Duolingo’s approach to education has always been to learn through games, a method that has allowed the company to attract millions of users around the world. The app will soon offer music lessons that are structured similarly to the language courses, with interactive exercises and mini-lessons.
An app with a musical ear
Users can learn to read and play music by identifying notes based on sounds and matching pairs of notes. The first images released by the company show interactive exercises: multiple-choice quizzes or matching exercises in which users select the right note to match the sound.
According to Duolingo, more than 3.6 million students in the United States do not have access to music education. The aim of this new music lesson is therefore to make this discipline more accessible, especially in a context where private lessons can be extremely expensive. Duolingo also pointed out that learning music could have positive effects on other areas such as reading, listening, verbal skills and math.
In addition to music lessons, Duolingo has recently added math lessons to its offering, always with the aim of diversifying its educational offerings. The math lessons follow the same fun format as the app, with exercises like choosing the right angle or moving tiles to perform a basic math operation.
Full details of this new experience will be announced at Duocon, Duolingo’s free annual virtual conference, scheduled for October 11. According to Duolingo, these courses will be available “soon” without giving further details on the exact start date. This launch is part of a broader effort to make Duolingo a multidisciplinary learning platform.
The app not only features commonly spoken languages like Spanish and French, but also less common languages like Irish and Navajo. There are currently 43 languages available on the platform, 39 of which are for English speakers.
In addition to the usual European languages, Duolingo goes further than most language learning apps and also offers rarer options like Welsh, Swahili, Scottish Gaelic, and Yiddish. For those interested in pop culture languages, the app also offers courses in High Valyrian and Klingon. You never know, it might come in handy.