100 Days of Learning Chinese: Product Breakdown of Duolingo

February 1, 2024 | 6 minutes read

categories : Portfolio Human-Centered Product Analysis

“I want to spend a year in Shenzhen,” I mentioned to my friends, with no reasonable explanation. To make my goal a reality, I decided to learn Mandarin Chinese, the primary language in Shenzhen, China.

I quickly realized learning Chinese is difficult - the Chinese character set, Hanzi, is different from the English alphabet, in that the symbols illustrate meanings instead of representing phonetic sounds. I searched on Google for the best way to learn Chinese, and the first result was Duolingo, an application that I initially heard about from Social Media. Duolingo is instantly recognizable for its mascot, a green, pudgy owl, now celebrated as a TikTok celebrity and familiar to many teenagers and adults.

Duolingo is a language learning application that captivates its users by gamifying the process of language acquisition. It goes beyond the basics, ensuring every facet of the app is engaging, much like a game. This includes the competitive League System, motivating Streaks, and the rewarding cycle of awards and achievements. These features are meticulously crafted to enhance the user experience, motivating learners to engage with multiple Duolingo lessons daily.

Maintaining Commitment to Duolingo

The Duolingo application has mechanisms that work together to convince users to take lessons on a regular (multiple lessons on a daily) basis. Users are inclined to continue their lessons every day, and if they want to keep their league, they need to do an average of multiple lessons a day. Here is a breakdown of the features involved that require commitment from their users:

The Streak System: Forgiveness and Goals

Streaks are one of the most powerful tools of the decade for fostering loyalty in applications. Many games reward users for maintaining long streaks, and platforms like Snapchat use streaks to symbolize the strength of friendships. The desire to keep a streak going stems from the effort required to build and maintain a sizeable streak. Losing a streak can be discouraging, making it challenging to regain the same level of motivation to start over. Duolingo is well aware of this dynamic and leverages the Streak System to encourage daily engagement from its users. They reward continuous streaks and frequently remind users to maintain their streak, creating significant pressure to keep up the daily habit, visible through persistent notifications and prompts on the home screen. The emphasis on streaks significantly boosts Duolingo’s user engagement, creating a sense of daily commitment similar to showcasing long Snapchat streaks among friends. Duolingo has mastered the use of streaks to maintain high levels of user activity, making it a key component of their success in keeping users consistently engaged.

Forgiveness: The Streak Freeze

However, Duolingo offers a safety net for those who might miss a day: the Streak Freeze. This feature, often awarded to users, allows for the preservation of a streak for an additional day if a user fails to complete a lesson.

There are many names for this strategy. Educators call this a Second Chance strategy and UX designers call this feature a “forgiveness” or “re-engagement” mechanism. This strategy helps prevent the demotivation that comes with losing a long streak, ensuring users feel encouraged to continue their lessons without interruption.

Goals: The Streak Challenge

Duolingo takes the streak a step further by creating a Streak Challenge. Users are challenged to go days without breaking their streak. Users have the choice to select 7, 14, or 30 days for your Streak Challenge length, which gives users the freedom to give themselves a challenge they feel they can reach. By doing this, users have a shorter goal to work toward that gives a reward for maintaining the streak. Otherwise, users would have to settle for the longer-term rewards for long streaks, given at 50 days, 100 days, 150 days, and 365 days.

You will notice that in the Duolingo app, there is a pattern of creating systems that use Implementation Intentions to create features that have the user create an intentional commitment of continue their streak, word toward their goal, and stay consistent.

“If I need to prolong my streak today, then I will complete a Duolingo lesson in order to work toward my goal of 30 days for my Streak Challenge; otherwise, I will lose my 116 day streak.”

The application creates a framework for users that allows them to decide to take action toward a goal, which in turn, helps solidify a user’s intention to return for their Chinese lessons while giving them an impression of autonomy.

League System: Keep Your Spot!

The League System in Duolingo adds a competitive twist by grouping users to vie against one another. Winning comes in various forms, but there’s a clear path to losing: landing in the Demotion Zone with one of the lowest scores at the league’s conclusion results in demotion. Stay above this threshold, and you maintain your current standing or, if you’re in the Promotion Zone, ascend to the next league.

Leagues offer more than just competition; they present a challenge of upkeep similar to maintaining a streak. Failing to earn enough XP from lessons means falling back to a previous league, which can feel like a setback after investing considerable effort. Climbing back to a former league is possible, yet it demands a significant commitment, pushing users to complete enough lessons to avoid demotion.

Despite the pressure leagues might impose, opting out isn’t an option. Completion of a league automatically enrolls users in the next cycle post-lesson. This means users are continuously engaged in either staving off demotion or striving for promotion, ensuring a persistent, if challenging, engagement with the app. While lessons seem to be fun, features like these make it more stressful to have fun doing lessons, as there is a larger matter at hand: maintaining your level or moving to the next level. This competition-stimulating feature is an example of The Overjustification Effect, and how rewards may cause people to lose motivation for activities they used to believe were fun. Instead of the users wanting to do lessons, this system causes users feel like they need to do lessons to maintain their standing.

Don’t Let Your Friend Down: Friend Quests

You wouldn't want to let your friend down, would you? If you do, they'll know. The Friend Quests feature in Duolingo pairs you with a mutual friend from the list of people you follow on the platform, fostering accountability for both of you to complete these quests. This way, your commitment isn't just to the app but also to your friend who depends on your contribution, just as you depend on theirs. Unlike the League System, Friend Quests are set automatically, but with a significant distinction: you sometimes have the option to choose the friend with whom you want to complete the quest. By initiating a Friend Quest, Duolingo offers another incentive to return to the app: to undertake lessons that keep you accountable to your friends. Furthermore, the app empowers you to choose your quest partner, potentially leading to selections based on who you value more, enhancing the personal connection to the learning journey.

Thank you for reading this far! This is section 1 of 4 sections. More to be posted soon. I will be covering “Combatting Lesson Fatigue”, “Variegated Reminders”, and “Prestige: Stay Consistent or Lose It”. Expect an update in 1 week! -Nathan Daeila