If you’re looking to learn Afrikaans then you may be wondering if the popular language learning platform Duolingo has an Afrikaans course.
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Does Duolingo Have An Afrikaans Course?
Despite the importance and long history of the Afrikaans language, Duolingo doesn’t currently have an Afrikaans course.
Afrikaans is a fascinating West Germanic language with a long and rich history. Today it is spoken by approximately 17 million people, mainly in South Africa and Namibia.
Many people who are looking to learn a new language use Duolingo, a fun language learning platform that features bite-size lessons on various languages.
Duolingo is known to be a fun, free and easy way to learn a new language.
Why Is Afrikaans Not On Duolingo?
It’s hard to say exactly why Duolingo hasn’t yet produced an Afrikaans course as Afrikaans is a very popular language.
Duolingo has produced courses on much smaller languages (in terms of number of speakers).
They have courses on small minority languages such as Scottish Gaelic which only has 57,000 speakers total!
Additionally they have made a Klingon course of which there are no native speakers as this is a fictional language.
By this standard, it’s definitely not the number of speakers of the language that is a problem.
Less Popular Language
One reason why Duolingo may have not yet produced a Duolingo Afrikaans course is that there isn’t enough demand.
Afrikaans isn’t a popular language for native English speakers to learn. Relatively few people are interested in learning the language compared with other languages and Duolingo produces courses based on demand.
This is a shame because it’s certain that there is some demand for English speakers wanting to learn Afrikaans (you wouldn’t be on this page if there wasn’t!).
Duolingo is currently working on other languages which they believe will be more popular with their users.
When Will Afrikaans Be Available On Duolingo?
The Duolingo Incubator is a feature where you can see what languages Duolingo are currently working on producing a course for.
The Duolingo courses are created by volunteers. You can contribute to a course on the Duolingo Incubator page if you’re fluent in more than one language.
This page simply shows which courses are currently being produced so you can apply to help build a course if you want to.
Having checked the Duolingo Incubator, I can see that currently Afrikaans isn’t a course they’re working on.
This means that Duolingo Afrikaans isn’t going to be released any time soon as they’re not even working on producing a course.
Within the incubator, on their language list they do say ‘more languages will be available for teaching soon’ however it is unclear how long we may be waiting for more courses to be added.
How Do Duolingo Decide On Which Courses To Create?
Duolingo themselves state that they decide on new courses based on the Duolingo forums.
They suggest the best way to get them to add a new language is by visiting their forum section and searching for suggestions that have been made in the past.
You then should add an upvote or comment to these posts. The more upvotes the more likely Duolingo will take notice and build a course.
If you want to help then you can upvote this Duolingo forum post to show Duolingo that people want an Afrikaans course.
The above forum post is actually one of the more popular forum posts requesting a new course. This is a positive sign and hopefully Duolingo takes note and starts producing the course soon.
Alternatives To Duolingo To Learn Afrikaans
Whilst Duolingo is a fantastic resource for learning a new language, don’t let their lack of an Afrikaans course stop you from learning the language if you want to.
There are plenty of fantastic courses out there for learning Afrikaans – both free and paid.
Free Alternatives For Learning Afrikaans
Mondly
A fantastic place to start your Afrikaans language learning journey is the Afrikaans Course on Mondly.
Mondly is a great app that is a fun, easy and effective way to learn a language.
You can access Mondly from anywhere on any device and the best part is that you can start learning for free.
They do also have a premium version which gives you access to more content.
Memrise
Memrise is an online language learning app that uses fun games to help its users learn their chosen language.
They have tons of free Afrikaans courses that will teach you the alphabet, vocabulary and phrases in Afrikaans.
It’s really interactive and gradually introduces new words slowly so you have time to consolidate them all. There’s also plenty of opportunities to practice what you’ve learnt.
Paid Alternatives For Learning Afrikaans
Afrikaans Textbook
If you’re looking for a standard textbook to help you with Afrikaans then the Colloquial Afrikaans book is one of the best out there.
It’s a great reference point and explains the language in clear, easy to understand terms.
It will teach you a range of useful vocabulary, phrases and grammar.
I’d also recommend getting an English – Afrikaans dictionary to expand your vocabulary and look up new words.
uTalk
The online platform uTalk offers an Afrikaans course.
They focus on game-based learning and state that their course uses native speakers and features more than 2,500 everyday words.
The course will teach you a range of relevant Afrikaans vocabulary and get you speaking the language straight away.
AfrikaansPod101
AfrikaansPod101 is a great resource for someone looking to learn Afrikaans fluently.
They feature both audio and video lessons recorded by native Afrikaans teachers who will explain everything to you in simple terms.
They also have word lists and flashcards to help you study.
Thanks for reading this post on whether Duolingo currently has an Afrikaans course.
Even though Duolingo doesn’t currently have an Afrikaans course, there are still lots of other ways that you can learn Afrikaans.
Check our other Afrikaans content here.
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