Duocon 2025 Key Announcements: Duolingo Score, Video Call Enhancements, LinkedIn Integration, and Chess Course Launch

Duolingo

Introduction & Duolingo's Mission [0:01:06]

The event begins with a playful animation leading into Duocon 2025. Lily, an animated character, reluctantly hosts the event, introducing Duolingo CEO and co-founder, Luis von Ahn.

• Duolingo's Core Principle: Education Access [0:01:45]
  • Luis emphasizes that while "education is everything," "education access is everything" is paramount for Duolingo.
  • He highlights how traditional education creates inequality due to cost barriers, while Duolingo aims to provide free, high-quality language education globally.
• Global Reach and Impact [0:02:36]
  • Duolingo, launched 13 years ago, has made a significant difference in language education access.
  • More people learn languages on Duolingo in most countries than across all high schools combined.
  • Over 130 million active learners, with 90% learning for free.

    

  • Over 10 million users have streaks longer than 365 days, demonstrating commitment.

    

• Most Commonly Learned Languages [0:03:11]
  • English is the most commonly learned language in most countries, as proficiency can significantly increase income potential.
  • Spanish is the most commonly learned language in the United States due to proximity to Latin America and a large Hispanic population.
  • Interestingly, the second most commonly learned language in many countries (e.g., US, Sweden, Germany) is their native language, indicating a desire to formalize or improve existing knowledge.

    

The Duolingo Score: A New Standard for Proficiency [0:04:22]

Duolingo introduces the "Duolingo Score," a standardized metric to accurately represent language proficiency.

• Understanding the Score (0-160) [0:04:33]
  • The score appears next to the language flag on the home screen.

    

  • It replaces ambiguous descriptions like "intermediate" or "X years of study."
• Score Ranges and CEFR Equivalents [0:05:07]
  • 0-29 (Beginner): Equivalent to CEFR A1. Focuses on present tense, simple greetings, common words (e.g., "The dog runs fast.").

    

  • 30-59 (Pre-Intermediate): Equivalent to CEFR A2. Allows basic communication with patient interlocutors (e.g., "The dog has always run fast.").

    

  • 60-99 (Intermediate): Equivalent to CEFR B1. Enables expression of thoughts (e.g., "I wish the dog hadn't run so fast.").

    

  • 100-129 (Independent): Equivalent to CEFR B2. Crucial for obtaining a "knowledge job" in that language or being a university student (e.g., "Who would've thought that the dog runs so fast?"). This is Duolingo's primary goal for learners.

    

  • 130-160 (Advanced): Focuses on highly sophisticated language not explicitly taught by Duolingo (e.g., complex sentence structures, literary nuances). Learners are expected to acquire this independently.

    

• Course Coverage for Duolingo Score 130 [0:07:50]
  • Duolingo courses for English, Spanish, and French can get you to Duolingo Score 130.

    

  • Courses for German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Portuguese currently reach Score 60, but will soon extend to 130.

    

• Time to Reach Proficiency [0:08:17]
  • Score 30: Approximately 93 hours.
  • Score 60: Approximately 192 hours.
  • Score 100: Approximately 397 hours.
  • Score 130: Approximately 550 hours (the "knowledge job" level).
  • A high streak doesn't necessarily mean high proficiency; consistent short lessons accumulate fewer hours than perceived.

    

How Duolingo Teaches & Feature Updates [0:09:28]

Duolingo employs various features and adapts course content to motivate learners and enhance their experience.

• Motivating Learners: Features like Leaderboards and Friend Streak are designed to maintain motivation.
• Adaptive Learning [0:09:51]
  • Course content dynamically adjusts to the learner's Duolingo Score, becoming more sophisticated as the score increases.
  • Early stages use simple sentences, while higher scores introduce complex paragraphs and exercises.

    

• Specialized Lesson Types:
  • Adventures [0:10:17]: Game-like lessons for early learners (Score 0-29) to practice basic navigation skills (e.g., left/right).

    

  • DuoRadio [0:11:05]: Helps improve listening comprehension. Episodes start bilingual for beginners and become entirely in the target language with more complex subjects at higher scores.

    

  • Stories [0:11:56]: Focus on reading practice. Stories evolve from simple interactions to more complex narratives as the learner's score progresses.

    

• Proven Effectiveness [0:12:19]
  • Dozens of studies confirm Duolingo's effectiveness. A multi-year study (2020, 2023, 2024) showed continuous improvement in teaching listening and reading skills.
  • Learners reaching Score 60 consistently achieve CEFR A2 level proficiency.

    

Duolingo English Test (DET) [0:13:34]

• The Duolingo English Test provides a certified version of a learner's English proficiency score.
• Cost: $70, taken remotely from home.
• Accepted by over 6,000 academic programs worldwide, including 99 of the top 100 US universities, as proof of English proficiency.

