There are more people learning Irish on Duolingo (143k) than...

[Luis]

there are native speakers of this language (130k)!

[hellerm]

Wait a minute... * Scratches head, looks at map, scratches head * Just a second... * Squints at the atlas *
This is impossible * Makes incredulous face * How is this possible? Because Duolingo is completely awesome!!

[AlexisLinguist]

Wow, that's incredible. No joke, that's amazing.

[MiserableMe]

You must be feeling an immense feeling of pride and responsibility right now hahah

[GeniusJack]

That's so awesome!! :D We can keep this language alive! :D We're going to pull a Hebrew (a language revival). :D

[eyal.horow]

I'm giving you a lingot as a native hebrew speaker, even though I don't think this case comes close to the hebrew's revival.

[Usagiboy7]

O.O bunny + gravity of this news = fallen over

[Alec100]

[ME2300]

This is awesome Bunny!!! xD

[scilling]

In 2013/2014, the number of people attending primary and secondary schools in Ireland was 869,492; Irish is a required subject for almost all of them. Will worldwide interest in the Duolingo Irish course exceed this number?

[pont]

In the US alone, there are over 36 million people who identify as having Irish ancestry. If about 3% of them signed up, they would exceed the number of learners in Irish schools.

[tariqnisarahmed]

Thanks for the stats! So these Irish children are not counted as bilinguals? Or does the 130K figure exclude bilunguals?

[Intifadanow]

it has!

[kristinemc]

Amazing!