KICKER GOES HERE
Learn Piano for Free on Duolingo: The Revolutionary New Music Course!
Available on English and Spanish iOS devices.
Duolingo, created in 2011 by Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker, is one of the most innovative educational platforms with a global mission: to make learning accessible to everyone.
The company now provides a diverse array of languages for learners to explore and master, effectively transforming our devices into a personal classroom, and personalising the learning curve based on your profile.
Whether you’re a language enthusiast, a traveller seeking to bridge cultural gaps, or a student looking to expand your language repertoire, Duolingo opens the door to a world of knowledge and understanding with its user-friendly interface and engaging content.
How did Duolingo come to life?
When applying to colleges in the United States, Von Ahn spent over $1,200 on a flight to neighbouring El Salvador to take the TOEFL. Von’s experience made him realise that the industry was ready for change and innovation. (source: Wikipedia).
After collaborating on the invention of CAPTCHA and becoming a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science, in 2009, Von Ahn and his graduate student Severin Hacker began to develop Duolingo, a language education platform. They founded a company of the same name.
In November 2011, a private beta test of Duolingo was launched and the app was released to the public in June 2012.
The vision: promoting diversity and heritage.
Whether you’re interested in mastering Spanish, French, or any of the 40+ languages available, Duolingo is there to guide you through the process.
While the platform primarily focuses on more widely spoken languages, it has embraced the mission of promoting linguistic diversity and cultural heritage by teaching endangered languages like Hawaiian (the indigenous language of the Hawaiian Islands), Guarani (the indigenous language spoken in Paraguay) and Scottish Gaelic (a Scottish Celtic language)
The company’s mission:
Develop the best education in the world and make it universally available.
Duolingo: the AI-powered teacher.
Duolingo leverages artificial intelligence (AI) in several ways to enhance the language-learning experience. The platform utilizes AI algorithms to tailor the learning journey to individual users, assessing their strengths and weaknesses, monitoring their progress, and adjusting exercise difficulty accordingly. In practical terms, if a user encounters difficulty with a specific concept, the AI provides additional practice in that area to facilitate improvement. Conversely, for those who are excelling, the AI introduces more challenging materials to further advance their language skills.
Duolingo integrates language learning with AI-powered crowdsourced translation. Users of the platform not only engage as learners but also contribute to the translation of authentic content from the real world. Duolingo employs AI for the evaluation and ranking of user-generated translations, identifying the most accurate and high-quality renditions of sentences extracted from articles, books, and websites. This approach ensures that the learning experience remains dynamic and that real-world language application plays a central role in the educational process.
In addition of leveraging the community’s knowledge paired with advanced technology, the company has a team of over 700 employees from more than 30 countries, composed of learning experts, scientists and engineers.
Piano lessons are now available!
On the 11th of October 2023, the Official Duolingo YouTube unveiled an exciting new addition to their learning library: a music course!
As shared by Vanessa James — Engineering Director, learning Music has multiple side benefits.
Studies show that learning music helps with reading, verbal, listening, and math skills. It can even delay the cognitive decline associated with ageing. Though music education has many benefits, more than 3.6 million students in the U.S. don’t have access to music education. And for those wanting to pursue further instruction, private lessons can cost up to $400 per session! — Vanessa Jameson, Duolingo Duocon 2023
Offering music lessons based on Duolingo’s teaching style will revolutionise how the world learns music: No more slogging through lengthy videos or dense texts for explanations. Instead, the app immerses you in a playful and interactive learning experience through engaging exercises.
As announced on the Duolingo blog, music lessons are available on a virtual piano keyboard, eliminating the need to buy a physical one!
Users can learn notes and read music all from a phone, covering the following modules:
- Rhythm
- Note names and where notes are located on a piano
- How to put sounds together to play a familiar song
- How to read music and “translate” what you see or hear
- How to train your ear to distinguish notes and different sounds (like high vs. low notes)
To start, Duolingo Music will be available on iOS devices in English and Spanish.
To stay tuned, activate the Music alert by clicking on the flag icon top left of the screen.
-Musically yours.
