The news: Google Translate is taking on Duolingo with a slate of new features, including a focus on gamification.

• An app update includes customizable language lessons based on skill level and is currently available for English, Spanish, and French learners.
• The lessons track users’ daily progress, similar to Duolingo’s popular “streaks” feature, and can create practice scenarios based on user prompts.

Google Translate also added AI-powered live conversations supporting more than 70 languages, including Arabic, French, Hindi, Korean, Spanish, and Tamil.

Zooming out: The battle for user stickiness is reshaping language tools into engagement platforms. Gamification, a hallmark of the Duolingo experience, is now table stakes for any platform looking to boost retention.

While Google Translate lacks the polished game mechanics of Duolingo or Lingopie, its customizable lessons and activity tracking highlight how utility apps are evolving into more engaging, learner‑centric models.

Google Translate product manager Matt Sheets said the features could serve as a complement to other learning activities, per Engadget, such as formal in-person classes or immersion experiences abroad.

Built-in edge: Powered by Gemini, Google Translate can understand and respond across spoken, written, and visual formats with more human-like nuance. This brings Translate into a new era of real-time, context-aware language experiences.

Mounting competition: These additions could put strategic pressure on Duolingo’s core business. While Duolingo is supported by subscriptions and ads, Google is offering Translate’s new features for free.

Translate lacks some of Duolingo’s stickiness, but Google’s global scale and massive user base give it a major advantage in reach.

Our take: Google Translate's AI features could be a massive blow to the language learning platform’s AI offering, Duolingo Max, which costs $29.99 per month.

Gamification and interactive features can boost engagement, but AI tools aren’t free to operate. Google may swallow Gemini’s translation costs to keep the service free, a perk that Big Tech’s deep pockets can easily handle and that Duolingo might have a difficult time matching.

This content is part of EMARKETER’s subscription Briefings, where we pair daily updates with data and analysis from forecasts and research reports. Our Briefings prepare you to start your day informed, to provide critical insights in an important meeting, and to understand the context of what’s happening in your industry. Non-clients can click here to get a demo of our full platform and coverage.