Back in the day, a little green owl called Duo used to hog the Duolingo limelight.
In many ways, I guess he still does. And who am I to question it!
But back at DuoCon 2020, Duo (graciously) decided to share some of his responsibilities with 10 unique characters.
They all have their own personalities and feature heavily across the Duolingo experience.
Shall we get to know them?
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All Duolingo Character Names
As of April 2022, there are a total of 10 Duolingo characters. They are:
- Bea
- Eddy
- Falstaff
- Junior
- Lily
- Lin
- Lucy
- Oscar
- Vikram
- Zari
Each character has their own personality. They feature in lessons, stories and challenges. They even send out notifications when Duo can’t be bothered!
Let’s get to know them in a bit more detail!
Bea
Bea is easily one of Duolingo’s most recognisable and complex characters.
Described as ambitious and neurotic, Bea knows exactly what she wants — and she’s not afraid to go out and get it!
She underwent a bit of a makeover back in 2021, opting for a more “authentic” style to “suit the community she’s part of.”
She’s also one of Duolingo’s 3 queer characters, alongside Lin and Oscar.
She doesn’t like massages either, apparently…
Eddy
When it comes to Eddy, what you see is what you get!
If there’s one thing Eddy loves, it’s sport. Whether it’s lifting weights or watching football, Eddy’s all over it.
One thing he isn’t all over is his Duolingo streak — which he can barely get beyond a day!
You’ll often find him making it up as he goes along in his parental responsibilities to Junior. His heart’s in the right place — but he’s hilariously hopeless!
Falstaff
Little is known of the great Falstaff.
Other than he’s a bear. A very big bear.
And he wears a scarf.
That’s it.
Junior
Junior is the definition of cheeky!
He’s always trying his luck, whether it’s convincing Eddy to buy him a new video game, ducking maths tests, or trying to get some ice cream on the sly!
He takes a keen interest in frogs and always seems to have an answer for everything!
Lily
Look up ‘sarcastic’ in the dictionary, and it stands a good chance you’ll find a picture of Lily.
Known for her moody facial expressions and glaring indifference, Lily is as introverted as they come.
Sometimes she’ll stretch to reminding you to do your daily Duolingo lessons. But she really doesn’t care either way.
She’s best mates with Zari and only listens to bands you’ve never heard of…
Lin
Lin is as laid-back as they come.
She’s always winging it… yet still manages to come out on top!
Another of Duolingo’s queer characters, she’s also Lucy’s granddaughter — and is perfectly content to crash at her apartment forever!
She’s never held down a full-time job (because who needs one of those?) and loves true-crime series and sandwiches.
Lucy
Lucy’s not as much of a mystery as Falstaff, but she’s far from an open book.
Her past can only be described as fuzzy.
Details are vague. Documents are redacted.
All we know is she’s Lin’s “cool” grandmother…
Oscar
Can’t tell the difference between an americano and a long black? Oscar’s your guy.
The third of Duolingo’s queer characters, Oscar is Lily and Zari’s art teacher.
While he would happily spend his days painting and reminiscing on his trips to Europe, he takes his teaching position *very* seriously.
Vikram
Vikram is the quintessential nice guy.
He’s never met a person he doesn’t like and always seems to have a smile on his face.
Like seriously, the guy could see the positives in losing a 365-day streak!
So if ever you need a pick me up, Vikram’s your man!
Zari
Zari just can’t sit still. She’s always got to be doing something.
The word ‘chill’ just doesn’t feature in her vocabulary.
Zari’s the polar opposite of her best buddy, Lily. She’s super outgoing and has to be top of the class in just about everything.
Zari is the sort of girl to be in 10 clubs at school and president of 8 of them.
Some say she’s even found time to complete every single Duolingo course…
Which Duolingo character is your favourite?
It’s gotta be Junior for me. The kid’s hilarious! I could binge his stories all day 🙂
But who’s your favourite Duolingo character?
Let me know in the comments!
My favorite character is Junior too
I like Lily because she’s like me. Except for me instead of hating people I’m terrified. Gotta love anxiety.
My personal favourite is Zari. The headscarf looks cute on her and the whenever she gives comforting words it made me felt nice.
I think Lily is my favourite. She sort of reminds me of Violet from “The Incredibles”. I also appreciate that she speaks more slowly.
Lily & Zari i adore them both <33
Me too <3
Sameeeeee and Lin but I haven’t gotten her reminder( the main reason why I like the other two) yet
My name is KC Mari & my FAV is Zari for sure! We are SO alike! I’m a model & fashion designer & I’m almost 12! Zari & I both 💖 Fashion!
My favorite is Eddy. Also…I passed your weekly XP😜 Follow me at EvieKnevie on Duolingo
My favorite character is Junior
Lucy or Falstaff.
Lucy’s incredible- she was a secret agent in the 80s, dances Capoeira, does BASE jumping, etc.
And Falstaff is just like BRUH.
Agree on Lucy cause she is a bit scary (cat and phone in her hair) but then she will sit in a chair with her cats., and I will relate.
Gotta love Falstaff and Duo, too, cause they are cuties.
I didn’t know they had names until I saw this. I’m learning Welsh and I’d assumed the names used were their names, Lily was Megan, Oscar was Gareth (my dad is also a moustashioed Gareth) Lin was Sioned ( the gay art teacher) Junior was Dewi, Eddy is Owen, the owner of a nightclub in Aberystwyth who likes parsnips and rugby and Lucy , Mrs Jones who has a herd of cows and at least one tractor. As a dragon (draig) is mentioned a lot us Welsh folk should have a big red dragon also.
