Mr. Trevor Noah and the language app of our generation have teamed up to bring Zulu and Xhosa to the world as of early 2022.
Trevor Noah’s foundation and a non-profit dubbed Nal’ibali are already centered on multilingual reading.
Duolingo
Duolingo is a free language learning app that has changed the way people learn different languages by offering a gamified rendition of teaching. It’s fun and digitalized, two things that the world thrives on. It’s also known for the iconic green owl that has cleverly been marketed to encourage people to continue their lessons.
jesus christ @duolingo that’s one hardcore email campaign pic.twitter.com/ytoKE58uQW
— Henry Birdseye (@henrybirdseye) April 11, 2016
Beyond the green owl memes and social commentary, the app has been revolutionary for students of language. I confess that I couldn’t have sailed through my first year of language studies at university level without the little green mastermind, writes Cape {town} Etc’s Ashleigh Nefdt.
Why Trevor Noah?
Duolingo’s team expressed during the Ducon live steam annual conference that if the language app was a celebrity, it would be Trevor Noah. This is based on the fun nature, multi-cultural dynamic, and worldly underpinnings of both Mr. Noah and the Duolingo app.
Trevor and languages
Trevor speaks five languages fluently, namely English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Tswana, and Tsonga. He also attempts German and Xhosa. Currently, he’s learning Spanish on the Duolingo route.
Trevor expressed in excitement that the two South African languages are taking up space on the app.
On a personal language venture, he explained that he, himself, wanted to learn Xhosa and speak it fluently as per a pretty hilarious interview with Duolingo. In terms of Zulu, he noted that he wanted to brush up because of not being in his country.
As we know, there aren’t too many Zulu speakers in the US of A, but hopefully, Duolingo’s latest courses will help bring Africa to the world.
The Xhosa course is set to be longer than most other language courses, which is linked to the clicks.
“We’re going to have to design entirely new ways of teaching,” a specialist denoted in terms of the African language, as per SA People News.
The language additions are also big news for South Africans who have long wanted to learn the giant tongues of our country. It’s also going to make learning a little more on-brand for students in schools studying Xhosa or Zulu, granted that they have access to the app.
Picture: Duolingo