WO2015197341A1

WO2015197341A1 - Method, device and product for making it easier to learn a foreign language

Info

Publication number: WO2015197341A1
Application number: PCT/EP2015/062589
Authority: WO
Inventors: Klaus BEUTELSPACHER
Original assignee: Beutelspacher Klaus
Priority date: 2014-06-26
Filing date: 2015-06-05
Publication date: 2015-12-30
Also published as: DE102014108976A1

Abstract

The invention addresses the problem of providing a method, a device and a product that make it easier to learn a foreign language and allow learning to progress more quickly. According to a method according to the invention for processing texts for later acoustic playback to make learning a foreign language easier, an original text in a first language and a foreign language text in a second language, representing a translation of the original text, are linked in corresponding pairs of segments of text in such a way that an alternating acoustic playback of a segment of text or a group of multiple segments of text of the foreign language text and individual segments or a group of segments of the original text that completely or partially correspond is specified as a sequence, wherein corresponding segments of text are referred to as text segment pairs and wherein corresponding groups of text segment pairs are referred to as text segment group assignments, wherein the text segment pairs and/or the text segment group assignments are predominantly arranged overlapping at least partially in time and wherein the text segment pairs and/or the text segment group assignments are predominantly arranged completely within a time window of six seconds.

Description

Method, apparatus and product for facilitated learning of foreign language

description

The invention relates to a method, a device and a product for facilitated learning of a foreign language.

DE 10 2007 01 3 027 A1 and DE 1 00 61 774 A1 describe a great many different ways of reproducing individual words or expressions in a first language (source language) and in several foreign languages. The problem with these publications is that their contents are only partially understandable and therefore do not convey a clear and understandable technical teaching.

DE 1 98 53 314 A1 discloses an audio signal processing device which is intended to alleviate or eliminate the so-called masking effect. For this purpose, the device comprises at least one input channel for an audio signal, an amplifier connected downstream of the input signal and at least two output channels for connecting a stereo headphone. The device furthermore has at least two filters or a filter group, by means of which the audio signal supplied via the input channel is divided into at least two different frequency ranges and the audio signal thus divided into different frequency ranges is fed to the outputs separately. The object of the invention is to provide a method, a device and a product which facilitate the learning of a foreign language and accelerate the learning progress. The object is achieved according to the invention with the features of the independent claims. Advantageous developments of the invention are described in the dependent claims. According to a method according to the invention for processing texts for a later acoustic reproduction to facilitate learning a foreign language, a source text in a first language (source language) and a foreign language text representing a translation of the source text in a second language deviating from the first language (foreign language to be learned ) such that a mutually acoustic reproduction of a text section or a group of a plurality of text sections of the foreign language text and individual text sections or a group of corresponding complete or partial text sections of the source text is given as a sequence, wherein corresponding text sections are referred to as text section pairs and wherein corresponding Groups of text sections are referred to as text section group mappings, where the text section pairs and / or the text section group mappings are predominantly at least partially disposed overlapping in time and wherein the text segment pairs and / or the cut Textab- group assignments predominantly completely within a time window of six seconds is disposed. The text section pairs and / or the text section group assignments are preferably arranged predominantly completely within a time window of five (more preferably four and particularly preferably three) seconds. It follows from the above that a sequence always consists of a complete text of a foreign language and a complete or partial translation of that text in a source language.

The structuring is preferably carried out in such a way that the later acoustic reproduction can be varied individually by a learner or a teacher and / or that different, varying (but no longer actively variable) reproductions can be generated and stored in a simple manner. The two preceding variants will be discussed in detail below in connection with the product according to the invention and in connection with the device according to the invention.

By "texts" are meant in particular sentences consisting of several sentences, factual texts, literary works or other texts as well as parts thereof, which represent superordinate, coherent units of meaning.The term "text" should also encompass poems or other, of a multitude of phrases (but not necessarily complete sentences) existing texts that provide a superordinate context of meaning. However, the term "text" is not intended to encompass the juxtaposition of individual words or phrases in a manner that does not provide a superordinate context of meaning, such as the juxtaposition of the renderings of individual words or phrases, and their translation.

By "a predominant length of less than six (or preferably five / four / three / two) seconds", it is meant that more than 50 percent of all textual portions of the source language and foreign language of a text are organized into pairs of textual portions such that their full acoustic Playback may take a maximum of six (or preferably five / four / three / two) seconds, as an alternative or in addition to the text section group assignments.The length of more than 70 percent of all text section pairs (and optionally the text section group assignments) is preferred. shorter than six (resp.

preferably five (vi) / three (two)) seconds, more preferably more than 80

Percent, and more preferably more than 90 or even 100 percent. The statements referring to percentages of text sections above and below are based on the number of passages of the text Foreign language of a learning unit. When determining the length of a time window, the beginning of a time window by the beginning of the playback of the first phoneme of a text section pair (or a text section group assignment) should apply and the end of a time window by terminating (ending) the last phoneme of the same text section pair (or text section group assignment). Phases in which a phrase pair or a phrase group association may be "paused" by one or more other phrases also belong to the time window, so that all the patches consist of exactly one period with a start time and an end time.

