Language and writing apps

Learning a language, and writing it well

Spoken English classes are advertised in almost every Indian town. Many students and workers see good English as the way to a better job. Others learn German or Japanese to work abroad. And students everywhere run their assignments through a grammar checker before they submit them. Learning a language, and writing well in one, is one of the largest education markets sold directly to consumers.

Two kinds of product

Apps that teach a language

They teach through short daily lessons on a phone: vocabulary, listening, speaking and grammar.

Writing and reading tools

Grammar checkers, paraphrasing tools that rewrite a sentence in other words, and text-to-speech tools that read any text aloud. Study-help websites belong here too. Students use them to find explanations and worked answers.

How the money flows. Most of these products are freemium. Anyone can use a basic version for free, often with advertisements. Users pay a monthly or yearly subscription to remove the advertisements and unlock more. Only a small share of users pay, so the apps need very many users. To keep users coming back every day, many apps use game-like features, such as points and streaks: the count of days in a row a user has practised. The industry calls this gamification.

How a freemium app earns: anyone uses a basic version for free, often with advertisements; points and streaks bring users back every day; and a small share pay a subscription to remove the advertisements and unlock more.

Why AI hits this market first. AI models translate, correct grammar, rewrite sentences and hold a conversation, in almost any language. Those are exactly the jobs these products were built to do. So this market is the one in education that AI changes most directly. A free AI chatbot now does much of what a paid writing tool did.

What AI models now do, and the products built for those jobs: translating and holding a conversation are what language apps such as Duolingo, Airlearn and EnglishBhashi teach, and correcting grammar and rewriting sentences are what writing tools such as QuillBot do.

Every company named here has posted software engineering jobs in India. Famous companies that don't actively hire software engineers in India are left out.

Keep reading, free

One more section is on this page: Language apps and writing tools. Sign in to read it here, in full.

Continue with Google

Language apps and writing tools

Language apps and writing tools

Apps that teach a language

Duolingo

with engineers in Bengaluru, runs the world's most popular language-learning app. It also runs the Duolingo English Test, an English test that many universities abroad accept for admission.

Airlearn

from the makers of Unacademy, is an AI language-learning app. (More on Unacademy in Market Segment 42.1, Test prep and exam coaching platforms.)

EnglishBhashi

is another company in this area.

Writing and study tools

Learneo

with engineers in Bengaluru, owns Course Hero, a study-help website, and QuillBot, an AI tool for paraphrasing and grammar, used by millions of students. Learneo and QuillBot are tied for the most job postings in this Market Segment.

Reading aloud

Speechify

with engineers in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad, reads text aloud in natural-sounding voices. It is used by students with dyslexia, a condition that makes reading hard, and by anyone who prefers to listen.

The conversation partner.

Language learners have always lacked someone to practise with. AI models now hold a conversation in any language, at any level. They correct pronunciation and explain grammar. The apps are becoming tutors. The harder question is whether people will still need to learn a language that AI can translate instantly.

That is the language market: apps that teach a language, and tools that help people write and read in one. Most of it is sold directly to users on subscription, and it is the part of education that AI is changing fastest.

Who they hire

Who these companies hire, and for what, is on What edtech companies hire for.

← Previous in Edtech

School and university management software

Next in Edtech →

Upskilling platforms and coding bootcamps