Use of the language learning app Duolingo has surged since the start of the war in Ukraine.
According to a statement on Monday from CEO and co-founder Luis von Ahn, Duolingo has seen a 485 percent increase in the number of users learning Ukrainian. The increase, which was reported in Morning Brew on Wednesday, is global, but is mostly coming from the U.S., the location of the majority of its users.
There has also been an 1,800 percent increase in users in Poland, “which we suspect is caused by people in Poland who are welcoming and hosting refugees,” said von Anh.
Von Ahn also announced that Duolingo “will be donating all of the ad revenue from people studying Ukrainian on Duolingo to Ukraine relief.” The funds will go to the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Rescue Committee, and other organizations helping refugees in Ukraine for “at least the next year.”
The app will also use those partners to offer codes for a free version of Duolingo Plus for refugees and hosts, and says it will expand access and provide fee waivers for its English proficiency test, which is used for university applications.
Duolingo was also prompted to freeze learning streaks from users in Ukraine who were concerned about maintaining their daily progress. As for availability in Russia and Belarus, the app is “still operating as a completely free app,” said von Ahn, but they are disabling monetization in the two countries so that they will no longer be paying taxes to the Russian government. In 2021, Duolingo earned about 1 percent of its revenue from Russia.
The statement ends with links to donate to UNHCR and IRC as well as information about organizations to offer translation services.