JPS63148288A - pronunciation training device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a pronunciation training device for practicing pronunciation of a foreign language or the like.

(Conventional technology) Traditionally, to learn the pronunciation of foreign ($1) words, it is common to practice by listening to language broadcasts on the radio or television, or by listening to language tapes, or to have your pronunciation corrected by a professional teacher. It is true.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) However, in language broadcasting, etc., it is difficult for trainees to judge objectively whether or not their own pronunciation is correct.
In the case of professional teachers, they do not have the ability to correctly explain the subtle differences in pronunciation and corrective methods, so in most cases they rely on having the trainees imitate them over and over again. There is an inconvenience in that there are significant time constraints that must be met.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a pronunciation training device that eliminates these conventional inconveniences.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a plurality of sample pronunciations that require correction, sample pronunciations that serve as models, and corrective comments corresponding to each of the sample pronunciations. a reproducing means having a recording medium recording at least the pronunciations generated by the trainee and the sample pronunciations on the recording medium reproduced by the reproducing means; a voice memory; and a control means. is recorded in the voice memory and reproduced from the recorded voice memory, and a corrective comment and a model comment corresponding to one of the sample pronunciations are selectively reproduced from the recording medium. shall be.

(Function) The control means records the pronunciation generated by the trainee, a plurality of sample pronunciations recorded on the recording medium that require correction, and the sample pronunciation that serves as a model in the voice memory. Next, the pronunciation generated by the trainee and a plurality of sample pronunciations recorded in the voice memory are played back, and the trainee judges which of the plurality of sample pronunciations his/her own pronunciation is closest to. When a sample pronunciation close to one's own pronunciation is found, the control means is operated to reproduce a corrective comment corresponding to the sample pronunciation from the recording medium.

In this way, the trainee learns the corrective matters for his or her own pronunciation from the corrective comments, and based on this, the trainee performs pronunciation corrective training to get closer to the sample pronunciation that serves as a model.

(Example) Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a reproducing section, and the reproducing section 1 has a recording medium (not shown). The recording medium is a cassette tape, a compact disk, a floppy disk, or the like, and any one of them is selected as appropriate.

The playback unit 1 has a microphone 2 and a selector switch 3, A.
- connected to the audio memory 5 via the D converter 4;
The output side of the audio memory 5 is connected to headphones 9 via a D-Δ converter 6, a changeover switch 7, and an amplifier 8. The changeover switch 7 is connected to the D-A converter 6 and the reproducing section 1.
is connected to the amplifier 8 by switching.

The control means 10 consists of a keyboard 11 and a control section 12, and by pressing a key on the keyboard 11, the control section 1 is activated.
2 controls the playback section 1, changeover switch 3, audio memory 5, and changeover switch 7 as described later. The control unit 12 includes, for example, a microcomputer CPU, memory, and the like.

The A-D converter 4 converts analog audio signals such as sample pronunciations from the recording medium and the microphone 2 and pronunciations by the trainee into digital audio signals that can be easily recorded in the audio memory 5.

If the audio memory 5 uses 2 bytes per audio sample, the sampling frequency will be 12 kHzr 2x12000 = 24,000 bytes/second when the audio band is 6 kHz, and if it is possible to store approximately 10 seconds of audio, then Prepare 240,000 bytes because it is sufficient. When, for example, a cassette tape is used as the recording medium, the information is recorded in the format shown in FIG. 2, for example.

In the figure, marking signals S, 31 to S3 are used to automatically stop the running of the tape, and these marking signals are made up of, for example, a unique code to distinguish the stopping position.

An example of a recording would be the word 'pass'. Next to the marking signal S, it would say, 'Please draw and record the pronunciation of 'pass'."'The P sound is characterized by a strong plosive sound. Messages such as pronunciation instructions and pronunciation precautions such as "Close your lips and let your breath explode" are recorded, and then, following the marking signal S, three sample pronunciations are recorded.
s s ” are recorded in sequence.

The numbers 1 to 3 before "p a s s" are announcements of pronunciation example numbers, and each " p a s s" can be objectively compared to when you pronounce 'pass'. , a plurality of characteristic pronunciation examples and model pronunciation examples that are characterized by correction.For example, the number 1 “p a s s
``is'' example of strongly pronouncing ' s s ', the second ' p
"a s s" is an example of the weak pronunciation of the plosive sound "pa"', and both are samples of bad pronunciation by Japanese people.The third example, "pa s s", is a sample of the ideal pronunciation of a foreigner. Next, place the marking signals sr, S2, and S3 in front of each other, and select the signals from number 1 "pass" to number 3 °
Corrective comments (1) (2) and model comments corresponding to 'pass' are sequentially recorded.

This corrective comment (1) is a way to pronounce "s s" weakly, for example, "The S sound is too strong. Reduce the amount of breath that comes out of your mouth."
It is. Corrective comment (2) is how to pronounce the plosive sound of "pa" strongly, - for example, the ll p sound is too weak. Close your lips tightly and let the breath come out of your mouth and let it explode. ”.The model comment is a compliment such as ``That's a very good pronunciation'' to let the student know that the pronunciation is correct.In this section, we showed two examples of characteristic pronunciation that are characterized by correction. There may be more than one.

In addition to English words, you can also record the pronunciation of sentences to practice intonation and accent.

Table 1 shows two examples of sample pronunciations that require correction in intonation training, sample pronunciations that serve as models, and examples of corrective comments and model comments that correspond to each.

Table 1 and FIG. 3 show an example of allocation of the usage area of the audio memory 5.

