1. Over 1.8 billion people are learning foreign languages as the language learning market grows at a 10.9% CAGR to $56 billion. More students are turning to online tools, with digital language learning attracting over $83 million in funding. 2. People spend over 4 hours per day in front of screens, presenting an opportunity for language learning on digital platforms. 3. The vision is for Rakuten to leverage its existing user base and Asian content to develop an integrated language learning platform called VikiLearn that uses videos, games, flashcards, quizzes, and community feedback to effectively teach languages. VikiLearn is already launched.

1. Data-driven innovations in
foreign language learning
Ewa Szymanska
Rakuten Institute of Technology, Singapore
October 22nd, 2016

2. 2
The Universal Translator is real !
… or is it ?
Good afternoon こんにちは

3. 3
Processing human language is hard stuff
• “I ate ramen with egg.”
• “I ate ramen with a spoon.”
• “I ate ramen with a friend.”
Source: Adapted from Siegel, Eric (2013-02-07). Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die.

4. 4
1. Trends
2. The Opportunity
3. Vision
Foreign Language Learning & Technology

5. 5
1.8 billion people are learning foreign languages
Source: The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/04/23/the-worlds-languages-in-7-maps-and-charts
Languages with most
native speakers
Most commonly studied
foreign languages

6. 6
Language Learning market is US$56B (& growing)
10.9% CAGR
projected growth for
all language learning
during 2016-2020
Source:
-The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/04/23/the-worlds-languages-in-7-maps-and-charts/
Research & Markets: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/hrz529/global_online
-Ambient Insight Report, Sam Adkins, 2013-2018 WorldWide Digital English Language Learning Market, Aug 2014
Non-
English
Offline,
19.7
Non-English
Digital,
1.1
English Digital,
1.8
English
Offline,
33.7
2013 Worldwide Language Learning Industry
(US$B)

7. 7
Language Students Turning Towards Online Tools
12%
2013 2020
English
30+ billion USD
Non-English
20+ billion USD
Source: http://www.ambientinsight.com
Offline
Online 5%
5% 13%

8. 8
Digital language learning is getting funded, with
strong focus on ESL and Western Language
83.3M USD 32.0M USD 11.8M USD 7.7M USD 6.2M USD
TenCent Classroom attracted 34m students in first
year in a JV with New Oriental
TutorGroup raised $300m in funding between 2014-2015
primarily focused on digital English Language Learning for
greater China
Source: Ambient Insight 2015-2020 China Digital English Market

9. 9
Chinese as foreign language rises in popularity
• 30 million globally in 2015
• 540% increase in takers of Official Chinese
Proficiency Test (HSK) between 2005-2010;
up to 670K
• Obama calls for 1 million US students
learning Chinese in 2020 from 200k today
1
The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/04/23/the-worlds-languages-in-7-maps-and-charts/
2
Research & Markets: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/hrz529/global_online
3
http://www.cctv-america.com/2015/03/03/chinese-as-a-second-language-growing-in-popularity

10. 10
The Opportunity

11. 11
We spend 4.4 hours of our leisure time in
front of screens each day
The New Multi-screen World: Understanding Cross-platform Consumer Behavior. Google-Ipsos

12. 12

13. 13
Vision

14. 14
Rakuten already delivers lots of exciting
content to its users

15. 15
Community of 160,000
subtitlers; 200 languages
35 million users
Cross-Platform
Rich Asian Content
(20,000 hours)
brings down the language barriers

16. 16
Users are already learning languages with Viki
• 1014 respondents
• Returning visitors of
viki.com
• Based in U.S.
54% of respondents currently learning a
foreign language
55% of those learners use Viki to learn
languages
“I am watching shows and movies that are in
Mandarin Chinese to help me get more used to
‘actual’ spoken Mandarin and not just what I see
in my textbooks.”

17. 17
Assess knowledge, set goals, measure progress
30% of
dialogues
mastered!
Learn 300 more
words to reach 80%
understanding
Words to learn next:
• President (230 scenes)
• Money (104 scenes)
• Together (60 scenes)

20. "let's really, really
do it together.
Okay?”
We should earn
money together.
But we got back
together again
recently.
一起
yīqǐ
together

21. episode: 23
• 有钱大家一起 赚.
• We should earn money together.
episode: 36
• 真真正正地一起做. 好不好?
• "let's really, really do it together. Okay?”
episode: 10
• 但是最近我又在一起了.
• But we got back together again recently

22. 22
真真正正地一起做.
let's really, really do it ______.
Alignment Visualizer, University of Southern California

23. 23
Generate rich flashcards, quizzes, and games
真真正正地一起做. 好不好?
"let's really, really do it ______. Okay?”

24. 24
Learning vocab in context is more effective
真真正正地一起做. 好不好?
"let's really, really do it ______. Okay?”

25. 25
Training your ear to understand native speech
一起 • yīqǐ • together
slow down speech
YesMiss

26. 26
Image recognition for object naming
Rakuten Institute of Technology, Paris - Deep learning for image recognition
Automatic category
suggestion.
Automatic object
naming

27. 27
Leverage community of languages students
and native speakers

28. 28
VikiLearn is Already Live
Source: http://www.viki.com/videos/1077337v-my-best-ex-boyfriend-episode-1

29. 29

30. 30
1. Trends
2. The Opportunity
3. Vision
Foreign Language Learning & Technology