In the article "Can you say Squid Game in Korean? TV show fuels demand for east Asian language learning," the British daily Guardian on Dec. 4 said the number of Korean learners on the language learning app Duolingo jumped 76% after the show premiered in September. (Screen captured from The Guardian)

By Lee Jihae

The number of students of the Korean language in the U.K. has surged thanks to the global popularity of the Korean Netflix series "Squid Game."

In the article "Can you say Squid Game in Korean? TV show fuels demand for east Asian language learning," the British daily Guardian on Dec. 4 said the number of Korean learners on the language learning app Duolingo jumped 76% after the show premiered in September.

Duolingo, an online platform and app for language learning, had 500 million users worldwide as of November last year.

On Duolingo, Korean had the fourth fastest rate of growth in the number of British learners, with Japanese leading the category, the daily said.

Though Spanish, French and English has higher demand than Korean, the report added, "The increasing popularity of Asian languages, driven by the interest in Asian culture, point to a fundamental change in learner motivations and a real shift in what the UK wants to learn."

Sam Dalsimer, Duolingo's global head of communications, said, "What happens in pop culture and media often influences trends in language and language learning," adding, "The rising global popularity of Korean music, film and television is increasing demand for learning Korean."

The platform has about eight million learners of Korean worldwide.

Earlier in October, Reuters said the number of new users in the U.S. applying to learn Korean rose 40% in two weeks after the premiere of "Squid Game."

jihlee08@korea.kr