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November 2004, Week 1

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From:
LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 1 Nov 2004 15:05:54 EST
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--- Forwarded Message from "Steve & Laura Spinella" <[log in to unmask]>
---

>From: "Steve & Laura Spinella" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: "LLTI-Editor" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #7688 Voice translation for Mandarin Chinese
>Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 13:06:09 +0800

Terry, you picked a good word! In an old medium size dictionary I find only
one translation for mao1 by itself (pinyin phonetic chinese, first tone) and
it is cat. Mao2 could be "hair, feather, down" (a single character) or
spear, yak, arch, anchor, pest, or of course Mao (means thatch grass) as in
Chairman Mao... (all different characters)

So you may need software that not only can recognize correct pronunciation,
but also has contextual ability to predict what the student might be trying
to say. I haven't seen anything like this yet. A simpler challenge would be
software that converted pronounced Mandarin into displayed phonetic script
(say pinyin). Then the phonetic script could be matched up against the
phonetic script for the desired pronunciation if that is known. I also have
not seen this, but I believe some exists. In verbal input methods, the next
step would likely be selecting the desired match from a list of displayed
results, with the most frequently used results presented first, or maybe
even the results the user most frequently uses displayed first. This is the
way phonetic Chinese computer input methods work (now the most commonly used
input methods for typing Chinese).

Dr. Steve and Laura Spinella, Sarah, Joey, Robby
Ta Yi Street, Lane 29, #18, 2F-1, Taichung 404, TAIWAN
011 886 4 2236-6145, of 2236-1901, fx 2236-2109, cell 9 2894-0514
USA: 9685 Otero Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80920, 719.528.1702, cell
719.640.1261
TEAM, PO Box 969, Wheaton, IL 60189, 800 343-3144
<www.team.org.tw/spinella>, <www.team.org.tw/ccg> <[log in to unmask]>
<[log in to unmask]>

----- Original Message -----
From: "LLTI-Editor" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2004 1:30 AM
Subject: #7688 Voice translation software/hardware for Mandarin Chinese


> --- Forwarded Message from "Terry Mackey" <[log in to unmask]> ---
>
> >Subject: Voice translation software/hardware for Mandarin Chinese
> >Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 08:45:08 -0400
> >Thread-Topic: Voice translation software/hardware for Mandarin Chinese
> >Thread-Index: AcS86/USoZD0A7XJRkC15oLEAHI8rA==
> >From: "Terry Mackey" <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
>
>
> I am looking for software that will allow students working independently
> to know whether they are pronouncing Mandarin words and phrases
> correctly.  They will have microphones, but I need to find effective
> software.  I am open to different options here.  It would be fine if the
> software translated the word into English (since a user trying to say
> the word for "cat" will know the pronunciation was wrong if another word
> is given as translation).  It would also be fine if the software just
> indicated whether the pronunciation was acceptable. This kind of
> software seems readily available for other languages, but I can't find
> anything for Mandarin.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
>
>
> Thank you very much for your help.
>
> Terry
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Terry Mackey, Ph.D.
>
> Manager of Instructional Design
>
> Kadix Systems
>
> 4245 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 700
>
> Arlington VA 22203
>
> 703-236-0929
>
> http://www.kadix.com
>
>
>
> * LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for
> Language Learning, and The Consortium for Language Teaching and
> Learning (http://consortium.dartmouth.edu).
> Join IALLT at http://iallt.org.
> Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask])
>

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