in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, where he is now a professor in the computer science department. Von Ahn was a member of the comfortable class: the son of two Guatemalan doctors, he attended an English-language school before getting a bachelor’s of science in math at Duke University and a Ph.D. And making language learning accessible resonated with von Ahn, who grew up in Guatemala City, where there is a wide economic gulf between the well-off who receive English instruction and the poor who can’t afford it. He and Severin Hacker (yes, the real name of the Swiss-born computer scientist who was a graduate student under von Ahn) co-founded Duolingo in 2011 because they wanted to use their work on crowdsourcing to democratize education. The 36-year-old von Ahn–sometimes called “the father of crowdsourcing” because of the innovative ways he’s applied it to technology–is a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. (The size of the puddle was researched to optimize the return of users). Users are rewarded for playing on consecutive days those who fail tasks will see Duolingo’s mascot green owl cry tears that will dissolve into a small puddle. Language learners who sign up take a small placement test and then pick exercises that allow them to unlock to new levels of proficiency.
People waiting in line in the grocery store or at a doctor’s office can do a few translation exercises or work on pronouns in a program that was named App of the Year by Apple and Google’s Best of the Best in 2013.
From English, speakers can learn 13 languages ranging from Spanish to Klingon to Esperanto. In just four years, Duolingo has grown so rapidly that 100 million people around the world have downloaded the app that teaches 46 courses in both real and fantasy languages. And now the Pittsburgh-based company is extending its reach even further by becoming an English proficiency test, a $20 alternative to more expensive established tests.
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