis von Ahn, takes a very different approach. With its brilliant graphics, points, badges and trophies, the app makes language learning unabashedly fun.

The short lessons can be useful for acquiring basic vocabulary and grammar. But when it comes to fluency, can she really trump an experienced and dedicated teacher? It’s a multi-billion dollar question.

Consumer spending on online and offline language learning is projected to reach $115 billion in 2025, up from $61 billion in 2019, according to education data company HolonIQ. online learning is the fastest growing segment.

In my case I interrupted lessons with Daniela after about a year. Work and two small children made it difficult to be able to attend the weekly lessons, which were not cheap. Dmitry, on the other hand, still devotes 10 minutes a day to his Duolingo lessons. He is far from fluent, but he has learned enough to communicate with his patients.

Affordability and convenience help explain why Duolingo has seen its popularity grow by leaps and bounds in recent years. A sharp surge in users during the coronavirus pandemic paved the way for a successful initial public offering in 2021. The stock closed up 36% on its first trading day, at a market valuation of nearly $5 billion dollars.

In its most recent set of results, the company reported 74.1 million monthly active users at the end of June. Of these, 5.2 million were paid subscribers. That compares to 27.3 million monthly active users and 900,000 paying subscribers as of the end of 2019. It reported nearly $127 million in revenue and $3.7 million in net income during the quarter. It’s on track to make its first annual profit this year.

The stock has had its ups and downs since its IPO. Its market valuation peaked in November 2021 at nearly $7.6 billion. By May 2022, that figure was cut to just $2.5 billion amid a large-scale sell-off in tech stocks. But since the start of this year, shares have rallied 83%.

The source of his excitement? Generative AI. In March, the company launched a new subscription tier called Duolingo Max. For $30 a month, subscribers get access to two new features: Roleplay and Explain My Answer. Both are powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4.

The former allows users to practice chatting (at least in writing) in the language they are learning with AI-generated characters and scenarios. “No two conversations are the same to maximize your learning experience and resemble real-world scenarios,” says Duolingo.

In practice, the functionality (only available in French and Spanish for now) can be hit and miss. On the one hand, it does a great job of catching and correcting errors. After the chat, he also offers suggestions on crafting more elaborate replies. The downside is that users don’t practice speaking. Written chats are short and, at least initially, seemed to follow a set script.

Take my conversation in French with “Lucy the neighbor”. She wanted to set up a date with me to play doggy style. I explained to her that my dog ​​had broken his leg and was in the hospital. Yet the subsequent discussion involved both of our dogs chasing a squirrel.

In another conversation, an attempted philosophical discussion with “Lily the sales clerk” elicited a salty reminder that we were in a costume shop. It ended with her handing me my purchase and wishing me luck with my questions.

Eventually the program began to adjust to my unorthodox responses. When I told ‘Eddy the food vendor’ how ridiculous he was for only selling baguettes and croissants at a football match, the conversation ended with him revealing a hidden stash of crisps and beer for me to sell.

Not everyone is jumping on the AI ​​bandwagon. Just as Duolingo talks about the potential of machine-based learning, Berlin-based Babbel, a rival language-learning service, has been trying to emphasize the human side of its products. Users can integrate app-based learning with live lessons. Babbel Live has become one of the company’s fastest growing businesses, with 300% year-over-year user growth in 2022 and 400% revenue growth.

AI can also be a double-edged sword. It has the potential to make learning a new language easier. However, its progress may help eliminate the need to do it in the first place.

The Google Translate app is now widely used by travellers. Its Word Lens feature allows users to point their device’s camera at foreign text, such as a road sign, and get an instant translation on the screen. Interpreter mode provides live translation between two people speaking different languages.

AI could eventually eliminate any practical requirement for learning foreign languages. That day is still far away. But it’s something investors need to think about as they pile up Duolingo shares.

Enjoy the rest of the week, whatever language you speak at home.

Pan Kwan Yuk
Lex writer