From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!
Saturday, August 23, 2025
Image: Wikimedia Commons/Duolingo, Inc. / Johnson Banks / Fontsmith (Monotype).
Freelance TV producer and writer Gaby Koppel was taking a German lesson on Duolingo when she came across a sentence reading “Magst du die Bücher mit Harry Potter als Figur?” which in English is “Do you like books with Harry Potter as a character?” The correct answer was “Ja, aber meiner Meinung nach ist die Autorin gemein.” In English it translates to “Yes, but in my opinion the author [J. K. Rowling] is mean.”
Image: Wikimedia Commons/Daniel Ogren.
Koppel criticized the language-learning website on X (formerly known as Twitter), writing “Shame on you @duolingo […] How woke do you have to be to let trans ideology infect a language lesson?” and sharing a photo of the lesson. She said that this was the “first and only real-life person” she had seen criticized on the website, adding “Not Putin, not the ayatollahs, but somebody who happens to take a gender-critical stance.”
Duolingo has since apologized “for any offence caused” and promised to remove the content in question.
This is not the first time the Harry Potter author, 60, has come under fire for her controversial views on transgender people. She first started her ongoing string of tweets in 2020, calling out a post concerning “People who menstruate.” Most recently, she has criticized Nicola Sturgeon‘s new memoir, specifically a part concerning trans rights.
