WATCH: Trevor Noah to help teach Zulu and Xhosa around the world!
Updated | By Stacey and J Sbu
The South African comedian just dropped some major news.
The free language app, Duolingo, recently held its annual conference and the local comedian and low-key Hollywood star made an appearance.
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Trevor Noah was happy to announce that he will be joining forces with one of the world's most popular apps to bring isiZulu and Xhosa into more homes across the world.
Duolingo has teamed up with the Trevor Noah Foundation and Nal'ibali, a SA non-profit, and together they are hoping to start teaching people these languages in 2022!
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Just in case you have never heard of Duolingo: it is a free app, although there is a premium version available, that has globally become the most popular way to learn a new language and boasts over 500-million downloads. It is so good even 100,000 teachers use it.
Duolingo founder and CEO Luis von Ahn interviewed Trevor during the Duocon 2021 live streaming event and even said that the whole Duolingo team unanimously agreed that if the brand was a celeb, it would be Noah for the following reasons - he makes things fun, he's worldly, and multi-cultural.
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During the interview, Trevor also spoke about the joy learning a new language can bring and what an inspiration his own mother Patricia, who speaks nine languages, has been and how excited he is for the launch.
He's excited about the addition of Xhosa because he is eager to learn the language and speak it fluently.
When talking about the Xhosa course, he also made sure to point out that there would need to be a whole section just for the clicks.
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While it is very exciting to think that more people all over the world will be learning these wonderful African languages, it is possibly more significant for the South Africans wishing to learn the two languages that are spoken by more than 20-million people in the country.
Duolingo has been working hard to diversify its platform and offer a wider range of African languages such as Swahili (added in 2017 and has over 363,000 learners).
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When asked what tips he has for anyone trying to learn a new language and why he enjoys it so much, Trevor said:
The key is to jump in, enjoy the sounds, realise you’re going to be an idiot… humble yourself. The best thing about speaking multiple languages is that instead of just having one fruit, you’ll have a fruit salad. You can pick the best word or phrase to suit what you’re trying to express.- Trevor Noah
You can watch the full interview below:
Main image courtesy of Duolingo Official YouTube
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