How to Make Learning as Addictive as Social Media | Duolingo's Luis Von Ahn | TED

翻译人员: Jia Z 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

So, I'm from Guatemala.

我来自危地马拉。

This is a public service announcement,

下面是一则公共服务声明：

that is where Guatemala is.

这里，是危地马拉。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Also, that is not where they keep the prisoners.

另外，危地马拉不是关押囚犯的地方。

That is called Guantanamo.

那叫关塔那摩。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Not the same place.

不是一个地方。

So Guatemala's right below Mexico.

危地马拉位于墨西哥的正下方。

And for the Americans in the audience,

对于观众中的美国人来说,

and let this sink in, because it really applies in most ways,

请你细品， 因为它确实适用于大多数方面，

for the Americans in the audience,

对于观众中的美国人来说,

you can think of it as Mexico's Mexico.

你可以把这里看作是 墨西哥的墨西哥。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Just like the US doesn't want illegal immigration from Mexico,

就像美国不想要 从墨西哥来的非法移民，

Mexico doesn't want illegal immigration from Guatemala.

墨西哥也不想要 从危地马拉来的非法移民。

It's a smaller country.

这是一个更小的国家。

It's a poor country.

一个贫穷的国家。

And well, what can I tell you,

好吧，我能告诉你的是，

it has much better Mexican food.

它有更好吃的墨西哥餐。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Guatemala is a very poor country.

危地马拉是一个非常贫穷的国家。

And a lot of people talk about education

很多人将教育视为

as something that brings equality to different social classes.

给不同社会阶层带来平等的东西。

But I always saw it as the opposite, as something that brings inequality.

但我一直认为，恰恰相反， 教育带来的是不平等。

Because what happens in practice

因为现实情况是，

有钱人可以买到真正良好的教育，

is that people who have a lot of money can buy themselves a really good education

and therefore continue having a lot of money.

从而继续拥有很多钱。

而那些没钱的人

Whereas people who don't have very much money

几乎不会学习如何读写，

barely learn how to read and write

因此从来都挣不到多少钱，

and therefore never make a lot of money.

And this is especially true in poor countries.

在贫穷国家尤其如此。

Now, I was fortunate that I received a rich person's education

我很幸运，虽然并非出生富贵,

even though I didn't grow up rich.

但我接受了富人的教育。

And it’s because I’m an only child.

这是因为我是独生子。

And my mother, who was a single mother,

我的母亲是一位单身母亲，

spent all of her resources on my education.

她把所有的资源都用在了我的教育上。

And this allowed me to come to college to the US

这让我能来美国上大学，

and eventually get a PhD in computer science.

最终获得计算机科学博士学位。

Now because of all of this

由于所有这些，

about 10 years ago,

大约十年前，

I decided I wanted to do something

我决定要做一些事情，

that would give equal access to education to everyone.

让每个人都有平等受教育的机会。

Oh, by the way, this is what I want to talk to you about today,

顺便说一句，这就是我今天 想和大家聊的话题

giving equal access to education to everyone.

让每个人都有平等的受教育的机会。

At the time, I was a professor of computer science

当时，我是卡内基梅隆大学的

at Carnegie Mellon University,

计算机科学教授，

and I decided to work on this with my PhD student, Severin.

我决定和我的博士生 Severin 一起研究这个问题。

The way my brain works,

从我的大脑运作方式来看，

all of education is just too general of a problem.

所有的教育都是一个太笼统的问题。

So I decided, let's start by teaching one thing.

所以我决定，让我们从教一件事开始。

And then I started thinking, OK, well, what should we teach first?

然后我开始想，我们应该先教什么？

我们应该教数学吗？

Should we teach math?

我的意思是，我们俩都喜欢数学。

I mean, we both love math.

Me and my cofounder, we both love math.

我和我的联合创始人，我们都喜欢数学，

And, you know, we didn't decide to do math.

但我们并没有决定做数学。

Then we started thinking, well, maybe we should teach computer science.

然后我们开始思考， 也许我们应该教计算机科学。

But eventually, and this is maybe surprising to people in North America,

但最终，这可能让北美的人们感到惊讶，

eventually, we decided that the best subject to start with

最终，我们决定最好的学科是

was teaching foreign languages.

从教授外语开始。

And let me tell you why.

让我告诉你为什么。

There's a number of reasons.

原因有很多。

One of them is that there's a huge audience for it.

