EP1474793A1

EP1474793A1 - Method and device for language comprehension

Info

Publication number: EP1474793A1
Application number: EP03712294A
Authority: EP
Inventors: François Teytaud
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-02-07
Filing date: 2003-02-07
Publication date: 2004-11-10
Also published as: AU2003216973A1; RU2004126842A; US20050091034A1; US20090306958A1; US7587306B2; US8027830B2; JP2005517215A; FR2835642A1; WO2003067556A1; CN1636233A; CA2473155A1; FR2835642B1; CA2473155C

Abstract

The invention concerns a method for source language comprehension designed for a listener mastering a target language, which consists in causing the listener to listen to a statement, consisting of a series of several contents, in the source language and in displaying simultaneously with the listening of the statement a succession of notations marking the succession of contents in the source language, showing a notation marking a content only as from the time when it is being heard and showing, a series of inscriptions in the target language which corresponds to the full statement. The method is characterized in that it consists in showing the whole series of inscriptions before the beginning of the statement.

Description

Method and device for understanding a language

The present invention relates to methods and devices for understanding a language, in particular a living language other than the mother tongue, and, in particular, for learning it.

It is already known to understand a foreign language by listening to statements recorded on discs or on cassettes, and by following their notation printed in this language and also their translation into the mother tongue in a booklet. When the listener stops, it is very difficult for him to find the place of the statement in a foreign language where he stopped, since he has a poor command of the foreign language he wishes to learn.

As the listener must necessarily stop, the statements he hears

~ and the notations he reads on the booklet are subdivided into lessons. Between lessons, the listener hears statements in the mother tongue, which allow him to easily recognize the place in the booklet where he must resume hearing. These statements in the mother tongue are in themselves useless for understanding the foreign language and take up space in the transmitter of the statement as well as in the booklet. The very understanding of the language is made difficult, because the listener must pay attention not only to the sounds he hears and the notations he sees, but also to the establishment of their association since the correspondence of phonemes to the notations s 'performs by their order of succession. The mental effort that this association requires takes place to the detriment of the attention efforts required to understand the language. Attempt has been made to remedy German patent application 4,013

070, by making words heard, for example in English, and simultaneously displaying both these English words and their German translation, the simultaneity being marked for example by the fact that the word which has just been displayed and its translation appear in bold. The invention relates to a method and a device which facilitate the comprehension of the language, by relieving the one who hears not only of any effort of scheduling which is not strictly necessary for the aim pursued but also of an effort of simultaneous understanding. The subject of the invention is therefore a method for making a listener understand a source language in a target language, in which the listener is made to hear a statement, composed of a succession of several contents, in the source language and the '' we simultaneously see with the hearing of the utterance a succession of notations noting the succession of contents in the source language, by showing a notation noting content only from the moment we make it heard and we show a series of inscriptions in the target language which corresponds to the meaning of the whole statement, characterized in that we show all the series of inscriptions before the start of the statement.

By showing the inscription, before the start of the utterance, the listener is relieved of the effort of understanding to be carried out at the same time as the effort of hearing and following the notations. Experience shows that the mind takes precedence over the ear and that the listener will not really pay attention to the sound

_. only if his mind is no longer monopolized by the search for meaning at the time of

»Hearing. According to a very preferred embodiment, for the correct understanding of the language, the contents are all phonemes. We no longer display, as in the German document mentioned above, words without phonic relevance but many notations corresponding to the phonemes themselves. A word in the source language, such as undererstand, will correspond to three distinct and successive phonemes such as a der stand.

The simultaneous hearing of the phoneme and the appearance of the notation now makes it possible to associate them, effortlessly and automatically.

In particular, the notation can be seen at the same time as the corresponding phoneme is pronounced or it can be seen before the next phoneme is pronounced.

Preferably, we show the notation noting the phoneme until the moment when the utterance is finished. The auditor does not have to follow any tracking which, moreover, could hide ratings. The discrimination on the screen where the succession of notations is displayed is made between the succession of already visible notations and the rest of the blank line on which the following notations will appear. We can also use this effect a bold or colored accent script, a follower light beam, a mask which is withdrawn step by step or another graphic distinction when they appear.

According to one embodiment, we see, simultaneously with the hearing of the succession of phonemes a sequence of words, in the target language, each word of the sequence of words in the target language corresponding to a group of phonemes of the source language, by showing a word only from the moment when the first phoneme of the group of phonemes of the source language which corresponds to this word is heard, a group comprising one or more phonemes.

Preferably, we show the succession of phoneme notations along a first line, superimposed on a second line in which we see the sequence of words by aligning vertically the first character of each notation of a group of phonemes with the first character of the word corresponding to this group of phonemes, the vertical superposition of the first characters of each phoneme and word greatly alleviates the effort of attention that the listener must make.

