Can you say squid game in Korean? Language Learning Demand Engines Series

As for squid game Or for kawaii culture, the infatuation of Korea and Japan is driving Language learning booms in East Asia. Japanese is the UK’s fastest growing language this year on the online platform Duolingo, and the Korean is the fourth fastest growing.

Most of the attention is due to cultural issues, as the company noted in its 2021 Duolingo Language Report, which looks at usage across 20 million downloads of its platform.

The unifying elements of Japanese popular culture, such as Pokémon and video games, have joined the global rise in the popularity of animation, such as Dragon Ball And My hero academy.

Duolingo noted that 26% of language learners have been influenced by key cultural moments, such as the Tokyo Olympics and Euro 2020, and by TV shows such as squid gamethat recorded a 76% increase in Korean learners at launch in September. A third of the students said they had decided to watch a movie or TV show in another language.

all over the world, The Japanese outnumbered the Italians It became the fifth most popular language in 2021.

The number of travelers from the United Kingdom to Japan has reached an all-time high before the outbreak of the pandemic, said John Ginoshi, executive director of the Japan National Tourism Organization headquarters in London.

“We definitely realized The growing interest in Japan and Japanese culture in recent yearsHe said, referring to the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and TV shows like Joanna Lumley in Japan, James May: Our Man in Japan and Tom Daley Going Global.

“It could also be due to the continued presence of Japanese food on UK menus, the presence of a generation of kids who have fallen in love with Japanese pop culture and are now growing up appreciating the country again and the language that characters like Pokémon, Super Mario and Studio have given them. Ghibli”.

Spanish, French, German, English and Italian are the most popular languages ​​on Duolingo in the UK, followed by Japanese and Welsh, the fastest growing languages ​​last year.

Wales is still very popular, according to Colin Watkins, the company’s UK head. “We’re approaching two million students, and I hope we’ll get through before Christmas,” he said.

“The growing popularity of Asian languages, spurred by an interest in Asian culture, signals a fundamental shift in students’ motivations and a real shift in what the UK wants to learn.”.