By a learning unit is meant in particular a sequence of a complete text or a part of a complete text, which are preferably limited to a time of 30 seconds to ten minutes.

Especially suitable are learning units with lengths of one to five minutes, in particular with lengths of 80 to 1 60 seconds.

By a "predominantly partially overlapping arrangement" it is meant that more than 50 percent of the text sections of the foreign language text and the corresponding complete or partial text sections of the source text are at least partially overlapping in time.This likewise applies alternatively or in addition to text section group assignments, ie. By "at least partially overlapping" is meant, in particular, that a text portion of a first language is reproduced acoustically and prior to completion of the speech Playback of this text section the reproduction of the corresponding second language text section begins. This type of temporal arrangement is also referred to below as pseudo-synchronicity. The reproduction of pairs of text sections (consisting of a text section of the foreign language and a corresponding complete or partial text section of the source language) is so far predominantly pseudo-synchronous. Preferably, more than 70 percent of the pairs of text paragraphs are rendered pseudo-synchronous, more preferably more than 80 percent and particularly preferably more than 90 or even 100 percent. In most cases, a pair of text passages consists of one word of the foreign language text and a corresponding word of the source text (which is usually a literal translation). A particular advantage of the at least partial overlap in connection with the invention is that - although a complete text is reproduced in the foreign language - the text of the source language is recorded acoustically in a very close temporal context pseudo-synchronously, whereby a very quick and catchy understanding and a high level of learning progress can also be achieved with regard to the development of a foreign-language vocabulary. The above applies analogously or in addition also to text section group assignments. To this extent, pseudo-synchronous should also be considered if a text section group of the foreign language is reproduced at least partly overlapping with a text section group of the source language.

It should also be noted that in some cases a single word of the foreign language text can only be represented by several words in the source language, in particular by n words, where n is an integer greater than 1. In this case, a pair of text passages consists of one word of the foreign language and the n corresponding words of the source language. Example: a word of the foreign language "Scende" (Italian) corresponds to three words of the source language: "He goes down." (German). Also, there are cases where plural words of the foreign language, particularly m words, where m is an integer greater than 1, are represented by exactly one corresponding word of the source language. In this case, a text section pair consists of m words of foreign speak and just a word of the source language. Example: a word from the source language: "peace talks" (German) corresponds to two words of the foreign language: "peace tal ks" (English). Finally, there are phrases and expressions that are not reproduced verbati- cally but only in terms of content (in other words, or by corresponding phrases or expressions). In this case, a pair of text passages consists of m words of the foreign language, where m is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and n words of the source language, where n is an integer greater than or equal to 1. Example: The English phrase "it's raining cats and dogs" (foreign language) corresponds to the German translation "it is raining in streams". In this case, the pair of text passages consists of six words of the English language (foreign language) and four words of the German language (source language).

In summary, it can be stated that the smallest unit of corresponding pairs of one or more words of the foreign language and the source language is always regarded as the pair of text sections. These are in most cases a foreign language word and a corresponding source language word (literal translation). However, it may also be - as explained above - one or more words of the foreign language and one or more corresponding words of the source language.

The percentage of clause pairs is determined by determining, based on the foreign language text (text of the foreign language to be learned, which is usually timed first), the number of existing clause pairs as described above, where the least significant word pair of the foreign language text is a has a unique, separate equivalent in the source text, is considered a pair of text sections. Fillwords that occur only in one language and no equivalent in the other language are not considered to be part of a pair of text subsets and are therefore omitted in determining the percentage.

In the present case, two or more (preferably 2-6, more preferably 2-5 and more preferably 2-4) text sections of the foreign language text are referred to as a group of text sections (text section group) that are coherent (that is to say without major pauses in speech such as mentioned above). As such, such text sections are preferably combined to form a text section group, which

- belong together in content and structure,

- in itself do not form a complete unit of meaning and / or

- contribute as a group to the structural and content-related completion of the superordinate structure (in particular a complete sentence).

Example: The words "the blue car" can be understood in a sentence as a group of three sections of text, since they belong together in content and structure nouns (such as "car") need in German an article ("that"), and that of Noun dependent adjective "blue" defines the noun more exactly.

The words "the blue car" also do not yet form a complete sense unit, since the verb is missing.

In one sentence, this clause group can play an essential role: For example, in the sentence "The blue car drives" as a subject or in the sentence: "Hugo buys the blue car" as an object.

In the sentence: "We get into the blue car", the text section group now consists of four sections of text ("in the blue car") and would then fulfill the function of an adverbial determination. As a rule, text section groups should be spatially close together in accordance with the invention. However, there are also exceptions depending on languages and structures. This is the reason for the numerous formulations with the already explained term "predominantly." One example of this is the separable verbs in German, whose prefix can shift to the extreme end of a sentence structure, depending on the situation Verb "take place" a group of two sections of text ("takes place"): "The reception takes place directly after the premiere in the reception area above the foyer, which [Note: here any number of slots can be supplemented] instead."

A text edited according to the invention with groups of text sections in the foreign language and corresponding groups of text sections in the source language, i. with text section group mappings makes the text section group mappings audible in a tight temporal context. It is desirable to completely reproduce text section groups within a time window of six seconds (preferably five seconds, more preferably four seconds and particularly preferably three seconds).