  

• The goal is for the Duolingo Score, combined with the DET, to become the global standard for language proficiency.

Video Call: Real Chats with Lily [0:15:46]

Yash Patel, Engineering Lead, discusses enhancements to "Video Call with Lily," an AI-powered conversational practice feature.

• Increased Availability [0:16:01]
  • Now available to all Max subscribers in Duolingo's top nine courses.
  • Includes five Video Call sessions per unit and a dedicated tab.

    

  • Lily functions as a large conversational agent, performing the work of over 500 tutors daily.
• Support Pillars for Conversational Practice [0:17:52]
  • Preparation: Calls start with comfortable topics and gradually remove captions to build confidence.
  • In-call Assistance: Lily helps learners recover from speech breakdowns and corrects mistakes in real-time.
  • Post-call Feedback: Users can review conversations and receive feedback.

    

• Personalization and Gamification [0:18:49]
  • Lily adapts conversation difficulty based on learner performance.
  • She remembers past topics and follows up on user interests.
  • Gamified elements include unique topics, matching backgrounds, and Lily's visible reactions to user responses, making the experience feel more alive and engaging.

    

    

Sharing Your Duolingo Score: LinkedIn Partnership [0:20:16]

George Audi, VP of Business Development, addresses the difficulty of quantifying language skills and announces a new partnership.

• The Need for a Standard [0:20:51]
  • The Duolingo Score aims to become the standard for describing language progress on Duolingo and eventually a global standard for proficiency.
  • The goal is for learners to proudly share their scores instead of vague descriptions.
• LinkedIn Integration [0:22:54]
  • The first Duolingo Score integration is now live on LinkedIn.

    

  • Users can connect their Duolingo and LinkedIn accounts to showcase their scores on their professional profiles.
  • This provides verified, up-to-date, and globally understood language skills for employers and recruiters.
  • The process is seamless: increase your score, get prompted to add it to LinkedIn, grant permission, and it appears under "Languages."

    

Building Duolingo: One Test at a Time (A/B Testing) [0:28:11]

Natalia Castillejo, Director of Product, explains Duolingo's data-driven product development approach using A/B testing.

• A/B Testing Methodology [0:29:34]
  • Millions of learners use slightly different versions of the Duolingo app daily.
  • Learners are split into two random groups (A and B), each receiving a different app version or feature.
  • Duolingo observes how each group reacts to changes before deciding on a full launch.
  • Key metrics include minutes spent learning, correct answers, and likelihood of returning (streak extension).
• Examples of A/B Test Outcomes
  • DuoRadio Success [0:30:56]: A/B testing showed that learners with access to radio lessons were more likely to extend their streaks and improve listening skills, leading to a full rollout.
  • Chatbot Failure [0:32:07]: An earlier chatbot feature, despite developer enthusiasm, was removed because A/B testing revealed low user engagement, indicating it didn't improve learning.
  • Energy System Evolution [0:33:26]: The "Hearts" system evolved into the current "Energy" system after experiments showed that not punishing mistakes increased engagement and learning time.

    

  • Notification Effectiveness [0:33:48]: An example comparing two reminder notifications (urgent vs. sarcastic Lily) demonstrates how A/B testing helps determine which communication style is most effective for different user segments.

    

• Users as the "Crystal Ball" [0:33:17]
  • Learners' usage patterns and engagement data act as Duolingo's "crystal ball," guiding product decisions with data rather than intuition, ensuring features genuinely enhance the learning experience.

Learn and Play Chess with Oscar [0:38:34]

Elisa Camps Troncoso, Learning Designer, introduces Duolingo's new Chess course.

• Chess as a Learning Tool [0:40:07]
  • Chess is presented as more than just a game; it develops critical thinking, creative problem-solving, planning skills, and the ability to consider other perspectives.
  • It also teaches humility in winning and losing.
• Making Chess Accessible [0:41:31]
  • Despite its long history, chess has a reputation for being intimidating. Duolingo aims to make it approachable for everyone.
  • Within 25 days of its iOS launch in English, over a million learners joined the course.
• Teaching Methodology [0:42:37]
  • Lessons: Puzzle-based, bite-sized challenges to sharpen strategic thinking, breaking down complex concepts into simple, fun pieces.

    

    

  • Mini Matches: Timed (90-second) matches focused on capturing pieces, designed to build "muscle memory" and confidence without the pressure of checkmate.

    

  • Matches Against Oscar: The capstone experience where learners apply their tactics against an AI tutor, Oscar, who provides commentary and adapts in difficulty as the learner progresses.

    

• Availability [0:44:48]
  • Currently available in English and Spanish on iOS.
  • Soon to launch in French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Japanese, and Chinese, and for Android users.