Busuu is a

language learning Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language. In other words, it is how human beings gain the ability to be aware of language, to understand it, and to produce and use words and ...

platform on web, iOS and Android that allows users to interact with native speakers. In 2021,

Chegg Chegg, Inc., is an American Educational technology, education technology company based in Santa Clara, California. It provides homework help, digital and physical textbook rentals, textbooks, online tutoring, and other student services. The comp ...

acquired Busuu for $436 million.

History

Busuu was founded in May 2008 by Bernhard Niesner and Adrian Hilti. The company launched with a free version of its website and opened its first office in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. In 2009, Premium membership was introduced to access to all features on the platform and in 2010, the first Busuu mobile app was launched. Busuu is named after the endangered language

Busuu Busuu is a second-language acquisition, language learning platform on web, iOS and Android that allows users to interact with native speakers. In 2021, Chegg acquired Busuu for $436 million. History Busuu was founded in May 2008 by Bernhard N ...

, spoken in

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. According to an ethnological study conducted in the 1980s, only eight people at that time were still able to speak this language. In 2010, Busuu created a short language course to encourage people to learn the Busuu language using Busuu. After closing a

Series A round A series A is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. It can be followed by the word round, investment or financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in excha ...

of 3.5 million euros from PROfounders Capital and private investors in 2012, Busuu further improved the functionalities of the platform and increased its global market share. During that year, the company moved its offices and staff to a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

based office. The head office of Busuu has remained in London ever since. In May 2016, the company launched Busuu for Organisations, the language learning platform for universities and businesses. Using the platform, organisations can give their students or employees access to Busuu Premium. The platform allows organisations to view learner's progress and use of the app over time. Personalised courses have been created for organisations such as

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

. This included lessons about the specific contexts an Uber driver would encounter with their passengers. In 2016, it was a launch partner for

Google Home Google Nest, previously named Google Home, is a line of smart speakers developed by Google under the Google Nest brand. The devices enable users to speak voice commands to interact with services through Google Assistant, the company's virtual ...

Assistant, offering voice-activated lessons in Spanish; in 2017, it launched a virtual reality app for learning Spanish, available for the Oculus Gear and Oculus Go, and in 2018, Busuu launched a comprehension test for the

Amazon Alexa Amazon Alexa is a virtual assistant technology marketed by Amazon and implemented in software applications for smart phones, tablets, wireless smart speakers, and other electronic appliances. Alexa was largely developed from a Polish speech s ...

platform. On November 29, 2021, education technology company

announced it would acquire Busuu for approximately $436 million (€385 million) with the deal expected to close in early 2022.

Concept

Language courses

Busuu incorporates the communicative elements of social learning into self-study language learning. Through its website and mobile apps, Busuu offers free and Premium access to 14 language courses, taught in 15 interface languages. Busuu offers courses based on

CEFR The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, abbreviated in English as CEFR, CEF, or CEFRL, is a guideline used to describe achievements of learners of foreign languages across Europe and, increasingl ...

levels A1, A2, B1, B2 and C1. Study material is divided into themed lessons, each based around common conversational scenarios. Lessons contain vocabulary and grammar practice, pronunciation exercises, interactive quizzes and conversational practice with native speakers who are members of the Busuu community. In 2019, Busuu launched third-party content with lessons featuring videos and articles from

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

and

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

, to allow learners to learn from real-life examples of language use. Through their partnership with

McGraw-Hill Education McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...

, learners can receive a level completion certificate between beginner level A1 and intermediate level B2 in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese. The tests focus on dialogue, comprehension and productive skills. Joint certificates with McGraw Hill have been discontinued. Now it is only Busuu who endorses the certificate. There is free access to all courses, and paid access to Premium features. Grammar instruction, spoken and written conversations, spaced repetition vocabulary training and other features such as Offline Mode, are only available for Premium learners.

Community

The platform encourages collaborative learning by allowing members to practise their writing and speaking skills with help from native speakers of the language they are learning. All learners correct one another's work. They can converse via asynchronous voice recording or text chat. In this way, every Busuu user is both student of a foreign language and tutor of the languages they can already speak.

Academic research

In 2016, researchers from

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

and the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

conducted a non-peer reviewed study into the efficacy of Busuu's courses. The results stated that learning a language for 22 hours with Busuu Premium was equivalent to sitting one college semester. The study was refreshed in 2025 and published on the private website of the original lead reseacher (by now an Assistant Professor at

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

). Later in 2016, Busuu worked with a senior lecturer at

The Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

to find out about the behaviour of language learners on the platform. The results showed 82% of Busuu learners confirmed that Busuu helped to improve their language learning.Autonomous language learning through a mobile application: a user evaluation of the busuu app
/ref>

References