This invention relates, in general, to a dual language electronic reference machine. More particularly, this invention relates to a bilingual language teaching machine is which words in either of the two languages involved can be entered and information, in either language, is provided about the entered word. The information provided includes inflections of the translation of the input word and information about those inflections.
A wide variety of electronic language reference products are available or taught in the literature. These products provide information concerning spelling, grammar and pronunciation. A number of products have been devised which disclose some dual language capability.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,192 issued in February 1989 to Washizuka et. al. discloses a language translator with a speech synthesizer which in effect is a talking phrase book with ability to input certain words.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,462 issued Jul. 12, 1983 to Tanimoto et. al. discloses a precision electronic translator that provides pronunciation of an input word and means for pronouncing the translated word equivalent to the input word.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,396 issued Dec. 18, 1984 to Hashimoto et. al. is a translator with a voice synthesizer for pronunciation of the specific words in the input word language.
These and other translation devices provide translation of a word, and in some cases a phrase, together with pronunciation of the input word and/or pronunciation of the translated word or phrase. They sometimes also provide definitional information. They are useful in the limited context of a traveler. But they provide little or no introduction to the use of a language and are inadequate as a teaching or learning tool for learning about a second language.
What is needed is a technique for providing in depth information about a foreign language to enable a user to employ the language in a more usual conversational fashion. This requires the presentation of not only a translation and the usual dictionary information but also the inflected forms of the word in the language being learned and a discussion of the inflected forms. These inflected forms include tenses and moods of verbs, masculine and feminine forms of the words and plurals. Furthermore, instructional material concerning the significance and meaning of the various inflected forms is important in order to understand the context of the usage.
Providing all this information in a usable and useful manner for the person learning the language requires a mode of presentation that avoids burying the user in the information yet provides information necessary to enable the user to learn a language in depth. The mode of presentation is the key to the utility of an electronic language learning machine.
Accordingly, a major purpose in this invention is to provide a dual language reference product that is optimally accommodated to the learning requirements of a user so as to facilitate the learning of a foreign language.
It is a related purpose of this invention to provide such a device as can be used by individuals having a wide range of competence in the language being learned.
More particularly, it is a purpose of this invention to provide a compact, hand held, self-contained dual language reference product that meets the above objectives.