Tagalog on Duolingo

This article was also published on Medium.

Duolingo is missing a huge opportunity by not offering Tagalog. And if it isn’t already obvious, yes, I’m Filipino. Specifically, an American-born Filipino, which means I’m part of a group that knows this struggle all too well: not speaking Tagalog (or any of the Philippines’ many regional languages).

Many Filipino immigrants don’t pass their native language on to their children, and as a result, a lot of us grow up disconnected from that part of our heritage. There’s no official statistic on how many American-born Filipinos don’t know Tagalog, but based on my own experience? I’d confidently estimate around 90%.

My parents immigrated to the U.S. in 1989 (my dad) and 1992 (my mom). Like many, they had their reasons for not teaching us Tagalog – fear of being ostracized, xenophobia and the pressure to assimilate. But now, as an adult, I feel that loss deeply. I can cook all the dishes from Pampanga and Cavite, I can visit the Philippines as often as my bank account allows, but not knowing my mother tongue leaves a void, one that makes me feel just a little less connected to my roots. And I know I’m not alone in this.

That’s why I decided to create mockups for a Tagalog Duolingo course. If Bahasa Indonesia, a language from the same Malayo-Polynesian family as Tagalog has 1.43 million learners on the platform, why not Tagalog?

And here’s the kicker: Duolingo offers two fictional languages (Klingon and High Valyrian) but not Tagalog.

One of my favorite marketing moments to have witnessed so far this year is the death and resurrection of Duo the owl. Let me quote what was said verbatim from a Tiktok from the official Duolingo account “2025 has got us all locked down, but not to worry, we’re monetizing grief because we’re a corporation! Why process your emotions when you can process a payment?”