If we use a voice memory 5 with a capacity that can record about 10 seconds of voice, 1/4 of the memory will be used to record the pronunciation of the trainee who inputs it from the microphone 2, and 1/4 of the remaining 3/4 will be used to record the trainee's pronunciation. 4 are respectively allocated to the areas for recording the sample pronunciations explained in FIG.

If the capacity of the audio memory 5 is increased, each area can be set for a longer time, or the number of sample pronunciations can be increased.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

1st Step 2: Operate designated keys on the keyboard 11 to listen to the message on the cassette tape.

Assuming that the cassette tape has stopped at the marking signal S before the message, the playback section 1 starts operating in response to a control signal from the control section 12 by operating a key, and the cassette tape starts running. The control unit 12 is
The changeover switch 1 is connected to the contact C side by the output signal to be outputted from now on. In this way, the above-mentioned message on the cassette tape is reproduced from the headphones 9 via the changeover switch 7 and the amplifier 8. The cassette tape stops running at the marking signal S after the message.

2nd step: The trainee follows the instructions of the message.
practice ``ass'''. Then, in order to record your own pronunciation, you operate the designated keys on the keyboard 11.

By operating this key, the tI11 control unit 12 connects the changeover switch 3 to the contact B side, and connects the microphone 2 to the audio memory 5 via the AD converter 4. In this way, the trainee's pronunciation is recorded in the voice memory 5.

Third step: The trainee operates designated keys on the keyboard 11 in order to record the sample pronunciation on the cassette tape into the audio memory 5. By operating this key, the control section 12 activates the reproducing section 1 using the control signal and connects the changeover switch 3 to the contact A side. Thus, the cassette tape starts running, and switch 3 is pressed to select the sample sound.
and recorded in the audio memory 5 via the A-D converter 4.

Fourth step: In order to listen to the trainee's pronunciation and sample pronunciation in the voice memory 5, the trainee operates designated keys on the keyboard 11.

By operating this key, the control unit 12 connects the changeover switch 7 to the contact side and operates the audio memory 5. Thus, the trainee's pronunciation and sample pronunciation of voice memory 5 are D-
The music is played back from the headphones 9 via the A converter 6, the selector switch 7, and the amplifier 8, and can be listened to and compared as many times as desired by repeating this step.

Fifth step: When the trainee knows a sample pronunciation similar to his or her own pronunciation, the trainee inputs its number from the keyboard 11.

Based on the control signal, the control section 12 connects the changeover switch 7 to the contact C side, operates the reproducing section 1, and fast-forwards the cassette tape until it searches for the marking signal corresponding to the number. For example, when number 2 is input, fast forwarding stops when marking signal S2 is detected, and then correction comment (2) is reproduced from head 7 on 9.

When number 1 is input from the keyboard 11, there is no need to fast forward, and the subsequent corrective comment (1) is played back.

Since the pronunciation is good if number 3 is input, after corrective comment (3) is played, it stops at the marking signal S before the next word 'spring'.Therefore, the trainee starts new training. Return to the first step again to proceed.

The trainee attempts corrective training by himself according to the contents of corrective comments (1) and (2), and when the training is completed, proceeds to the next step.

Sixth step: In order to confirm the training result, the trainee records the pronunciation of 'pass' again.To do this, the trainee operates the keys on the keyboard 11.This operation causes the control unit 12 to
Since the selector switch 3 is connected to the contact B side, when the trainee pronounces "pass", this pronunciation is recorded in the voice memory 5 via the microphone 2, the selector switch 3, and the AD converter.

After this, the process returns to the fourth step, where the trainee's pronunciation and the sample pronunciation are compared again, and the numbers of similar sample pronunciations are determined. Then, the corrective comment corresponding to the number determined in the fifth step is played back. If the cassette tape stopped at the marking signal S3 when playing back the correction comment (2) last time, and if No. 1 is input this time, the marking signal S
When it is determined that 1 has passed before 33, rewinding is performed, and when the marking signal S1 is detected, rewinding is stopped, and the correction comment (1>) is reproduced from head 7 on 9.

After this, repeat steps 4, 5, and 6 to continue corrective training until the model comment is selected, gradually approaching a good pronunciation state.

In the above embodiment, a cassette tape was used as the recording medium, but if a randomly accessible medium such as a compact disc is used, the correction comments can be easily read out.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention,
Compare the sample pronunciation that requires correction recorded in the voice memory and the sample pronunciation that serves as a model with the trainee's pronunciation,
Since it is possible to play corrective comments for sample pronunciations similar to the trainee's pronunciation, the trainee can relatively objectively understand points to correct in their own pronunciation through hearing without the help of a teacher. and the corrective methods, and can perform corrective training efficiently. Also, since the auditory sense determines whether pronunciation is good or bad, one's ability to listen to pronunciation improves unconsciously. Furthermore, it is possible to reduce the size, weight, and cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the recording format when a cassette tape is used as the recording medium, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing areas of sample pronunciation. 1...Playback part 2...Microphone 3.
... Selector switch 5 ... Audio memory 7 ... Selector switch 9 ... Headphone 10 ... Control means 11 ... Keyboard 12 ... Control 2 outsiders -

Claims (1)

[Claims] A reproduction means having a recording medium recording at least a plurality of sample pronunciations requiring correction and sample pronunciations serving as models, correction comments and model comments respectively corresponding to the sample pronunciations, an audio memory, and a control means. The control means causes the voice memory to record the pronunciations generated by the trainee and the sample pronunciations of the recording medium reproduced by the reproduction means, and reproduces from the recorded voice memory;
Further, the pronunciation training device is characterized in that a corrective comment and a model comment corresponding to one of the sample pronunciations are selectively reproduced from the recording medium.