A popular language learning app Duolingo has over 120 million users and teaches 19 languages. Icelandic, however, is not one of them. A petition has been started recently to bring more attention to the case.
Icelandic currently has about 314,000 native speakers, but its popularity has been growing over the years. Tourists visiting Iceland and expats living in the country would benefit from having an Icelandic course available via a convenient app.
Lillian Bernard, the initiator behind the recent petition, says: “I launched this petition because the original thread where we could voice our desire for Icelandic on Duolingo was deleted on March 22. For 7 years it has been ignored, and will now be silenced by this decision.” She adds: “I, like many others, clearly would love to learn Icelandic; I think this endeavor could become something even bigger! Bringing attention to this issue would not only support our goal, but also benefit Iceland’s tourism industry, and perhaps increase the interest of foreigners alike to Iceland!”
The petition has already been signed by 817 people, many of them Icelanders. See the petition here. A successful petition campaign doesn’t guarantee that Duolingo will add Icelandic, but it could certainly highlight the importance of considering it.
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