Probably Zari, but Lily is close behind. I feel like I am an odd mix between the two lol. Follow me on Duolingo: i_play_video_games3
The bear is *NOT* called that, he’s called fo-fo!!!! Please follow me on Duolingo!! My name is: Shadow zehra.
Fo-fo appears to be a bear cub, maybe Falstaff’s son, but on Duolingo he is an adult bear called Falstaff
Vikram is the most normal one in the French course. Why have such weird voices in a language course? Lily speaks in a monotone as if she is suicidally depressed. Oscar sounds very snooty and uptight. One of the women usually sounds very patronising. Junior can be very excitable. In the German course he sounds like he is as high as a kite. There is also a French male character who barks out sentences, it sounds quite aggressive and rude. I listen to a lot of podcasts for native French speakers, and I’ve spoken with many French people, and I do wish Duolingo would use normal voices like these for its characters. Why choose really eccentric voices, when people like me look for ‘role models’ in terms of spoken French? How are learners supposed to understand the correct use of pitch, tone , stress and melody when the characters are weird? I’ve never heard anyone speak like the depressed woman and the snooty man.
If you listen to the sentence instead of focusing on the voices they do use inflection and tone etc, just in their own unique “voices”. I think the voices used are used because they all have different speed/cadence/inflection/pitch/tone etc which is the same as normal people, although these are exaggerated examples of that. It’s to help learners get used to all different manners of speech as you would in real life – you never know if someone is going to speak really fast, or in a tone you find confusing – so instead of being left unable to understand different speakers because they aren’t the same as the voice and speech patterns that you learned from, these exaggerated persona’s help learners hear the sentence rather than the voice that speaks it. I think they’re also exaggerated to make them fun and more memorable and clearly they’re more likely to be remembered (as well as the lessons they teach) if people like them and – as shown here – are able to have a favourite.
That’s just my thoughts though.
I LOVE LILY. I am an introvert and she is just so chill in second place is Lucy or Falstaff I love how nothing is known about Falstaff and Lucy is just an awesome grandma, who can’t love that. Also I noticed that Vikram’s wife was left out, her name is Priti.
I personally like Zari a lot. Honestly, Bea looks a lot like a boy, which feels weird. Falstaff is probably in my top three, although I am not sure exactly why I like him so much.
Zari is the best. Enthusiasm is cool.
My favorite character is Lily. She describes my personality perfectly. There’s always something that makes her grumpy, and Duo always has to push her in the Duolingo lessons.
Junior; he’s so cute!
My favourite character is Zari. Falstaff is close behind.
falstaff is my fave. he seems judgemental at first, but when you get a question right, he breaks into the largest smile that makes my day every single time!
My top 5.
1. ZARI!!! She’s literally on my profile picture!
2. Eddy. Gotta say, he’s not so far behind.
3. Vikram. The only problem is that it looks like he copied Zari with the dastar on his head.
4. Bea. The new look is kinda disappointing, but I can’t argue.
5. Junior. He’s funny, but not as much as Zari, or even Eddy.
Matt, follow me on Duolingo. Name: Diper Overlode. Also the o’s in Overlode have umlauts.
i used to think lin was a guy
I just need to know the name of the teacher in spanish course and he’s not included from those characters, i love his sound so much , keep me going with love ❤️
Please anybody tell me the name. Thank you🙏
What about Priti, Vikram’s spouse?
Matt, just letting you know you slipped into Commonwealth English in this post. Technically, the way you used “sport” in the following sentence would be considered incorrect in American English (or at least non-standard and a bit odd [to most Am. Eng. speakers] or ‘British’ [to those with significant exposure to Commonwealth English]):
“If there’s one thing Eddy loves, it’s sport. Whether it’s lifting weights or watching football, Eddy’s all over it.”
Statistically unlikely exceptions aside, an American English speaker would say ‘sports,’ here. (S)he might construct the sentence differently if (s)he had a pedantic concern about the ‘number’ agreement between thing/it (singular) and ‘sports’ (plural), but ‘sports’ would always be the form chosen (unless this person had had significant exposure to British English and also some preference to use that form, even if a not-entirely-conscious one). If you’re going for an inclusive/pan-English approach, I totally support that. But the Duolingo lessons themselves seem to be teaching American English, specifically, and I wouldn’t want people who believe Duolingo is teaching/exposing them to that form, specifically (which isn’t better than any other form of English, don’t mistake my intentions) to receive the impression that an American English speaker would usually use singular “sport” in a sentence like the one about Eddy. (In case you need proof that singular ‘sport’ used this way isn’t standard in American English, ~’athletics’ is not included in its list of definitions on merriam-webster.com.) When ‘sport’ (in Am. Eng.) involves, well, ‘sports’ (athletics), it’s a count noun, and refers to a specific type of sport (tennis, basketball, etc.). Its mass noun sense in Am. Eng. tends to be limited to a more general (and rather old-fashioned, at this point) ‘recreation’ one — and nothing to do with athletics, particularly. (E.g., making ‘sport’ of someone.)
My favorite character is probably Oscar or Falstaff even though Oscar is queer he seems just cool and charming and i like his style his like a real Español 🤌 and do i even have to say anything for Falstaff? He’s a talking bear and thats not all he talks ALL LANGUAGES fr intelligent bear and his cute (●♡∀♡)