Starting this November, the popular language learning app Duolingo will no longer continue updating its Welsh language courses. The Welsh language course has been used over 2 million times since it first launched on Duolingo in 2016, but now users fear that the course will stagnate.
From 2016 up until 2021, the course was entirely written and maintained by volunteers such as language tutor Richard Morse. However, the responsibility for maintaining the course was later transferred to the National Centre for Learning Welsh. Spokesperson from Duolingo assures users that the course will remain free and available on the app. However, updates will be indefinitely paused as no new material for the course will be created by the National Centre for Learning Welsh from this November onward.
Many people have been using the course on Duolingo as a means to connect to their roots and embrace Welsh culture, both inside and outside of Wales.
However, despite Duolingo’s repeated claims that they are committed to preserving and platforming indigenous and endangered languages, they have stated that they will shift their focus and utilise their resources to expand and develop the high-demand language courses such as German, French and Spanish, instead prioritising a wider UK and international user base and more popular languages. Although, in 2020 Welsh has, according to Duolingo themselves, become the fastest growing language in the UK.
Furthermore, Duolingo has been a tool to help the Welsh government reach its goals of a million Welsh speakers by 2050. As a less commonly spoken language, it has fewer accessible and free learning resources available for those who wish to begin learning or those who wish to maintain their Welsh skills. The pausing of the Welsh Duolingo course will undoubtedly have an impact on whether the Welsh government can reach its goal by 2050.
Naturally, the decision has been met with backlash. A petition addressed to the First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, has been created to urge him to intervene and encourage Duolingo to reconsider its decision on pausing the Welsh language course. The petition currently has over 3600 signatures but is still far from reaching its goal of 10000 signatures.
Jeremy Miles, the Welsh government’s minister for education and the Welsh language, has already reached out to Duolingo asking them to continue developing the course, reaffirming the course’s importance in helping the Welsh government reach its target for a million Welsh speakers by 2050. Duolingo has responded to Jermy Miles as well as reached out to Tech minister Alex Davies Jones, who also contacted Duolingo due to concerns, stating they are hopeful they can potentially continue developing the language course sometime in the future. However, Duolingo has not made any firm commitment to creating any new material or other updates for the course as of now.