The COVID-19 Pandemic, Foreign Language Learning Application Is Selling Well In This Country

JAKARTA - Activity restrictions and lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic have made people around the world reduce outdoor activities. Instead, various activities are carried out from home.

One of the interesting things is, the popularity of language learning applications is soaring around the world. And, the highest country whose citizens are diligent in learning foreign languages is England.

This is surprising, considering that the citizen of the Country of the Three Lions is notoriously less enthusiastic about learning foreign languages. Many British citizens are known to download language applications, to at least master a foreign language for daily conversation.

"After a few months, I suddenly read a bunch of French texts. Even though I can't translate word for word. Now I can get the ideas and sentiment behind the writing. It's magical," said London resident Chelsey Hames, who downloaded the learning app. online language for French, launched the BBC.

Duolingo, a foreign language application maker from the United States, announced that the number of their active users has increased rapidly in 2020, especially in the UK. Globally, there was a 67 percent increase. While specifically in the UK, up 132 percent.

Duolingo UK manager Colin Watkins says before COVID-19 the biggest reason Britons learn a foreign language is to travel abroad. However, during pandemic restrictions, people learn a variety of other factors.

"The UK really implemented language learning during the pandemic. Since Covid, there has been a huge increase in people wanting to learn for various reasons. We all want to do something positive with our time," he said.

Apart from Duolingo, a number of language learning applications are also experiencing an increase in active users. London-based Busuu currently has more than three million users in the UK or an increase of more than 312 percent.

Meanwhile, Berlin-based Babbel, Germany saw an 80 percent increase in user registrations in 2020, while overall it only increased by 50 percent. Globally, Babbel has 10 million users.

"When a lot of British people say they are not good at learning the language, that's the first thing we don't see in our data," said Chief Executive Babbel Arne Schepker.

Just like Duolingo, Babbel's active users in the UK are noted to have learned a lot of Spanish, bypassing French.

Apart from the pandemic, another reason that is considered to make British citizens more diligent in learning foreign languages is the imposition of Brexit. Britain's exit from the European Union is considered to have made its citizens to develop themselves, their skills and careers outside the UK.

"It is possible that Brexit has played a role in why Britons use apps to learn foreign languages. Especially those who want to give themselves the opportunity to work, or do business with other countries, after Britain leaves the European Union," said the Spanish teacher who lives in English Maria Lievano.