When I moved to Mumbai in January 2018 to pursue my MBA, I felt like a fish out of a pond. I realized how natural everyone around me was when speaking Hindi. I knew a bit of Hindi myself; however, I was not fluent. I would think in Telugu or English and translate it into Hindi in real time before responding. If you have worked as a Product Manager, you would know how difficult (read: exhausting) it is to slog with real-time translations.
Within a few weeks, I was certain about one thing – that this improvisation would not work for long. I didn’t want my communication to be a performance all the time; I wanted it to feel real, help me blend in, and be a part of the city in every way. Hence, I decided to take the highway and make an effort to sound like a local. I aimed to match the lingo fluency around me, as “Communication works for those who work at it”.
Figure: The Gateway of India, Mumbai. Source: Pinterest
During my experiment, I realized that language is not just about verbal ease; it is about connecting. People connect far more easily when they speak the same language. I knew that learning this language could open up a lot more opportunities – both on the professional and personal fronts. I could widen my network, pick up essential cues from random conversations that would help my case studies, access local resources, and embrace a sense of belonging in this unknown city.
While I finally found a starting point, there was yet another concern. In this day and age of infinite options, which way should I go? I did not want to take up the traditional language classes with rigorous pedagogy and impending assignments. I wasn’t keen on signing up for the crash courses either, as they barely covered the language. I wanted my skills to feel natural, and I wanted my learning course to be structured.
About five months later, I stumbled upon Duolingo. I had heard about the application before but had hardly paid any attention. How often do we do something unless necessary? However, this actually worked in my favor. Necessity is, indeed, the mother of invention. Also, my stars were aligned. Coincidentally, Hindi was introduced as a language in the app in July 2018.
Once I gave it a try, it turned out to be the perfect tool – fun, interactive, flexible, and focused on real-world language uses. The trick to learning a new language is to pick up the basic words and start practicing. Duolingo has done it very well. For me, the aha moment was when I discovered that you can practice with a real person across the screen, whose native language is the same as the one you are trying to master! The learning sessions felt more like a game, complete with levels and rewards. Amidst all of this, I realized that something far more significant was waiting to be addressed – my MBA curriculum. Adding to it, the bank’s polished marketing emails, which sanctioned my education loan, served as a stark reminder of my purpose in being in Mumbai. Even though I couldn’t sustain the momentum, Duolingo had instilled the confidence I was looking for.
Later in my career, I wondered how Duolingo, a company founded by an American University professor, became a household name for language learning. Here’s what I deduced from my research.
Duolingo, launched in 2011 by Professor Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker (student), is one of the leading language learning platforms known for its unconventional, fun, and gamified approach to education. It is a mobile learning platform, recognized for its flagship app, which has now become the most popular method for learning languages worldwide. Additionally, it ranks as the top-grossing app in the Education category on both Google Play and Apple App Store. (Duolingo Achieves 54% DAU Growth and 40% Revenue Growth in Third Quarter 2024, 2025)
Figure: AI-generated image inspired by the Duolingo app. For illustrative and educational purposes only
As of 2024, the platform has around 575 million users and 100+ million monthly active users (MAU). (Duolingo Hits 100M MAUs, Reports 59% DAU Growth and 41% Revenue Growth in Second Quarter, 2024). It offers courses in more than 40 languages, including the unique ones such as Navajo and fictional ones such as Klingon. (Duolingo Launches 148 New Language Courses, 2025) Operating on a freemium model, around 8.5 % of users are subscribed to Duolingo Plus, contributing to its impressive $750 million revenue in 2024, up by 40% from the previous year. (Duolingo Finishes 2024 with 51% DAUs growth, more than 40 Million DAUs, and Record Revenue in the Fourth Quarter, 2024)
Elevating presence through App Store Optimization
Duolingo is one of the leading apps on the App Store, and it tests various combinations of its images and uses the right keywords to ensure the app is discoverable and comes up as a top search result. This visibility drives massive organic app installs daily.
If you closely observe the image selection and the keywords used on the Duolingo app store listing, you can gain valuable insights. In that case, you will understand the psychology behind their growth strategy, how they highlight fun, ease of use, daily streaks, and community aspects to appeal to casual learners while also ranking high for search terms like “learn Spanish,” “English speaking,” or “free language app.
Well, how does one know what the high-visibility keywords are and how to check them? Here’s where ASO tools like Sensor Tower, MobileAction, etc, help understand the keyword volume and ranking. Here is a sample for Duolingo keywords.
| Keyword | Reported Search Volume ( ASO Tools) | Duolingo’s rank |
| duolingo | 71 | #1 |
| learn spanish | 58 | #1 |
| language learning | 52 | #1 |
| Spanish learning app | 48 | #1 |
| learn french | 37 | #1 |
Source: ASO Tools
ASO strategy = Rank for high-volume keywords + Make them stick with fun visuals and diversity of the offerings + build trust with reviews and download metrics + convince them to install
Let’s take a look at the example of a user acquisition scenario through ASO:
- User types “learn Spanish”, Duolingo appears in the top results, most likely the 1st one
- User compares different apps in the search result, with the mix of fun and visuals, Duolingo feels fun + effective
- The downloads, reviews, rankings, and ratings dominate other apps
- User is convinced to install
- Goes through a smooth onboarding experience