其中之一是它有大量的受众。

There’s about two billion people in the world learning a foreign language,

世界上大约有 20 亿人在学习外语，

无论是在校内还是校外。

both in school and outside of schools.

Most of these people, by the way, are learning English.

顺便说一句，这些人中的大多数 都在学习英语。

About 80 percent of them are learning English.

他们中约有 80％ 的人在学习英语。

In this weird map right here,

在这张奇怪的地图中，

all the countries in green

所有绿色国家的人

are countries in which people are predominantly learning English.

主要学习的是英语。

And the reason for that

究其原因

is because English can truly transform your life.

是因为英语可以真正改变你的生活。

In most countries in the world,

在世界上大多数国家，

knowledge of English can significantly increase your income potential.

英语知识可以显著增加你的收入潜力。

So this is another reason why we decided to start with foreign languages.

因此，这是我们决定 从外语开始的另一个原因。

And it's because you can directly make more money

这是因为如果你学习另一种语言，

if you learn another language, in particular English.

尤其是英语， 你可以直接赚更多的钱。

And see, this is pretty different than many other subjects.

你看，这与许多其他学科有很大不同。

For example, take math.

例如，以数学为例。

In the case of math,

就数学而言，

just knowledge of math does not increase your income potential

仅仅了解数学并不能增加你的收入潜力，

because usually you have to learn math to then learn physics

因为通常你必须先学数学，才能学物理，

to then become a civil engineer, that's how you make more money.

然后成为一名土木工程师， 这就是你赚更多钱的方式。

Whereas with languages, if you are a waiter and you learn English,

而在语言方面，如果你是 一名服务员并且学习英语，

now you can be a waiter at a hotel and make more money.

那么现在你可以在酒店当服务员 并赚更多的钱。

So we decided, well, let's get started by teaching languages.

所以我们决定，好吧， 让我们从教授语言开始吧。

Now, we also convinced ourselves

我们还说服自己，

that the only way to really reach a lot of people

想要获得更多受众的唯一方法

was by using a mobile phone, or a smartphone in particular.

是使用手机，尤其是智能手机。

See, building schools all over the world is simply too expensive.

因为在世界各地建造学校 实在是太昂贵了。

On the other hand,

另一方面，

most of the world's population already has access to a smartphone,

世界上大多数人口已经在使用智能手机，

and the trend is that that fraction is only going to increase.

而且这一趋势只会增加。

So we decided at the time

因此，我们当时决定，

that we would make a way to learn foreign languages on a mobile phone

我们要打造一种人人都可以通过手机

that was accessible to everyone.

学习外语的方法。

And then we called it Duolingo.

然后我们称之为“多邻国”。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Now in order to truly be accessible to everyone, rich and poor,

为了让所有人，无论贫富，都可以使用，

Duolingo uses a freemium model to support itself.

多邻国使用免费增值模式自给自足。

What that means is that you can learn as much as you want

这意味着你可以随心所欲地学习，

without ever having to pay.

而不必付钱。

But if you don't pay,

但是，如果你不付钱，

you may have to see an ad at the end of a lesson.

你可能需要在课程结束时看到一则广告。

Now, if you don't like ads,

如果你不喜欢广告，

you can also pay to subscribe to turn off the ads.

也可以付费订阅以关闭广告。

And it turns out that the vast majority of the revenue for Duolingo

事实证明，多邻国的绝大部分收入

comes from people who pay to subscribe to turn off the ads.

来自付费订阅以关闭广告的人。

Now, who are these people who pay to subscribe to turn off the ads?

那么，这些付费订阅 以关闭广告的人是谁？

Well, they're usually well-off people in rich countries like the US and Canada.

他们通常是美国和加拿大等 富裕国家的富裕人群。

Who are the people who don't pay to subscribe?

谁是那些不付费订阅的人？

They usually come from poorer countries like Brazil or Vietnam or Guatemala.

他们通常来自较贫穷的国家， 例如巴西、越南或危地马拉。

So what I like about this model

因此，我喜欢这种模式的地方在于，

is that it is a small form of wealth redistribution

它是一种小规模的财富再分配形式，

because we're basically getting the rich people

因为我们基本上是在让富人

to pay for the education of everyone.

为所有人的教育付费。

So I like that.

所以我喜欢这样。

(Applause)

（掌声）

So with smartphones, we can reach a lot of people

有了智能手机，我们可以获得更多受众，

and we can even get the rich people to pay for the whole thing,

我们甚至可以让富人为用户付钱，

which is great.

