English is the most popular language in India on Duolingo, but Korean is quickly climbing the list.
According to the India report card 2022 of Duolingo—the most downloaded education app worldwide—the top five languages Indians are learning on the platform are English, Hindi, French, Korean and Spanish.“Even though it is claimed that India has the largest population of English speakers globally outside of the US, at 129 million English speakers across 29 states, less than 10% of the total population speak English,” Bob Meese, chief business officer, Duolingo, told FE. “In other words, 90% of the population is in need of English learning resources.
It’s no surprise that English is the top language of choice for Indians to learn on Duolingo.”As far as Hindi is concerned, Meese said given that many Indians migrate from their home states for work opportunities, they see the benefits in knowing an additional Indian language.While French as the third-most popular language on Duolingo in India isn’t a surprise, Korean at the fourth spot is.“In 2021, Korean was ranked fifth among the most popular languages to study, but in 2022 it became the fastest-growing language in India and surpassed Spanish for fourth place,” Meese said. “Korean, in fact, beats French in states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.”
The popularity of K-culture with younger audiences in India is one of the key drivers for the rapid growth of interest in Korean language.Some of the states where French is at the third rank are Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.Also, younger Indians are more interested in learning languages. “Learners in India are younger than the global average, with over 75% of learners under 30 years of age,” Meese said.
“College-aged learners and people in their 20s are especially well-represented among Duolingo’s Indian learners.”There are differences across states in how serious they are about studying languages, i.e. the average time spent learning. Overall, Duolingo users in India spend about 13 minutes each day on the app.
When it comes to learning languages, the most serious state is Madhya Pradesh (where Korean is number three), followed by Tamil Nadu (where French is number three). “The most serious language learners in India come from the following states: Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Karnataka and Kerala,” Meese said.Lastly, English and Hindi are mostly learnt by serious learners (to better their education or work prospects), while foreign languages such as French, Spanish and Korean are being learnt by recreational learners for purposes such as travel, cultural exploration or who have been influenced by global pop culture.
Fastest-growing languages
The report card added that Korean and Irish are the fastest-growing languages in India (as they were in 2021 as well). But this year Hindi surged up the ranking to become the third fastest-growing language in India. “In fact, the incredible growth of Hindi in India contributed to the language surpassing Portuguese in the global top 10 list of most studied languages on Duolingo, where Hindi now ranks number 10, with 8.4 million learners worldwide,” Meese said.