The invention also relates to a device comprising a transmitter • of a statement composed of a succession of phonemes, a screen and means for displaying a succession of notations on the screen noting respectively the phonemes of the succession of phonemes , means for synchronizing the transmitter and display means so as to display the notations on the screen only as and when the phonemes which they note are emitted. According to the invention, the display means comprise means intended to put a series of inscriptions in the form of a series of electrical translation signals and, the means intended to put a series of inscriptions in the form of a series of electric translation signals are such that the electric translation signals appear before the first phoneme is emitted.

According to a particularly simple embodiment to put on

in use, the transmitter comprises means intended to put the succession of phonemes in the form of a train of phonetic electrical signals, the display means comprise means intended to put the succession of notations in the form of a train electrical signals scriptural, and the synchronization means synchronize the phonetic electrical signals and the scriptural electrical signals, this synchronization also being effected on electrical signals that a person skilled in the art knows how to synchronize. According to an improvement, there are provided means synchronized by synchronized return synchronization means of the transmitter and display means. The listener can thus listen to a phoneme immediately and see its notation reappear at the same time (a word, a sentence, a verse, a stanza and / or a paragraph). Finally, the invention relates to a display panel comprising a first line of notations subdivided into groups separated by first intervals, the first line being superimposed on a second line of a series of words separated by second intervals, characterized in that the first character of each group is directly above the first character of a word, a first interval has a length different from that of another first interval, and a second interval has a length different from that of another second interval. This panel can be produced in advance and, combined with means of accentuation, put before the eyes of the auditor to

* the audition or can be produced, at the same time as the audition, on a screen. In the accompanying drawing, given only by way of example: FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a device according to the invention, and FIG. 2 illustrates the notations and words which appear on the screen of the device. The device according to the invention comprises a base 1 in which is stored a statement composed of a succession of phonemes in electrical form. This database 1 is connected by a line 2 to a loudspeaker 3 in which the phonetic electrical signals coming from the base 1 are transformed into sounds. The device also includes a base 4 memorizing a succession of notations corresponding to the succession of phonemes and being in the form of a train of scriptural electrical signals which is sent by a line 5 to a synchronizer 6, which sends them by a line 7 with the interposition of a transducer 8 retransforming the electrical signals into scriptural signals on a screen 9 on which the notations corresponding to the phonemes are displayed. A line 10 connects the base 1 to the synchronizer 6 so that a notation corresponding to a phoneme only appears on the screen 9 when the phoneme is emitted by the speaker 3.

The device also comprises a base 11 in which electrical translation signals are stored which are sent by a line 12 and passing through a transducer 13 to the screen 9. But, unlike the signals coming from base 4, which only appear on the screen as the corresponding phonemes are heard, the inscriptions corresponding to the electrical translation signals appear suddenly on the screen just before the appearance of the first phoneme of the utterance .

There is also provided a synchronized return device 14 for the transmitter and for the display means of the scriptural electrical signals controlled by a control 15 and arranged in such a way that it rehears all or part of the last phonemes and removes the corresponding notations which appeared on the screen.

In a base 16, a series of words is stored corresponding to a word-for-word translation of the succession of phonemes.

. The electrical signals corresponding to this sequence are sent by a

* line 17, at the synchronizer 6, which synchronizes them, first character of a group of phonemes with the first character of a word, before sending them to the screen 9 by a line 18 after passing through a transducer 19.

The time chart in Figure 2 illustrates the invention. The panel includes a third line from the top, therefore the lowest line in which we can read a literary translation, namely "it is difficult for us to admit it", the whole of this translation appearing before the two other lines appear on the screen.

The first line, which is the highest on the screen, notes a succession of phonemes in the source language, in this case in English. In this case, there are eight phonemes Pi to Pβ. It will be noted in particular that the word "understand" in English corresponds to the three successive and distinct phonemes P ₆ , P ₇ and P ₈ . Each phoneme is separated from the phoneme which follows it by an interval called, for the interval separating the phoneme Pi and the phoneme P ₂ , interval PιP ₂ , for the interval separating the phoneme P ₂ and the phoneme P ₃ , interval P ₂ P ₃ etc. On the second line, just below the first, appears a series of words in the target language, in this case in French, each word of the series of words corresponding to a group of phonemes. The word Mi "it" corresponds to the phoneme P ₁ , the word M ₂ "hard" corresponds to the phoneme P2 and the same goes for the phonemes P ₃ , P ₄ , P ₅ , and the words M ₃ , M ₄ , M ₅ , but the word M ₆ corresponds to the group of three phonemes P ₆ , P ₇ and P _β .

The intervals between the words are designated in the same way as in the first line by M ₁ M ₂ for the interval between the word Mi and the word M ₂ , M2 M3 for the interval between the word M and the word M ₃ etc ..

The first character of Pi, namely I is aligned vertically with the first character of the word Mi, namely C. The interval P ₁ P ₂ is equal to the interval M ₁ M2. The first character H of P ₂ is aligned vertically with the first character D of M ₂ . But since M ₂ has one character less than the notation corresponding to the phoneme P ₂ , and since the first character of P _3, namely F is aligned vertically with the first character P of M ₃ , the interval M ₂ M3 is greater than the MιM ₂ interval. As the number of characters in the notation of P3 is smaller than the number of characters in the word M3, the notation P ₄ is shifted further, and P ₃ P is greater than P ₂ P ₃ .