这太棒了。

However, if you're trying to deliver education with a smartphone,

但是，如果你想用智能手机提供教育，

you run into a humongous problem.

你会遇到一个巨大的问题。

And it is that smartphones come equipped

正是智能手机

with some of the most addictive drugs that humanity has ever engineered.

配备了一些人类有史以来 最容易上瘾的“药物”。

TikTok, Instagram, mobile games.

抖音、Instagram、手机游戏。

See, delivering education over a smartphone

看到了吗，通过智能手机提供教育

is like hoping that people will eat their broccoli,

就像希望人们能吃掉西兰花一样，

but right next to it, you put the most delicious dessert ever made.

但是就在它旁边，你放了 有史以来最美味的甜点。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

If you really want to deliver education to everyone,

如果你真的想为所有人提供教育，

not only do you have to make it accessible,

你不仅要让教育变得容易获得，

but also you have to make it so that people want to actually learn.

还必须让人们真正想学习。

And with Duolingo, we've been able to do this.

多邻国已经能够做到这一点。

And at the highest level, the way we've done this

在最高层面上， 我们做到这一点的方法

is by making the broccoli taste like dessert.

是让西兰花尝起来像甜点。

I'll say it another way.

我换个方式说，

What we've done is that we've used the same psychological techniques

我们所做的是，我们使用了

that apps like Instagram, TikTok or mobile games use

与 Instagram、抖音或手机游戏等 应用程序相同的心理技巧

to keep people engaged,

来保持人们的参与度，

but in this case, we use them to keep people engaged

但在这种情况下，我们使用它们 来保持人们的参与度，

but with education.

但用在教育上。

Let me give you some examples of these techniques.

让我举几个例子来说明这些技巧。

One of the most powerful ones is the notion of a streak.

其中最厉害的就是“连胜”的概念。

What a streak is, is it’s just a counter

所谓“连胜”就是一个计数器，

that measures the number of days

用来衡量

that you've used the product consecutively.

你连续使用该产品的天数。

You just take that number,

你只要拿这个数字，

you put it very prominently in your product

把它放在你的产品中非常显眼的地方，

and then people come back every day.

人们就会每天都会回来。

And the reason people come back every day is because, well,

人们之所以每天回来是因为，

if they don't come back, that number resets to zero

如果他们不回来， 这个数字就会重置为零，

and people don't want to lose their streak.

人们不想失去“连胜”纪录。

It works.

这招很管用。

Now, on the one side,

一方面，

streaks have been criticized for, for example,

例如，“连胜”因为让青少年沉迷于

getting teens addicted to Snapchat.

Snapchat 而受到批评。

But in the case of an educational app,

但是就教育应用程序而言，

streaks get people to come back to study every day.

“连胜”可以让人们每天回来学习。

Now, to give you an idea of the power of streaks,

为了让你大致了解“连胜”的力量，

in the case of Duolingo,

就多邻国而言，

we have over three million daily active users

我们有超过 300 万的每日活跃用户，

that have a streak longer than 365.

他们的 “连胜” 纪录超过 365 天。

(Applause)

（掌声）

That means they haven't missed a day in the last year or longer.

这意味着在过去一年或更长时间里， 他们没有错过任何一天。

Now, fun fact about streaks.

关于 “连胜” 的有趣事实。

What country do you think has the longest average streaks

你认为哪个国家的平均 “连胜” 最长？

for an educational app?

就教育类应用而言。

It's Japan.

是日本。

Of course.

当然。

Shortest-ever streaks?

最短的“连胜”？

Latin America, baby.

拉丁美洲，宝贝。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But we're fun, hey, we're fun.

但是我们很有趣，嘿，我们很有趣。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Another important mechanism to get people to come back to your product

让人们回到你的产品的另一个重要机制

are notifications.

是通知。

On the one side, notifications can be really spammy and annoying,

一方面，通知可能会像 垃圾信息一样且很烦人，

but in the case of an educational product,

但是对于教育产品来说，

people actually want to be reminded to learn.

人们实际上想要收到学习提醒。

In the case of Duolingo, we have a very sophisticated AI system

就多邻国而言，我们有一个 非常复杂的人工智能系统，

that basically chooses when to send the notification

它基本上可以选择何时发送通知

and also what to say in each notification

以及在每个通知中说什么，

to maximize the probability that people come back.

