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To encourage people to try learning Spanish, Duolingo is opening a taqueria in Pittsburgh

Language-learning app Duolingo has over 40 million monthly active users worldwide. To get even more people to try their tongue at a new language, the app is opening its own taqueria.

At Duo's Taqueria, customers will receive a free item or a discount on their order if they participate in a bite-sized challenge in Spanish. Questions will be pulled from Duolingo's app and can be answered by speaking into a microphone when customers place their orders. The challenge is fully automated and integrated into the taqueria's ordering flow, but front-of-house staff will have some leeway in rewarding a patron's earnest efforts.

Duo's Taqueria will open in June, next-door to Duolingo's Pittsburgh headquarters. Chef Marcella Ogrodnik previously ran Café Agnes, an award-winning farmer's market stand serving Salvadoran food. At Duo's, her menu will combine traditional Mexican techniques with Pennsylvania ingredients.

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Duo's Taqueria may well have been inspired by a collaboration that Duolingo entered into last year. To launch its Hard Seltzer Limonada line, Corona partnered with the language-learning app to create a voice-activated vending machine that rewarded people for ordering in Spanish.

The new taqueria hits the same sweet spot. By presenting an unexpected opportunity to speak another language, Duolingo reminds people of their potential to build knowledge. No better way to nudge hesitant learners out of their comfort zone than by adding a dose of fun, novelty — and free food ;-)