Duolingo has apologised after its German course featured a question callingJK Rowling “mean.”
The language learning app was forced to sayentschuldigungafter a user complained that one of the units in its German course featured a ‘chat’ question featuringtheHarry Potterauthor.
During chat questions, users are prompted with a conversation opener and must pick the correct response.
A screenshot of the prompt shows a person asking: “Magst du die Bücher mit Harry Potter als Figur?” which roughly translates to: “Do you like books with Harry Potter as a character?” The correct response translates to: “Yes, but in my opinion, the author is mean.”
The Duolingo user shared her outrage in a post on X/Twitter, writing: “How woke do you have to be to let trans ideology infect a language lesson?”
In response, a Duolingo spokesperson wrote: “We apologise for any offence caused and will remove this content from the app.”
A typical Duolingolanguage courseconsists of several sections, which comprise quizzes grouped into units that users must complete before progressing. As the user progresses, the prompts become more complex and, as such, pose more complex questions.
A section in its French course on the language used in debates requires the user to write prompts or make several assertions about the fundamentals of a democratic society, many of which they may not agree with.
The chat prompt, which resulted in Duolingo’s apology and subsequent removal of the question, does not mention JK Rowling’s views on trans issues.
What has JK Rowling said about trans people?
The 60-year-old author’s views on trans rights arewell-documented. Since her first controversial statement on the community in 2019, in which she came out in support of ‘gender-critical’ campaigner Maya Forstater, she has continued to speak out regularly about trans issues.
In April this year, during an online argument with singerBoy George, JK Rowling misattributed the statistic that 98 per cent of sexual assault arrests in the UK involve men, claiming it suggests that trans women, who she calls “trans-identified men,” are “no less likely” to pose a risk to cis women.
The data, which comes from the Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, does not mention trans people whatsoever.
Also, when challenged on her beliefs that trans-exclusive female spaces would make cis women and girls safer, she wrote in atweetthat “Creeps, voyeurs, paedophiles and rapists don’t campaign to make their predation more difficult. They tend to argue exactly what you’re arguing, ‘there’s no risk, stop pearl-clutching, don’t be a b**ch, let me in’.”
A month later, Rowling announced the JK Rowling Women’s Fund (JKRWF), a private funding organisation which attempts tofinancially support‘gender-critical’ legal cases through the author’s own pocket. Her net worth, as of 2021, is reported to be at least £820 million ($1.1 billion).
In 2022, Rowling also created the Edinburgh-based sexual violence and rape crisis centre,Beira’s Place, which excludes trans women from its facilities.
PinkNews has contacted Duolingo for comment.
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