以最大限度地提高人们回来的可能性。

Now, interestingly,

有趣的是，

even after all this sophistication,

即使经过所有这些复杂处理，

it turns out that the algorithm for choosing what time

事实证明，选择何时向你发送通知的算法

to send you a notification is pretty simple.

非常简单。

Do you know what is the best time to send people a notification?

你知道向人们发送通知的最佳时间吗？

I'll tell you.

我来告诉你。

It's 24 hours after they used the product last.

是在他们上次使用该产品 24 小时后。

There's an easy explanation.

有一个简单的解释。

If you were free yesterday at 3pm,

如果你昨天下午 3 点有空，

you’re probably free today at 3pm as well.

那么今天下午 3 点你很可能也有空。

So this is what a very sophisticated millions of dollars of AI found.

这就是一个非常复杂的 价值数百万美元的人工智能发现的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It's funny.

这很有趣。

Now with notifications you shouldn't be spamming.

有了你不应该关闭的通知。

And we're not spamming, with Duolingo,

而且我们并不是频繁发送，我们多邻国

we actually stop sending notifications after seven days of inactivity.

实际上会在你 7 天不活跃后 停止发送通知。

So if you don't use Duolingo for seven days,

因此，如果你在 7 天内 不使用多邻国，

we stop sending you notifications.

我们会停止向你发送通知。

Now, at some point it occurred to us,

在某个时候，我们想到了这一点，

if we're stopping to send people notifications,

如果我们要停止向人们发送通知，

we should let them know.

我们应该让他们知道。

So we started sending this notification to people saying,

因此，我们开始向人们发送这个通知：

"Hey, these reminders don't seem to be working.

“嘿，这些提醒似乎不起作用。

We'll stop sending them for now."

我们将暂停发送它们。”

You know what people do when they get this notification?

你知道人们收到这个通知后会怎么做吗？

They come back.

他们回来了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Passive aggressive.

消极攻击。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Works for my mother, works for Duolingo.

这对我妈管用，对多邻国也管用。

(Laughter and applause)

（笑声和掌声）

These passive aggressive notifications

这些消极的攻击性通知

are really good at getting people to come back

确实很容易让人们回来，

back because they feel like our green owl mascot has given up on them,

因为他们觉得我们的绿色猫头鹰 已经放弃了他们，

so they come back.

所以他们回来了。

And speaking of our green owl mascot, by the way,

顺便说一句，说到我们的 绿色猫头鹰，

because all our notifications come from our green owl mascot

因为我们所有的通知都来自 我们的绿色猫头鹰，

and well, he's passive aggressive and also pretty pushy,

而且，它是消极攻击性的， 也很咄咄逼人，

this has given rise to a lot of memes on the internet

这在互联网上催生了很多表情包，

that make fun of the great lengths that he will go through

这些搞笑的表情包表明它为了让你回来

to get you back to learn a language.

学习一门语言所付出的巨大努力。

Here's one of my favorite ones.

这是我最喜欢的一个。

This is it's a meme, it’s one of my favorite ones.

这是个表情包， 也是我最喜欢的表情包之一。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Basically looks like you forgot your Spanish lessons.

貌似你好像忘记了上西班牙语课。

And then there's an intruder alert,

然后是入侵者警报，

presumably the owl broke into your house to get you to learn language.

大概是猫头鹰闯入你家， 为了让你学习语言。

Now, Duolingo has entered the zeitgeist.

现在，多邻国已经成为 时代精神的一部分。

And there's thousands of memes, there's SNL skits about it.

有成千上万的表情包， 还有 关于它的《周六夜现场》短剧。

And it's because we've managed to get people to want to learn a language

这是因为我们成功地通过使用 手机游戏和社交媒体

by using the same techniques

吸引人们参与的

that mobile games and social media use to get people engaged.

相同技术，来让人们想要学习一门语言。

And this is a really important point,

这是非常重要的一点，

let me say this.

让我这么说。

I don't actually believe that there's a way to make an educational app

实际上，我不相信有办法让教育应用程序

be as engaging as something like TikTok or Instagram or mobile games.

像抖音、Instagram 或手机游戏 之类的应用程序一样让人沉迷。

But the good news is that --

但好消息是 ——

And by the way, the reason I don't believe that

补充一句，我之所以不相信

is because ultimately you have to teach people something.

是因为最终你必须教人们一些东西。

And it's hard to compete with, like, cats and celebrities.