If syntactic or other reasons make it impossible or deliberately dispense with arranging text-section pairs or text-group assignments within a time window of six (or preferably five / four / three / two) seconds (note: these are less as 50 percent of all text-section pairs / text-segment group assignments, preferably clearly less than 50 percent, namely less than 30/20/1 0 percent), it is preferred, at least for sentences structured in sentences, to pursue the principle that pairs of text within the reproduction of a sentence be arranged, ie. that each text portion of the source language corresponding to a text portion of a sentence of the foreign language text is at least partially (and preferably completely) reproduced before the following sentence of the foreign language text is reproduced. In other words, the playback of the foreign language text (preferably completely) and the source text (completely or partially) is done sentence by sentence, the text sections, as explained above, are played predominantly pseudo-synchronously.

The acoustic reproduction of different variants of texts that have been processed according to the method described above, it enables a learning a foreign language to learn the language in a particularly simple manner, since the acoustic reproduction in accordance with the inventive method revised texts the auditory sensory Man's memory systematically used and thus the natural ability to associate the brain is used particularly efficiently. This applies in particular if corresponding pairs of text sections are arranged predominantly within a time window of two seconds and particularly preferably within one second.

It is preferred if the text sections of the foreign language text and / or the text section groups of the foreign language text are arranged predominantly in front of the corresponding text sections or text section groups of the source text, ie. The text of the foreign language usually runs. This means that with more than 50 percent of the text section pairs, the text section of the foreign language text is at least partially reproduced before the text section of the source text or that the reproduction of a text section group of the foreign language text begins before the reproduction of the corresponding text section group of the source text. Preferably, this order is for more than 70 percent, more preferably for more than 80 percent, and most preferably for more than 90 or even 1 00 percent of all text section pairs or text section group assignments. Through this

The foreign language to be learned, even if the corresponding source text is completely reproduced, the text sections or the text section groups into the foreground.

According to a development of the method according to the invention, corresponding text sections, ie. Text section pairs, and / or text section group assignments are selected and assigned to one another in such a way that they are reproduced contiguously predominantly without interruption by other text sections or other text section groups. By "predominantly uninterrupted" herein is meant, in the case of the pair of text pairs, that at least 50 percent of the pair of text portions immediately follow the corresponding word of the source language at the beginning of the playback of a portion of the foreign language (ie one word). predominantly uninterrupted "herein - in the case of text section group assignments - is meant that at least 50 percent of the text section group assignments at the beginning of a text section group of the foreign language (i.e., a group of text sections of the foreign language text) directly reproduce the corresponding text section group of the source text begins. Preferably, the above applies to 70 percent of all text section pairs or text section group assignments. More preferably, this applies to 80 percent of all text-section pairs or text-section group assignments, and particularly preferably to 90 or even 100 percent of all text-section pairs or text-section group assignments. In this case, the utilization of the auditory sensory memory is particularly efficient.

In a further practical embodiment of the method according to the invention, all text sections and / or text section groups of the source language and the foreign language are indexed (that is to say unique indexes are assigned for each text section) and / or stored as separate data to determine the order and the relative temporal Arrangement of the text sections or text section groups to each other with the help of the assigned indices or by access to the separate data for the purpose of To be able to control variation as you wish. The above-mentioned arbitrary control means in particular that the text sections or text section groups of the source language and the text sections or text section groups of the foreign language are predetermined by their separate indexing or storage in their order, but are variable in terms of their acoustic reproduction. This initially means that the volume of the reproduction of the text sections or text section groups of the source language and the reproduction of the text sections or text section groups of the foreign language are separately controllable. Further, in this case, the start timings of the reproduction of the text portions of the source language and the text portions of the foreign language may be shifted relative to each other, thereby varying the pseudo-synchronicity. Ie the beginning of the reproduction of a text section or a text section group of the foreign language can be shifted forward or backward in time relative to the reproduction of the corresponding text section or the corresponding text section group of the source language, starting from a predetermined arrangement of the text sections or text section groups. The possibility of shifting can in particular go so far that text-section pairs or text-section group assignments are completely sequential, ie. without overlap, are played in succession, and / or that text-section pairs or text-section group assignments at the same time, ie. completely in sync.

A "cross-shift" in such a way that a text section leading in a predetermined sequence of the text section pairs or text section groups or a leading text section group of the foreign-language text is moved so far backwards that it or they temporally can be used as a special highlighting means in order to follow the corresponding text section or the corresponding text section group of the source language text. Attention, for example, to point out that the sentence position of the foreign language text with respect to the sentence position of the source language text with respect to these text sections or text section group assignments from each other. This makes it easy to extend the opportunities for learners and teachers to play.

