Frequently Asked Questions

Can I support this project financially?

Yes, we have a page on OpenCollective. We use the money to cover the hosting costs and for the TTS services.or

Is this website open source?

Yes it is! The code is hosted on Github rgerum/unofficial-duolingo-stories

If you like it you can give it a star.

When will these stories be on the official Duolingo website?

Probably never. This project is not linked to Duolingo in any way. Duolingo has in the past worked with volunteers but they stopped the volunteer program. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that Duolingo will adopt these stories.

Are you allowed to use the material of Duolingo?

Yes, we asked Duolingo for permission and came to an agreement that we are allowed to use the story material for this purpose. If you want to use Duolingo material, please ask them. Our licence agreement only covers this website.

Can I contribute?

Yes! The project is run by volunteers that want to bring the Duolingo stories to new languages. You can join us on Discord.

Will you add a course in language X?

If we have a volunteer, or better yet, a group of volunteers, then yes. Maybe you can spread the word, find some native speakers in your target language, and bring them to our Discord server.

What about a dialect or regionally-specific language?

We are hesitant to support languages that are too regionally-specific because at times they are not well-defined enough that a course would even make sense to learners. Applications for dialects/regional languages will be considered against a set of factors on a case-by-case basis. It might be a “yes” if your language:

Is classified as an “endangered” language
Has a well-defined written form and spelling
Has an ISO code
Has a language foundation or association to support it
Has a broad body of published literature

What about a constructed language (conlang) or auxiliary language (auxlang)?

While the primary focus of this project is to feature natural languages, we acknowledge that some conlangs/auxlangs are used to a similar extent as some minor natural languages. Esperanto is a well-known example with thousands of speakers worldwide. Especially because it is also taught on Duolingo, it makes sense to include it here.

In order to maximize the benefits to learners, we will be more interested in featuring a conlang/auxlang when we see some of these factors, so please be sure to discuss them in your application.

There are a significant number of speakers/learners of the language (e.g. > 100)
The language has been in development for a significant period of time (e.g. 10+ years)
There are other websites or texts that provide material on the language (e.g. an official dictionary)
The language has received some degree of notoriety in the conlang/auxlang community (e.g. received awards, featured in articles/videos)
The language has its own Wikipedia edition (e.g. Esperanto Wikipedia, List of Wikipedias) and/or an ISO code (e.g. Esperanto, “epo”)

If your language is a personal conlang/auxlang project or a very new project from a small group, we are hesitant to support the language as we do not see clear value for our community of learners. When we do allow these smaller languages access to the project, we will not feature them on the main page of Duostories.org. The course contributor would be given a direct link to share with interested learners.

Can I write my own stories as a contributor?

Our current goal is to create good translations of the existing Duolingo stories. Duolingo has put great effort into developing stories that help learners to learn a new language using stories. We do not have the resources to create similar high quality stories, nor do we see the need to go beyond the current stories. Maybe when we have finished translating all of them ;-).

I found a mistake!

Yes, despite our continuous efforts, there might be mistakes in the translations. You can reach us on Discord to report mistakes.

I found a bug on the page or want to suggest a new feature.

We have a bugtracker on Github where you can report issues or feature requests. Or again discuss them with us on Discord.

Who runs this website?

The website was developed by me, "randrian". You can find me on Duolingo or on Github. Some people did minor contributions to the website, see the Github repository. You are welcome to be part of them.

I am in no way associated with Duolingo.

But of course this website would be nothing without its active group of contributors! Meet them on Discord.