Duo purpose

Why a green owl can spread wise words

Duolingo app icon courtesy of Duolingo

I’m learning French on Duolingo – along with several other million people. And I’ve got an awesome support team helping me tous les jours (20-day streak and counting): Bea, Lin, Oscar, Eddy, Vikram, Zari…

If you’re one of the language learning app’s estimated 15million daily active users or 50million monthly active users worldwide you’ll be familiar with these diverse characters – and with Duo itself, a demanding green owl who’s spawned viral memes of its menacing reminders to keep up your daily practice. And once you start reading Duolingo’s stories you might notice the subtle LGBTQIA+ representation through Bea, Lin and Oscar.

Writing last year about the app’s approach to diversity and representation, Emily Chiu a senior creative producer at Duolingo, wrote: “We never questioned the need for queer representation.” She added that the company’s deep belief in diversity and representation made it “a no-brainer to include all types of characters of different ages, ethnic backgrounds, and sexual orientations.

“[Given] Duo’s vast and diverse audience for our content, we have a responsibility to reflect and relate to the experiences of all kinds of people, LGBTQIA+ folks included.”

What an incredible pop culture Trojan horse for narrative change

I thought about Duolingo’s reach when reading Brett Davidson’s recent article for The Communications Network, How can foundations and nonprofits support culture change in a divided media landscape?. Davidson, a narrative change consultant, explores how it’s becoming harder to reach broad audiences through mass entertainment such as TV.

He argues that the gap in preferences between liberal and conservative is growing as left and right engage in subconscious “cultural sorting”. Though based on research into, among other things, the TV choices of Democrats and Republicans, Davidson’s observation about “cultural echo chambers” is relevant beyond the US.

We’re all prone to choosing what we watch within a cultural comfort zone, reinforcing deeply-held beliefs rather than actively seeking to have our attitudes challenged. And when those choices are reinforced by “algorithm selection”, as Davidson writes, our exposure to the other narrows.

Choosing to learn a language, however, doesn’t happen in a cultural echo chamber. It’s an open goal for changing the narrative in – in Duolingo’s case – territories from the US to India. What an incredible pop culture Trojan horse for narrative change.

‘This should be best practice in storytelling’

Duolingo’s skill is in normalising each character’s identity; there’s no misplaced focus, as Emily Chiu explains: “Allowing an LGBTQ character to exist without specifically drawing attention to that identity – this is something we believe should be a best practice in storytelling.”

Would Duolingo venture beyond LGBTQIA+ representation to tackle the thorniest issues of our day: social justice, refugees, climate change? Perhaps some stories to normalise sustainable lifestyle choices like biking the kids to school rather than driving; choosing the train rather than flying; eating less meat?

I’ve come across one story about Vikram visiting a restaurant and his repeated attempts to order something vegetarian, with increasing desperation:

Waiter: “Nous avons les steaks… le porc est delicieux.”

Vikram: “Je ne mange pas de viande.”

Waiter: “Nous avons du pain et du fromage… Et du jambon avec le pain?”

Vikram: [sigh]

(But then, I am learning French.)

Duolingo’s primary mission is teaching, so it is not its remit to push an agenda.* But it has huge potential for shaping the mainstream and a gentler world.

*If Duolingo replies to queries I’ll update this article.