In a further practical embodiment of the method according to the invention, phonemes or groups of phonemes of individual text sections (of the foreign language text and / or of the source text) are provided with individual prioritization parameters which enable a later reproduction of these phonemes or groups of phonemes, taking into account a selectable target prioritization parameter to control individually. In particular, individual words may be provided with individual prioritization parameters. In this regard, reference is made in particular to the following non-limiting examples:

Prioritization of words with number prioritization parameters:

For example, if individual words with numbers (number prioritization parameters) are prioritized, these number prioritization parameters can be used for a later (one-dimensional) variation of the acoustic reproduction. In this case, the prioritization takes place in that a number prioritization parameter between 1 and 10 is assigned for each word, where 1 stands for a low priority and 1 0 for a high prioritization. By selecting a desired number prioritization parameter from a

Learners or teachers before the acoustic reproduction of a text can then be a variation of the reproduction insofar as this selects a desired number prioritization parameters and after selecting this desired number prioritization parameters only those words are acoustically reproduced whose number prioritization parameters at least the target prioritization parameters , Were, for example, in the text section pair with source language German and foreign language English

"He was greatly interested" - "He was very interested" prioritized the German words as follows:

"He (1 0) was (5) very (5) interested (1 0)", if choosing a target prioritization parameter between 6 and 9, only the words "Er" and "interested" would be rendered.

Prioritization of words with colors:

Analogous to the above, individual phonemes or groups of phonemes can also be prioritized with colors by assigning color prioritization parameters to individual phonemes or groups of phonemes. This can be done, for example, by assigning fixed colors to certain parts of speech, for example, nouns could be assigned the color green and verbs the color blue. By selecting one or more desired prioritization parameters, only specific parts of speech can be reproduced in this case. Compared to the number prioritization parameters, the color prioritization parameters can in this respect also be a two-dimensional selection by selecting several colors and / or mixed colors.

The prioritization can also be used to select the volume in the acoustic playback of prioritized phonemes or groups of phonemes on the basis of the respective prioritization parameter. Prioritization can be done both in the source language and in the foreign language. It preferably takes place at least in the source language, in particular phonemes, words or groups of phonemes in the source language as the learning state progresses acoustically to step into the background or completely hide (ie to "suppress" the acoustic reproduction).

In a further practical embodiment of a method according to the invention, speech pauses in the range from one tenth of a second to two seconds are arranged between individual text sections of the foreign language text and / or the source text. This means in particular "artificial" pauses in speech, which are perceived as an interruption of the natural flow of speech, if only the track of the foreign speech or only the track of the source language is reproduced.

Such "artificial" pauses in speech are particularly necessary if the corresponding text sections of the source text are to be completely pseudo-synchronously reproduced Text sections of the source text, therefore, only partially reproduced, it may be helpful if the above-mentioned "artificial" pauses can be reduced again or completely removed. This will be described in more detail below in connection with the device according to the invention and the product according to the invention.

The invention also relates to a device and a product for acoustically reproducing a text to facilitate learning a foreign language, wherein the device and / or the product a source text in a first language and a foreign language text of the source text in a second language in text sections (independent of manual Intervening or programming capabilities of a user) is alternately playable, wherein corresponding text sections and / or corresponding groups of text sections are arranged during playback predominantly within a time window of six (or preferably five / three / three / two) seconds. In this case, the device and the product each comprise at least one configuration with one at least partially in time overlapping reproduction of corresponding text sections and / or corresponding groups of text sections. In this configuration, the at least partially temporal overlap is preferably at least 50 percent, more preferably at least 70 percent, more preferably at least 80 percent, and most preferably at least 90 or even 100 percent of all text section pairs and / or corresponding groups of text sections (text clause groups) - tions). In particular, the invention relates to a device and a product in which a revised text according to the method described above is used. The word "alternately" used repeatedly above and below is intended to mean that the reproduction of the text sections of a language (usually the foreign language) in a targeted manner (usually only slightly) before the reproduction of the corresponding text sections of the other language (usually the

Source language) begins. This includes a purely sequential reproduction (separate from one another and one after the other) as well as a pseudo-synchronous reproduction (partially overlapping in time), as will be seen from the following exemplary embodiments. At least the foreign language text (text in the foreign language to be learned) is preferably reproduced (at least text section groupwise) at a natural speech rate and volume, particularly preferably such that no unnatural pauses (at least within text subgroup groups) arise when the original text is completely blanked out. For this purpose, the text sections of the source language are arranged predominantly pseudo-synchronously and / or in natural pauses in speech. It is likewise preferred if the text sections of the foreign-language text are reproduced predominantly in front of the corresponding text sections of the source text, ie. to more than 50 percent, preferably more than 70 percent, more preferably more than 80 percent, and particularly preferably more than 90 or even 100 percent). In addition, it is preferred that more than 50 percent of corresponding text passages (i.e. more than 70 percent, more preferably more than 80 percent and more preferably more than 90 or even 100 percent, consists of a single word of the foreign language and the corresponding phonemes of the source language.

In particular, devices of the invention also include software that can be stored on a suitable electronic device, such as an electronic device. a PC or a smartphone installed and can be executed to allow the acoustic reproduction of a text in the manner described above. This can be done, for example, by the software acquiring indices that have been assigned to individual text sections of the source text and individual text sections of the foreign language text and reproducing the assigned text sections in a specific, defined sequence on the basis of these indices. The software may also include certain trigger functions that allow you to emphasize the playback of individual sections of text or individual phonemes of text sections by setting specific triggers, suppress, temporally offset me play or otherwise varied. As such triggers, for example, prioritization parameters as described above can be used. An advantage of a device according to the invention is that the user of such a device in a simple way, the Mögl probability can be offered to set even one or more triggers and thus adapt the acoustic reproduction of his individual learning progress.

