I am deeply passionate about preserving the Cornish language, a beautiful and unique part of our heritage that is unfortunately fading away. It is not taught in schools and many people who wish to learn it are unable to find good free resources. There are no free apps currently that are effective if you are trying to learn the beautiful language. Duolingo, with its impressive reputation as an effective language learning platform, could be instrumental in keeping this language alive.

The Cornish language was declared extinct by UNESCO in 2009 but was later revived due to the efforts of dedicated linguists and community members. However, there are still only around 500 fluent speakers (source: The Guardian). This number could significantly increase if more accessible learning resources were available.

Duolingo currently offers courses for other minority languages such as Irish Gaelic and Welsh which have seen great success. For instance, there are over 1 million learners of Irish on Duolingo (source: Silicon Republic), a number that exceeds the native speaker population.

Including Cornish on Duolingo would not only provide an accessible resource for those interested in learning it but also raise awareness about this endangered language globally. By signing this petition, you can help us urge Duolingo to include Cornish among their course offerings and contribute towards preserving a precious part of our cultural heritage.

I haven’t always lived in Cornwall but I am really passionate about the language and heritage, and now consider myself to be Cornish. I have also recently discovered that Duolingo has added fictional languages such as ones from Star Trek and game of thrones, if these fictitious languages are available our real and extremely important one should be as well!