‘TikTok Refugees’ are learning Mandarin Chinese on Duolingo for RedNote

In a few days, TikTok could be banned in the US, rendering the app unusable and removing it from app stores. Instead of making do with Instagram Reels, people looked for a closer alternative and found Chinese social media app “RedNote” or Xiaohongshu, which translates to “little red book.” It shot to the top of the Apple App Store download list, and according to Reuters, more than 700,000 users joined the service within just a couple of days. Apparently, though, RedNote isn’t the only app that has benefited from TikTok’s looming ban. The language learning app Duolingo has revealed that it has seen a “216 percent growth in new Chinese (Mandarin) learners in the US compared to this time last year.”

While RedNote has an English interface, most of its content is in Chinese, and American users are probably hoping to be able to interact with more videos. As TechCrunch notes, the graph Duolingo posted clearly shows a big uptick in new learners at the same time RedNote shot up in popularity. On TikTok, Duolingo posted videos with the hashtags #rednote and #tiktokban. In one video, someone wearing a mask of the app’s green owl mascot is teaching Mandarin Chinese for beginners, starting with “Welcome, TikTok refugees.”

Meanwhile, RedNote’s original Chinese users are getting language lessons from the app’s American imports. They’re now apparently getting schooled on gen Alpha American slang and TikTok trends, like “my shayla” and “Raw. Next question.” Chinese users are also having fun with the new users, telling them that they’re their “Chinese spy” and jokingly asking for their data to give to China’s government.

TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, only has until January 19 to sell the app’s US assets to prevent a shutdown.