While Duolingo Inc. (NASDAQ: DUOL) is on a mission to provide a free language learning experience to all, that won’t stop the East Liberty-based company from having a bit of marketing fun along the way, even if that entails the promotion of a fictional language for fans of an acclaimed television series.
The company announced it formed a new partnership with HBO Max — the streaming platform from premium-pay television provider Home Box Office Inc. (HBO) — to bring updates to the “High Valyrian” course offering on the Duolingo platform. The fictional language is spoken by those in the HBO original television show “Game of Thrones,” which has a prequel show airing on HBO come Aug. 21 called “House of the Dragon.” The “Game of Thrones” franchise, which received dozens of Primetime Emmy Awards during its nearly decade-long run, concluded in 2019.
“I am thrilled for new and old fans of the ‘Game of Thrones’ series to experience the High Valyrian language. It’s been a pleasure to revisit the world of Westeros for ‘House of the Dragon’ and work with the team at Duolingo to breathe new life into this course,” David Peterson, the linguist who developed the full High Valyrian language based on the book series “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin, said in a press release.
Duolingo said it worked with Peterson directly to incorporate the addition of over 150 new words and more than 700 new sentences in High Valyrian into its course offering.
Users are able to start taking lessons in the updated fictional language just as they would any of the other 35-plus languages on the platform. The company touts that 513,000 users are already learning High Valyrian on the Duolingo platform, slightly less than the 515,000 who are learning Welsh but a small fraction compared to the 29.5 million who are learning Spanish, the most popular language being learned on the platform by English speakers.
“At Duolingo, we know content drives interest in language. Our data shows a direct correlation between user growth and what’s happening in the cultural zeitgeist, from K-Pop to Eurovision, and various international shows and movies,” George Audi, head of business development at Duolingo, said in a press release. “We leaned into this by partnering with HBO Max to build excitement for one of the most anticipated shows of the year. This unique partnership around learning High Valyrian will enable fans across the globe to see how fun learning a new language can be while connecting closer with the world of Westeros.”
Duolingo has offered Valyrian for more than five years.
Duolingo’s recent marketing prowess has earned it esteemed recognition in the advertising industry.
On July 13, global media and marketing publication Ad Age recognized Duolingo for its viral-producing TikTok account and its ability to amass more than 1.2 billion views combined across all its videos posted on the social networking platform over the past few months. Ad Age named Duolingo one of 20 brands to its “America’s Hottest Brands 2022” list because of its TikTok success and other recent marketing efforts.
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