Is is to good to believe its true? Well, believe it! Crunchyroll, the international brand serving the ultimate anime experience, and Duolingo, the world’s leading language learning platform, are teaming up to celebrate anime and the sixth anniversary of Duolingo’s Japanese language course. Starting today, Duolingo’s Japanese course will feature “OVER 9000!”... ahem, nearly 50 phrases inspired by fan-favorite, popular anime series.
Terry Li, Senior Vice President of Emerging Business for Crunchyroll released the following statement:
“Anime is a dynamic medium and we know viewers have a curiosity for learning. Now on Duolingo, fans worldwide can celebrate anime through learning iconic phrases from their favorite series. We also hope anime-curious learners will be intrigued by their Japanese lessons on Duolingo and will explore all that anime has to offer on Crunchyroll.”
Global interest in language learning is heavily influenced by major pop culture and social events. Since anime is one of the fastest growing entertainment categories in the world, it’s no surprise that Japanese is growing in popularity. Nearly a third (26%) of Duolingo Japanese learners cite fun, like watching their favorite anime shows, as their top motivation for learning. Japanese is the third most popular language for English speakers to learn on Duolingo.
George Audi, Senior Director of Business Development for Duolingo, made the following statement about the partnership:
“We chose to partner with the leader in anime entertainment, Crunchyroll, to advance our Japanese course because we know watching TV shows and films in the language you’re studying is a great way to learn and we wanted to offer our learners a way to further immerse themselves in the Japanese language through anime. We hope this partnership will be as delightful to anime fans as it was for our Learning, Design and Marketing teams to work on!”
As part of the partnership, premium Crunchyroll subscribers will be eligible for a two-month trial of Super Duolingo, the premium, ad-free tier of the language learning app. Free Crunchyroll users will be eligible for a one-month trial of Super Duolingo. Duolingo learners studying Japanese may be eligible for one free month of Crunchyroll Mega Fan premium access, which provides ad-free viewing of the world’s largest anime library of more than 44,000 episodes and 18,000 hours of series and films.
To encourage language learners looking to dive into the world of anime, Crunchyroll is also making a roundup of series with easy to understand, everyday vocabulary available on AVOD for a limited time, including: “Bananya”, which features an adorable kitty who lives in a banana, “Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club”, a sports anime following a high school swim club, “Laid-Back Camp”, the beloved slice of life series, and “Nichijou - My Ordinary Life”, a surreal comedy following three ordinary girls.
You can check out additional details regarding the Duolingo and Crunchyroll partnership below:
- Duolingo offers Japanese courses for English speakers and Chinese speakers, which together teach over 17 million learners worldwide.
- Japanese is the 5th most popular language to study globally
- Japanese ranks #2 in China, #4 in Vietnam, the U.S. - and in Japan itself due to the number of tourists and business people from abroad
- Young learners are the most excited about Japanese
- 86% of Japanese learners are under 30
- 70% are between 13 and 22 - Japanese ranked #3 among this age group in the U.S.
- Japanese learners are more likely to study multiple languages on Duolingo
- Japanese learners are more likely to study 3 or more languages on Duolingo than learners of Spanish or French
- The latest Duolingo Language Report is available if you’re interested in additional language trends
- Crunchyroll is the global anime brand connecting more than 10 million subscribers and millions of users in more than 200 countries and territories with the content and experience they love.
- Crunchyroll has the world’s largest anime library with more than 18,000 hours and 44,000 episodes of series and films.
- Crunchyroll offers anime (subtitled and dubbed) in 10+ languages globally, including English, Spanish (Latin America and Spain), Portuguese, French, Russian, German, Arabic, Italian, and, of course, Japanese. This year Crunchyroll launched dubs in Hindi, Italian and Castilian Spanish.
About Crunchyroll:
Crunchyroll connects anime and manga fans across 200+ countries and territories with the content and experiences they love. In addition to free ad-supported and subscription premium content, Crunchyroll serves the anime community across events, theatrical, games, consumer products, collectibles and manga publishing.
Anime fans have access to one of the largest collections of licensed anime through Crunchyroll and translated in multiple languages for viewers worldwide. Viewers can also access simulcasts — top series available immediately after Japanese broadcast.
About Duolingo:
Duolingo is the most popular language-learning platform and the most downloaded education app worldwide. The app makes learning new languages fun with bite-sized lessons that feel like playing a game. The company's mission is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. Duolingo offers over 100 total courses across 41 distinct languages, from Spanish, French, German and Japanese to Navajo and Yiddish.
Let us know your thoughts on the Crunchyroll and Duolingo partnership in the comments below!