这很难与猫咪和名人竞争。

But the good news is that I don't think you have to.

但好消息是，我认为你不必这样做。

See, here's the thing.

你看，事情就是这样的。

When you're learning something, you get meaning out of it.

当你学习一些东西时， 你会从中得到意义。

Whereas when you're scrolling for two hours on Instagram,

而当你在 Instagram 上 浏览两个小时后，

a lot of times afterwards, you feel like you just wasted your time.

很多时候，你会觉得自己浪费了时间。

So I think it's actually OK if your educational product

因此，我认为， 如果 你的教育产品的活跃度

is only 80 or 90 percent as engaging as something like TikTok,

只有 TikTok 等产品的 80% 或 90% 其实是可以的，

because the other 10 or 20 percent

因为另外的 10％ 或 20％

will be provided by people's internal motivation,

将由人们的内在动机提供，

though of course, not much more than that.

当然，仅此而已。

This is really a key point.

这确实是一个关键点。

If we want to get people to do something meaningful,

如果我们想让人们做一些有意义的事情，

you can use the same techniques that apps like social media use

你可以使用与社交媒体等 应用程序相同的技巧

to get people to do it.

来吸引人们去做。

And even if you're not as engaging as those apps are,

即使你的吸引力不如那些应用程序，

you can still get hundreds of millions of people to use your product.

你仍然可以吸引数亿人使用你的产品。

In the case of Duolingo, for example,

例如，就多邻国而言，

there are more people learning languages on Duolingo in the United States

在美国，用多邻国学习语言的人数

than there are people learning languages across all US high schools combined.

超过了美国所有高中 学习语言的人数的总和。

(Applause)

（掌声）

And this is true in most countries in the world.

世界上大多数国家都是如此。

My hope is that -- I know we can do this, but, you know,

我的希望是 —— 我知道我们可以做到，

my hope is that as humanity,

我希望，作为人类，

we can do what Duolingo has done for learning languages

我们能像多邻国在 学习语言方面所做的那样

but for all other subjects.

但面向其他所有学科。

Where we can get people to learn math with mobile phones,

我们可以让人们用手机学习数学，

like millions of people to learn math with mobile phones

比如数百万人用手机学数学、

or physics or whatever.

物理或其他任何东西。

I hope for a future in which screen time is not a bad thing,

我希望未来屏幕使用时间 不是一件坏事，

in which we can deliver high-quality education to everyone, rich or poor,

我们可以使用手机为所有人，无论贫富，

using a mobile phone.

提供高质量的教育。

But the single most important thing that I can end this talk with,

但在这次演讲结束之时， 我要说的最重要的一件事

is a reminder to please, pretty please, I beg you,

就是提醒大家，拜托，求求你们，

do your language lessons today.

今天完成你们的语言课。

Thank you very much.

非常感谢。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Helen Walters: Luis, thank you so much.

海伦·沃尔特斯：路易斯，非常感谢。

I wonder if you can just say a little bit more about that last point,

我想知道你能否就最后一点展开说说，

how do you think you can apply this type of thinking

你认为如何将这种思维

to other subjects?

应用于其他学科？

So you mentioned math, and things like that.

你提到了数学之类的学科。

How do you do that?

你怎么做到呢？

Luis von Ahn: I think in particular,

路易斯·冯·安：我认为尤其是

subjects that are learned through repetition

那些通过重复来学习的学科，

and it turns out most things that are kind of really meaningful

事实证明，大多数真正有意义的东西

are learned through thousands of repetitions.

都是通过数千次重复来学习的。

You learn to read through repetition,

你通过重复学习阅读，

you learn elementary school math through repetition.

你通过重复学习小学数学。

Most things that you can learn through repetition,

你可以通过重复学到的大多数东西，

you can actually gamify and turn into something like Duolingo,

你实际上可以游戏化， 然后变成像多邻国这样的东西，

人们经常做而且有趣。

where people just do it a lot and do it fun.

解释之类的事情要困难一些。

It's a little harder for things like explanations.

这可能需要一些非常好的视频。

That probably is going to require some really good videos.

萨尔·汗（Sal Khan） 在这方面做得非常出色。

Sal Khan is doing a really good job with that.

但是对于需要大量重复的事情，

But for things that require a lot of repetition,

我认为我们可以使用相同的方法。

太棒了，谢谢分享。 谢谢。

I think we can use the same methods.

(Applause)

（掌声）