If you’re looking to learn Tongan then you may be wondering if the popular language learning platform Duolingo has a Tongan course.
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Does Duolingo Have A Tongan Course?
Despite the importance of the Tongan language, Duolingo doesn’t currently have a Tongan course.
Tongan is a fascinating Polynesian language with a long and rich history. Today it is spoken by approximately 187,000 people mainly in Tonga.
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.
Related Post: Is Tongan Hard To Learn For An English Speaker + How Long Does It Take To Learn?
Why Is Tongan Not On Duolingo?
It’s hard to say exactly why Duolingo hasn’t yet produced a Tongan course as Tongan has a long and important history especially in Tonga.
Few Speakers
One reason why Duolingo may not have produced a Duolingo Tongan course yet is that there are relatively few people who speak the language.
Tongan currently has around 187,000 speakers around the world. This is quite a small amount compared to other more popular languages and may be a reason why Duolingo has chosen not to produce the course yet.
Having said that, Duolingo has produced courses on smaller languages (in terms of number of speakers).
They have courses on small minority languages such as Navajo which only has 171,000 speakers total!
Additionally they have made a High Valyrian course of which there are no native speakers as this is a fictional language.
Less Popular Language
Another reason why Duolingo may have not yet produced a Duolingo Tongan course is that there isn’t enough demand.
Tongan 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.
Even though Duolingo has produced courses for languages with few speakers, e.g. Navajo and Hawaiian, these languages are much more well-known and popular compared with Tongan so this could be a reason why they were produced and Tongan hasn’t been.
It’s a shame that Duolingo hasn’t produced a Tongan course because there definitely is some demand for English speakers wanting to learn Tongan (you wouldn’t be on this page if there wasn’t!).
Tongan is the main language used in Tonga, but is also a common language heard in Australia and New Zealand as there is a sizable Tongan population there.
So there’s definitely some demand for the language.
Duolingo is currently working on other languages which they believe will be more popular with their users.
When Will Tongan 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 Tongan isn’t a course they’re working on. This means that Duolingo Tongan 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 a Tongan course.
Alternatives To Duolingo To Learn Tongan
Whilst Duolingo is a fantastic resource for learning a new language, don’t let their lack of a Tongan course stop you from learning the language if you want to.
There’s plenty of fantastic courses out there for Tongan – both free and paid.
Free Alternatives For Learning Tongan
Memrise
Memrise is an online language learning app that uses fun games to help it’s users learn their chosen language.
They have a few free Tongan courses that will teach you some basic vocabulary and phrases in Tongan.
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.
Digital Dialects
The website Digital Dialects introduces some basic words and phrases and is a great place to start your Tongan journey.
They have a range of interactive vocabulary sets covering topics including numbers, colors, animals, basic phrases and more.
They also include audio recorded by a native Tongan speaker.
YouTube
There are also a few videos on YouTube for beginners that introduce some basic phrases and concepts of the language.
Check out the video below as an example:
Paid Alternatives For Learning Tongan
Tongan Audio Course
The Intensive Course In Tongan is a fantastic audio course that will get you speaking from day 1.
This course is perfect for anyone who wants to focus on being able to speak the language (rather than reading and writing).
The course features 130 lessons, comes with a follow along book and claims to get you fully fluent in as little as 6 months.
It’s a great course and explains the language in clear, easy to understand terms.
You can supplement this course with a Tongan – English dictionary to learn more vocabulary.
Thanks for reading this post on whether Duolingo currently has a Tongan course.
Even though Duolingo doesn’t currently have a Tongan course, there are still lots of other ways that you can learn Tongan.
Check our other Tongan content here.
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