In particular, products according to the invention comprise files that can be stored on data carriers and / or can be retrieved from the Internet in order to reproduce various, already preconfigured audio sequences. By these audio sequences is meant varying acoustic representations of the same lessons. By way of example, reference is made in this regard to the possibility of having a source text and a corresponding one

To reproduce foreign language text in three different variants: In a first variant, the source text and the associated foreign language text in text sections are alternately completely reproduced. In a second variant, the source text and the foreign language text are reproduced alternately in the same order, whereby the volume of the foreign language text is reduced. In a third variant, the source text and the foreign language text are reproduced alternately in the same order, wherein the volume of the foreign language text is reduced again. The device and / or the product comprises in further practical

Embodiments Means which make it possible to vary at least one of the parameters mentioned below: a) degree of overlapping of corresponding text sections

and / or corresponding groups of text sections, i. Variation of the time interval between the beginning of the playback of a text section or a text section group of

Foreign language and a corresponding text section or a corresponding text section group of the source language; in particular, the degree of overlap may vary from 0 to 1, where 0 means that there is no overlap at all, i. e. a text section of the source text is reproduced sequentially or even after a short break after a text section of the foreign language text, and where 1 means that corresponding text sections or text section groups of the foreign language text and the source text completely overlap. A complete overlap may be particularly advantageous if individual words of the foreign language and the source language of the same origin, identical or similar pronounced or it is easy for other reasons the brain easily to include these two words in parallel with simultaneous acoustic perception. b) Volume of entire sections of text, groups of text sections and / or individual phonemes of the source text and / or foreign language text. c) Scope of the reproduction (complete and partial) of individual sections of the original text and / or the foreign language text, ie. Suppression of individual words and / or phonemes of the foreign language and / or the source language. d) Special emphasis or emphasis on individual words and / or phonemes of the foreign language and / or the source language. e) Playback speed: The speed can be selectively changed only for one language or synchronously for both languages, in particular if the learner feels under-challenged by the given speed or in order to give the learner the opportunity to adapt the acoustic perception to personal experiences or habits To connect with the perception of languages. (f) Speech pauses between individual sections of the text and / or sections of the foreign language text and / or the source text: in particular if corresponding sections of the source language are reproduced in full, it is useful and often the case that between individual sections of text or groups of sections of the foreign language and / or Source language "artistic" speech pauses of a few tenths of a second to several seconds are created, which are used in particular for the reproduction of corresponding or other sections of the source language If, in an advanced learning stage, the corresponding text sections of the source language are only partially reproduced, especially in form From isolated keywords, it is advantageous if the previously "artificially" created pauses are again completely or at least partially "eliminated." Therefore, it is advantageous if a erfindun Proper device or product means in order to be able to modify the speech pauses between individual text sections or groups of text sections. Speech pauses are preferably reduced so far that corresponding text sections are acoustically intelligible and can be recorded efficiently by the brain during pseudo-synchronous playback. They are further preferably at least reduced so much that at least a sequential alternate playback of text sections of the foreign language text and the source text with pauses within contiguous phonetic sequences of at most 1 -3 tenths of a second result.

A product according to the invention does not necessarily have to be variable in size. It may also be a reduced in its complexity product that provides the user with a limited selection of variations available. Advantages of such a product are not only a simple operation for the user, but also a simple and cost-effective production possibility and the ability to play such a product almost everywhere on conventional playback devices. The product can be stored, for example, in the form of an audio file stored on a memory card or a CD, for which almost anyone has a corresponding playback device. In such a product, for example, five learning units, each with 9 or 1 0 variations, may be stored as follows: Track 01 -09: nine variations of the first lesson

Track 1 0-1 9: ten variations of the second lesson

Track 20-29: ten variations of the third lesson

Track 30-39: ten variations of the fourth lesson

Track 40-49: ten variations of the fifth lesson

A device according to the invention can also have a display or be connected to a display, by means of which text sections of the source text and / or text sections of the foreign language text and / or other additional information to the texts are completely or partially visually reproducible. In this regard, reference is made in particular to the possibility of visually reproducing a text parallel to the reproduction of the text sections of the foreign language text or individual words of a foreign speech to be learned simultaneously on a display in parallel to the acoustic reproduction. Such a display may also be used, alternatively or alternatively, to indicate by symbols or otherwise, different language positions in the first and second languages. Depending on the level of knowledge of a learner, a corresponding display can also selectively reproduce words of a certain basic vocabulary or particularly rare and / or difficult words of the foreign language and / or source language in order to increase the learner's attention and visual memory additionally to address.

