MORE than 100,000 people have signed up to learn Gaelic on free online language service Duolingo since St Andrew's Day, the website's own figures have shown.

The app and website was launched in 2011 and teaches more than 90 languages to users. Last month the service began giving learners the option to start a Gaelic course - and 20,000 sign-ups before the official release. 

Now, the course has surpassed 100,000 learners - more than the number of people who actively speak the language.

According to the 2011 census, 57,375 people could speak Gaelic, whilethe University of Edinburgh suggested 5460 are currently studying on other platforms – 62,835 in total.

READ MORE: Scottish Gaelic Duolingo ‘has more users than people who speak language’

At the start of the month, the Duolingo course surpassed 65,000 learners.

Colin Watkins, Duolingo’s country manager in the UK, said: “To have more people learning on Duolingo in under a week than can speak the language or are currently learning elsewhere is amazing.

“It’s testament to how easy, fun and effective learning on Duolingo can be whether it’s learning Scottish Gaelic or Spanish, Latin or Japanese.

“We’ve seen everyone from Alex Massie, Sanjeev Kholi, Irn-Bru and the author of the Outlander get involved.

“We hope people from across Scotland sign up and start learning. At the very least it will help you understand place names and road signs.”