According to data from Sensor Tower, Ukrainians fleeing the war are turning to translation apps and language learning apps to help them get settled in their refuge countries. Unlike the United States which is fairly homogenous when it comes to language, the European continent is awash with many different languages so translation apps will be helpful.
Translation apps saw a 71% increase in downloads month-over-month going from 116,000 installs to 198,000 installs. Translation apps saw a smaller climb of 47% month-over-month from 90,000 to 132,000. The leaders in these categories were Google Translate and the language learning app Duolingo.
Discussing the language apps that were being downloaded, which could provide a clue as to where refugees plan to go, Sensor Tower’s Mobile Insights Strategists Stephanie Chan said:
“Well-known language apps such as Duolingo were part of the cohort, along with language-specific apps. Unsurprisingly, three of the top 10 apps focused specifically on Polish; three others centered on English, and one language app was primarily for learning German.”
The availability of translation and language learning apps is just one of the many benefits that smartphones have introduced over the last 15 years. It’s not too surprising either to hear that Ukrainians are downloading these apps in bigger numbers. The creators of Duolingo have long pointed out that in Sweden, the most popular language to learn is Swedish because immigrants to the country were trying to learn the language.