The invention also relates to a method for learning a foreign language by means of a device or a product according to any one of the preceding claims, according to which a text alternately in text sections or groups of text sections of a source text in a first language (source language) and text sections or groups of text sections of a Foreign language text (foreign language) is played back in a second language, with corresponding pairs of text sections or corresponding groups of text section pairs (text sections group assignments) predominantly without interruption immediately consecutive within a time window of six (or preferably five / four / three / two) seconds are played back and wherein the text is repeatedly rendered in at least two different variations. The first and the repeated (varied) playback are preferably carried out within a time window of a maximum of 60 minutes, more preferably within a time window of at most 1 5 minutes, and particularly preferably within a time window of a maximum of 8 minutes. You can also perform more than two repetitions. Preferably, in repeated plays, the source text becomes only partially or further shortened reproduced. It is also preferred if, during repeated playback, the playback speed is increased, the degree of overlap is increased, the volume of the reproduction of the text section of the source language is completely or partially reduced and / or a prioritization as described above is undertaken in order to enhance the capabilities of the auditory sensory Efficiently exploit the memory of the learner. In other words, according to the method of the present invention, in repeated plays, attention is increasingly directed to the foreign language text by reducing the volume of the source text, completely or partially fading it, increasing its playback speed, and / or reducing the information content in some other way.

The type of variation can take place according to a predetermined pattern or be carried out individually on the basis of an evaluation of the first text rendering and / or on the basis of other analytical evaluations, in particular on the basis of an understanding survey of the learner after the first reproduction of the text. Further practical embodiments and advantages of the invention are described below in conjunction with the drawings. Show it :

Fig. 1 shows an example of a two-track volume-time diagram, where the upper track represents a volume diagram of some text sections of a foreign language, and the lower track represents in time relation to the upper track a volume diagram of corresponding text sections of a source language.

Fig. 2 shows another example of a volume-time diagram with two

Traces, Fig. 3 shows another example of a volume-time diagram with two tracks,

Fig. 4 shows another example of a volume-time diagram with two

Traces,

Fig. 5 shows another example of a volume-time diagram with two

Traces and Fig. 6 shows another example of a volume-time diagram with two

Traces .

In the following, several volume-time diagrams 10 are represented, each comprising an upper lane 1 2 of a foreign language and a lower lane 14 of a source language. On the y-axis of each track 1 2, 14 the volume normalized to a maximum of 1 (linear scaling) is plotted, on the x-axes designated X1 X2 the time is plotted in seconds. FIG. 1 exemplarily shows a time window of a text of approximately 1 3 seconds (approximately from the 26th second to the 39th second). In FIGS. 2-6 are time windows of approximately eight seconds (FIG. 2), approximately 26 seconds (FIG. 3), approximately 22 seconds (FIGS. 4 and 5) and approximately 4.5 seconds (FIG. 6).

With the aid of Figure 1, the basic principle of the invention will now be explained first. Following this, further details of the invention will be described in connection with FIGS. 2-6. In the example shown in Figure 1, the second language to be learned is English (represented on the xi axis) and the source language is German (represented on the X2 axis). English is thus in this embodiment, the foreign language to be learned. This is also true recognize that this language predominantly precedes time, that is to say it is reproduced before the source language (German) The words corresponding to the loudness curves are reproduced directly below the loudness curves in FIG. 1, so that the relative temporal arrangement of the text segments As the first word, according to the example shown in FIG. 1, the text section ti F "He" of the foreign language is reproduced in the time window of approximately 26.0 s to 26.4 s. As the corresponding text section ti A of the source language, the word "Er" is reproduced in the time window of approximately 26.35 s to approximately 26.6 s. "He" and "Er" together form a corresponding text section pair

The pair of text segments extends over the time window from 26.0 s to 26.6 s, ie. over a length of about 0.6 s, with the corresponding text sections (slightly) overlapping. FIG. 1 shows with the words "what", "greatly", "interested", "and", "after", "I", "had", "talked", "a", "while", "he", "said", "my", "German", "what", "very" and "rare" and 1 7 following additional text segment pairs and their temporal relative location ti _F the corresponding sections of text of the original text. He ti A: He

\ .2F ^' . what Ϊ2Α: was

t ₃ F: greatly Ϊ3Α: very

UF: interested UA: interested

t6F: after Ϊ6Α: after

t _7F : I t _7A : me

tsf: had teA: had

tgF: tal ked ΪΘΑ: spoken

ti oF: a tl OA: one

ti 1 F: while tl 1 A: while

ti 2F: he tl 2A: he

ti 3F: said tl 3A: said ti 4F: my ti 4A: my

ti 5F: German ti 5A: German

ti 6F: what is ti 6A: let

ti 7F: very ti 7A: very

ti 8F: rare ti 8A: rare

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the text section pairs are predominantly arranged relative to one another such that they lie within a time window of approximately 2 s. Most pairs of text pairs even lie within a time window of a maximum of 1 s, such as the first pair of text sections "ti F-ti A". Exceptions to this rule are the pairs of text strings "teF-teA" "had" - "had" and "t9F" t9A "" tal ked "-" talked. "The time window of these pairs of text is approximately 3.7 seconds (" had ") or 2.7 seconds (" tal ked "-" spoken ") the pair of text sections "had" - "had" a time window of more than 3 s, so that a total of 1 7 of 18 text section pairs are reproduced within a time window of 3 s, which corresponds to approximately 95 percent of all text section pairs of this embodiment Text-parsing pairs occupy a total of less than 2 seconds, which is about 89 percent of all text-parity pairs of the embodiment.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the foreign language text of the second language (foreign language) is reproduced in a natural manner. This can be seen in particular from the fact that individual groups of text sections, such as "He was greatly interested" and "and after I had talked a while", are reproduced in a coherent manner, and between them a natural, phrasing 1 6 of approx 0.5 s was inserted. Three longer pauses in the conversation

Foreign language are identified in Figure 1 by way of example with 1 6. Further, shorter pauses (not marked) 1 6 can be found between single words, such as between "greatly" and "interested". In Figure 1 is also recognizable that the pauses 1 6 are used to reproduce the source language within these pauses 1 6.

