Language of love: The adorable story of how two people fell in love on 'Duolingo'

It is quite normal for people to find their true love in public places like coffee shops, public transport and at parties. However, it still sounds rather unusual to find the love of your life on a language-learning app. Such a thing did happen with Amanda Lopez and Rob Ciesielski. They got to know each other for the first time on Duolingo, which later turned into a super cute love story, according to Duolingo's blog. Lopez, who lives in the Philippines, first downloaded the Duolingo app in 2013 and used to learn different languages like Italian, German and French, and recently learned Mandarin. On the other hand, Ciesielski, who is from the US, started using the app in 2020 to learn the Spanish language.

It is funny that Lopez was learning Mandarin as she was interested in another person who was also learning the same language. “I thought, maybe if I knew more Mandarin, he would want to go steady with me!” she said. Unfortunately, that relationship did not work out.

It was only in 2021 that Lopez and Ciesielski started talking to each other. One day, Lopez noticed that someone was congratulating her for her streak on the language learning app and it was none other than Ciesielski. She clicked on his profile but wanted to find a way to talk to him. So, she searched for his name on Facebook and she was sure that she had found the right person. She messaged him, “Are you the guy that keeps congratulating me on Duolingo? Thank you, I try to keep going on because the congratulating helps.”

A few days later, he responded to her that it was him on Duolingo. He said, “Yes, that’s me. Cool, I wasn’t sure if you were just a super cute bot haha.” However, Lopez did not know that Ciesielski had also looked for her on Facebook but could not find her due to her common name. They started messaging and soon began to like each other. Due to Covid-19, they could not meet each other for the longest time, but that did not stop them from continuing to grow closer. "We’ve come quite a way, from calls to video chats to care packages sent halfway across the globe to virtual family introductions. And where our relationship is now will only continue to expand,” Ciesielski said.

Lopez still can’t believe that they met on Duolingo and their relationship has come so far. "I am still floored to this day that I met him on a language learning app. Who would have thought learning a language on a mobile app could bring you true love?" said Lopez. In the summer of 2022, Ciesielski traveled to the Philippines to meet Lopez and her family. Later, they took a trip to another island and started planning their life together.

In January 2023, Rob and Amanda finally got married in the Philippines. And to celebrate where it all started, they created Duolingo-inspired multilingual greetings for their bridal party as they entered the reception.