TikTok U.S. users have been learning Chinese on Duolingo in increasing numbers amid their adoption of a Chinese social app called RedNote ahead of the

"First of all, the Chinese are so nice, they're so sweet and so welcoming. They've over here teaching us Mandarin."

Duolingo has seen a surge in U.S. Mandarin learners as TikTok users explore Chinese social app RedNote amid a looming ban.

RedNote is a foreign-owned app, and experts warn that it could be attacked by the same law that is now banning TikTok.

Despite the massive popularity of RedNote in the United States and the different corners of the globe, a majority of its users are still mainly speaking Chinese, and this language barrier has Duolingo racking up its numbers.

Can RedNote sustain its rapid rise to success with US users? Even with a TikTok ban and Duolingo boost, it faces plenty of headwinds.

The company confirmed to CNBC that there's been a 216% increase in Mandarin learners using the app compared to a year earlier. For context, Spanish, one of the most popular languages on the app, has seen a 40% increase over the same period, Duolingo said.

Duolingo sees a 216% spike in U.S. Mandarin learners as TikTok users migrate to RedNote, boosting demand for language learning apps.

Welcome back to Week in Review. This week, we’re looking at the impacts of the looming TikTok ban in the U.S., including the “TikTok refugees” moving to

Duolingo shares have jumped this week, as the number of Americans learning Mandarin on the app has soared 216%. That's as China's RedNote is now the most downloaded free app on Apple's App Store ahead of the TikTok ban.

This follows US users shifting to the Chinese app Xiaohongshu (RedNote) in protest of the US ban on TikTok, which is set to take effect on January 19. Duolingo said in an X post that there has been a 216% spike in the number of US users learning Mandarin on their app.