Some intervals between notations are larger than the interval

* minimum. Certain intervals between words, for example P ₂ P ₃ are greater than the minimum interval.

The alignment is carried out as follows:

Step 1 Enumeration of letters and / or signs corresponding to a phoneme or a plurality of phonemes constituting a word in the source language.

The number of these words and / or signs constitutes a “Unit of Original Value, Line 1” (UVO1).

Step 2 Enumeration of the letters and / or signs corresponding to the words of the target language chosen to represent the "word for word" translation of the corresponding words in the source language.

The number of these words and / or signs constitutes a “Unit of Original Value, Line 2” (UVO2).

Stage 3 Meeting in pairs of UVO1 and. UVO2 that match. Step 4 Creation, if necessary, of “Equivalent Value” (VE) if UVO1 # UVO2.

In this case: adding to the smallest value (either UVO1 if <UVO2, or UVO2 if <UV01) as much blank space corresponding to a letter or a sign as necessary to create an Equivalent Value, VE which is equal to the highest value: (either UV01 if> UVO2, or UVO2 if> UVO1) so that either UVO1 = VE or UVO2 = VE.

Drawing :

It's hard for us to understand

I I I I I I_I I_I

UNO1 UNO1 UNO1 UNO1 UNO1 UVO1

I I I I

VE1 VE1 VE 1

It's hard for us to understand

I I I I I I I I

UNO2 UVO2 UVO2 UNO2 UVO2 UNO2

I I

NE2

Binomial number 1: "It's" and "It": UVO1 of "It's" = 4, UVO1 of "It" = 5 therefore substitution of VE1 of value 5 for UV01,

Binomial number 2: “hard” and “hard”: UVO1 of “hard” = 4, UVO2 of “hard” = 3 therefore substitution of VE2 of value 4 for UVO2,

Binomial number 3 “for” and “for”: UVO1 of “for” = 2, UVO2 of “for” - 4: therefore substitution of VE1 of value 4 for UVO1,

Binomial number 4: "us" and "us": UV01 of "us" = 2, UVO2 of "us" = 4: therefore substitution of VE1 (of value 4) for UVO1,

Binomial number 5: “to” and “of”: UV01 of “to” = 2, UV02 of “of” = 2: no registration, Binomial number 6: "understand" and "understand": UVO1 of "understand" = 10, UVO2 of "understand" = 10: no registration.

Claims

1. Method for making a source language understood by a listener mastering a target language, in which the listener is made to hear a statement, composed of a succession of several contents, in the source language and it is made to be seen simultaneously with the hearing of the utterance a succession of notations noting the succession of the contents in the source language, by showing a notation noting a content only from the moment one makes it heard and makes one see, a sequence of inscriptions in the target language which corresponds to the meaning of the whole statement, characterized in that the entire series of inscriptions is shown before the start of the statement.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the contents are all phonemes.

3. Method according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that one sees simultaneously with the hearing of the succession of phonemes a sequence of words, in the target language, each word of the sequence of words of the target language corresponding to a group of phonemes in the source language, by showing a word only from the moment when the first phoneme of the group of phonemes in the source language is heard

* which corresponds to this word, a group comprising one or more phonemes.

4. Method according to claim 3, characterized in that we see the succession of phoneme notations along a first line, superimposed on a second line in which we see the sequence of words by aligning along the vertical, the first character of each notation of a group of phonemes with the first character of the word corresponding to this group of phonemes.

5. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the notations and / or the words are shown by distinguishing them graphically on their appearance.

6. Display panel comprising a first line of notations subdivided into groups separated by first intervals, the first line being superimposed on a second line of a series of words separated by second intervals, characterized in that the first character of each group is plumb with the first character of a word, a first interval has a different length from that of another first interval, and a second interval has a different length from that of another second interval.

7. Device comprising:

- a transmitter (1 to 3) of a statement composed of a succession of phonemes,

- a screen (9), and

means (4 to 7) for displaying a succession of notations on the screen (9) noting successively the phonemes of the succession of phonemes,

- means (6) for synchronizing the transmitter (1 to 3) and display means (4 to 7), so as to display the notations on the screen (9) only as and measurement that the phonemes which they note are emitted, characterized in that- the display means (4 to 7) comprise means (11) intended to put a series of inscriptions in the form of a series of signals translation and,

- The means (11) are such with respect to the means (4 to 7) that the electrical translation signals appear before the first scriptural signal.

8. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that

the transmitter (1) comprises means intended to put the succession of phonemes in the form of a train of phonetic electrical signals,

the display means (4 to 7) comprising means intended to put the succession of notations in the form of a train of scriptural electrical signals, and

- the synchronization means (6) synchronizing the phonetic electrical signals and the scriptural electrical signals,

9. Device according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the synchronization means synchronize the first character of the notation of each group of phonemes to the first character of each word corresponding to this group of phonemes.