Preferably, a corresponding text section of the source language is reproduced in a speech pause 1 6 following a text section of the foreign language. In addition, a further compression of the foreign language and the source language occurs in that they are arranged in a pseudo-synchronous manner, so that an at least partial overlap arises between text sections of the foreign language and corresponding text sections of the source language. Corresponding text sections are preferably arranged predominantly overlapping in such a way that long syllables of the foreign language and / or receding in their volume with usual and natural emphasis of the text sections (ie in particular phonemes with a low volume level, eg less than 0.5 on a 1 level scale) are used to arrange the volume maxima of the source language. Areas with

Volume maxima are preferably arranged so that they do not overlap or only partially overlap (cf the above explanations on this).

The following groups of text sections can be taken from the example shown in FIG. 1: tgi F: He was much interested

tg i A: He was very interested in tg2f: and after I had talked a while

tg2A: and after talking for a while tg 3F: he said

tg ₃ A: he said tg ₄ Q: my German was very rare

tg ₄ A: my German is very rare This results in the following corresponding text section groups, which are also referred to as text section group assignments tg i F-tg i A, tg2F-tg2A, tg 3F-tg 3A and tg ₄ F-tg ₄ A. The structure of the text section groups of the foreign language can be seen in the embodiment shown in Figure 1 on the marked, longer

Speech pauses 1 6. The groups are two or more passages of the foreign language and corresponding passages of the source language, with at least one of the groups having no or minimal pauses (maximum of three tenths of a second, preferably no more than two tenths of a second and most preferably no more than one tenth of a second ). It is likewise preferred if the text section group of the foreign language and the corresponding text section groups of the source language are both predominantly reproduced coherently. A text section group preferably consists of two to six sections of text. In the embodiment shown, the text section group assignments tg i, tg 3 and tg _{4 are arranged} within a time window of four seconds. The text group assignment tg2 takes slightly more than four seconds. Thus, the above-mentioned text section group assignments are located 75 percent within a four-second time window and arranged at 100 percent within a five-second time window.

As can also be seen from the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, both the foreign-language text and the source text are reproduced in a correct and usual manner (grammar and syntax) in the respective language, ie. the sentences in the first track 1 2 and in the second track 14 are grammatically and syntactically correct in their respective languages. This basic principle is preferred in all

Implemented embodiments of the invention.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the group of text sections "had tal ked" can also be regarded as a separate text section group tal ked "-" had talked "is arranged within a time window of about three seconds. If "had tal ked" is considered a phrase group, "a while" can also be considered a separate phrase group. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, it can be seen that the text section group assignment consisting of "had talked" and "talked" immediately encloses the text section group assignment "a while" - "for a while" insofar as the text section group assignment "a while "-" for a while "the text section group of the foreign language" had tal ked "is reproduced and timed after the text section group assignment" a while "-" a while "the text section group of the source language" talked "has been reproduced. Such immediate "enclosing" (embedding) is preferred in order to establish a close temporal relationship between a text section group of the foreign language and a corresponding text section group of the source language, if these can not themselves be reproduced pseudo-synchronously, for example due to syntax. more preferably 80 percent and more preferably 90 or even 100 percent of all text-portion pairs or text-segment group assignments are arranged pseudo-synchronously or according to an "enclosure" as described above.

In the exemplary embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 2-4, sections of text with Italian as foreign language and German as source language are shown. Even if different languages, in particular due to their sentence formation rules, differ well suited for the realization of the invention, it is not relevant in the present case that different foreign languages were represented in the exemplary embodiments. Figure 2 shows first an example of how, despite different arrangement of words within a sentence in the foreign language and in the source language, a pseudo-synchronous arrangement can be achieved and an increase in the attention of a learner can be achieved. A Speech break 1 6 between the sections "Yes megera" and "lo teneva" of the Italian (foreign language) was completely used for the arrangement of the corresponding text sections of the German "the bad woman kept it", whereby the first German text section ("retained") and the two last German sections ("evil" and "woman") are arranged partially overlapping with parts of the corresponding Italian text sections. Volume maxima are arranged alternately in the mentioned text sections, so that one can hear the individual syllables well despite the pseudo-synchronicity.

Figure 3 shows an embodiment with a significantly reduced volume level of the source language (German). The volume of all displayed text sections of the source language has been reduced by 1 5 decibels (db).

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary embodiment in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated by means of two groups of text sections. In this embodiment, the first group of immediately successive text sections of the foreign language "que", "era" and "piccino" and the corresponding group of text sections of the source language "as", "he" and "small" within a time window of approx. 2.5 s arranged.

The group of text sections "in" and "realtä" as well as the corresponding group of the text sections "in" and "truth" are within one

Time window of about 2.0 s arranged.

Both groups were spoken in a natural way and arranged in a pseudo-synchronous way so that they could be clearly understood and recognized acoustically by a learner.

