Language Learning Platform Duolingo Adds Japanese

After offering 70 languages, Duolingo, a freemium language-learning platfomr/smartphone apps, has been getting about as many requests for Japanese coverage as you'd expect. In other words, Japanese for English speakers was their most requested course in Duolingo's five-year history. After a recent Facebook teaser on April 20th, that Japanese course has arrived with the app's 5.1.0 update. 

 

“English speakers love food, culture, and anime from Japan, and it makes them want to learn the language,” said Hideki Shima, a Japanese native speaker who helped develop Duolingo’s English for Japanese speakers. “You’ll learn to say ‘I cosplay on the weekend,’ and ‘I am a little bit of an otaku [Japanese word for fan, usually of geek subculture].’”

 

 

Read more from the app's creators on Forbes

 

 

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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.