FIG. 5 shows the same exemplary embodiment as FIG. 4, wherein in FIG. 5 other details are highlighted. By pointing in the y direction Double arrows represent corresponding groups of text sections of the foreign language and the source language, in particular the text section groups tgi F: que era piccino

tg i A: when he was little and tg2f: in realtä

tg2A: In truth

Further, by pointing in the direction of the xi direction arrows with the hints "Italian leads" shown that the text sections groups tg 1 F and tg2F the foreign language (ie., The foreign language to learn) preferably zeitl I "run ahead", d. H. that the acoustic reproduction of a group of text sections or of a text section of the foreign language begins in the majority of cases before the acoustic reproduction of the corresponding text section group or of the corresponding text section of the source language. Nevertheless, there is a temporal overlap of the corresponding text sections or text section group assignments. Exceptions to this rule may be allowed, in particular, as a means of emphasizing particularities.

In FIG. 6, text sections with French as foreign language and German as source language are shown. The following pairs of text sections are shown, wherein the pairs of text sections are formed by the text sections ti F-tsF of the foreign language (French) and the corresponding text sections ti A-tsA of the source language (German): ti F: Comment ti _A : Wie

t2F: peut-on Ϊ2Α: you can t3F: posseder Ϊ3Α: own

t5F: etoiles Ϊ5Α: stars

The example shows that a text section usually consists of one word. Is in one of the two languages (source language or translation language / foreign language) a word - as in t2F above in "peut-on" - by a hyphen ("-") or in any other way (eg by an apostrophe "'" etc .) is connected with another word to a "unit", then this unit with the corresponding text section (here: t2A) is regarded as a text section pair.

The features of the invention disclosed in the accompanying description, in the drawings and in the claims may be essential both individually and in any desired combinations for the realization of the invention in its various embodiments. The invention is not limited to the described embodiments. It can be varied within the scope of the claims and taking into account the knowledge of the person skilled in the art.

Reference number list

10 volume-time diagram

12 lane (upper)

14 lane (lower)

16 intermission

Claims

claims

1 . A method for editing texts for a later acoustic reproduction to facilitate learning a foreign language, characterized in that a source text in a first language and a translation of the source text representing foreign language text in a second language are divided into corresponding pairs of text sections such that a mutually acoustic reproduction a text section or a group of a plurality of text sections of the foreign language text and a single or a group of corresponding complete or partial text sections of the source text is specified as a sequence, wherein corresponding text sections are referred to as text section pairs and wherein corresponding groups of text section pairs are referred to as text section group assignments, wherein the text section pairs and / or the text section group assignments predominantly at least partially temporally overlapping are arranged un d where the text section pairs and / or the text section group assignments are predominantly arranged completely within a time window of six seconds.

2. Method according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the text sections and / or the text section groups of the foreign language text are arranged predominantly in front of the corresponding text sections or the corresponding text section groups of the source text.

3. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that corresponding text sections and / or text section group assignments are selected and assigned to one another in such a way that they are predominantly uninterrupted by other text sections or text section groups. be reproduced in unison.

4. The method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that all text sections and / or text section groups of the source language and the foreign language indexed and / or stored as separate data to the order and relative timing of the text sections or text section groups to each other Help the indices or by accessing the separate data to control arbitrarily.

5. The method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that phonemes or groups of phonemes of individual text sections are provided with individual prioritization parameters, which allow a later reproduction of these phonemes or groups of phonemes, taking into account a selectable desired prioritization parameter to control individually.

6. The method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that between individual text sections of the foreign language text and / or the original text pauses (1 6) are arranged in the range of one tenth of a second to two seconds.

7. A device or product for acoustic reproduction of a text to facilitate learning a foreign language, wherein from the device and / or the product, a source text in a first language and a foreign language text of the source text in a second language in text sections are alternately reproduced, characterized in that Corresponding sections of text and / or corresponding groups of text sections during playback predominantly within a time window of six seconds. are arranged and the device and / or the product comprises at least one configuration with a corresponding at least partially temporally overlapping playback text sections and / or corresponding groups of text sections.

8. Device or product according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the device and / or the product comprises means which make it possible to vary at least one of the parameters mentioned below:

a) degree of overlapping of corresponding text sections and / or corresponding groups of text sections, b) volume of entire text sections, text section groups and / or individual phonemes of the source text and / or the foreign language text, c) extent of reproduction of individual text sections of the source text and / or foreign language text , d) special emphasis or emphasis on individual words

and / or phonemes of the foreign language and / or the source language, e) playback speed, f) pauses between speech (1 6) between individual sections of text and / or groups of text of the foreign language text and / or the source text.

9. Device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it has a display or is connected to a display, by means of which text sections of the source text and / or text sections of the foreign language text and / or other additional information to the texts completely o- which are partly visually reproducible. A method for learning a foreign language by means of a device or a product according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a text alternately in text sections or groups of text sections of a source text in a first language (source language) and text sections or groups of text sections of a foreign language text in a second language (foreign language), with corresponding pairs of textual portions or corresponding groups of textbox pairs (textbox group assignments) being reproduced, predominantly uninterrupted, immediately consecutively within a six second time window, and wherein the text is repeatedly reproduced in at least two different variations.