I was (once again) surfing the MIT Media Lab's page (I really really want to go there for grad school in a few years) and was looking into the projects being explored in the Fluid Interfaces group (when applying to the Media Lab you need to list 3 groups you would like to work with and so far my top picks are Camera Culture, Fluid Interfaces, and Opera of the Future) and I was amazed with the stuff being developed there. The project that interested me the most is called Sensei and it is an application designed to aid children with language learning. It runs on a cell phone (it is being tested on a Samsung Galaxy using Android software) and operates by pointing the phone's camera at an object and it will recognize the object and tell you the word for that object in any language you want (I gather that it both displays it and also pronounces it). What's amazing is that they're working on having future versions of the project be not only able to recognize objects but also detect whether or not you are pronouncing it right when you practice it. I think this is brilliant and would do wonders for the field of language learning in general (not just applied for children) - I would love to have something like this on my iPhone.
Speaking of the iPhone, I'm really happy that I got it because I'm getting so much use out of it. I keep applications that are helping me practice my Chinese and learn basic Japanese, Dutch, and Korean. Best part? Most of those apps are free - for the basic pack! I also have some really great Chinese dictionaries installed (one with 20,000 characters and another with 40,000), one of which allows me to create study flashcards, can magnify the characters to see them better, AND also has an animation mode that will show you the proper stroke order for the character.
Other great apps for the iPhone? I have an excellent Currency Converter (OANDA Corp), Measurement Unit Converter (ConvertBot), Instrument Tuner (tun-d - can help tune over 20 instruments), NYC Subway Map (CityTransit), Expense Tracker (Mint), Lightmeter (LightMeter), Fitness Trainer (Nike Training Center for Women), and Cocktail Recipe library (Mixologist). I'm also a huge fan of the Panascout Lite app from Panavision that is designed to help define the cinematic composition of a frame prior to filming and the American Airlines app (because I'm a frequent flier on American Airlines) that helps me keep track of all of my airplane connections and segments, I can check-in through it, and it even acts as a digital boarding pass for some airports! The camera is also really nice (5 megapixels with a LED flash). The camera is so good and versatile that in fact, a well-established Korean filmmaker shot an entire 30-minute film with it and it is said that the film's image quality "can play with the best of them". Currently experimenting with building a steadicam and tripod mount to see if I can do some quality ultra-low budget filmmaking on it.
Monday, February 21, 2011
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And the award for most redundant invention of the year is... a language learning machine for children! (facepalm) guys, children are language learning machines. Practically all a kid does for the first few years of its life is eat, sleep, and learn whatever and however many languages it's exposed to. They're programmed for it, and they're far better at it than any computer will ever be. On the other hand, I guess it's not a completely useless invention, because at least it will save parents from having to put any effort into rearing their own kids.
ReplyDeleteI just realized I've become the guy who responds argumentatively to all your posts. Oh dear... I suppose we could all have seen that coming...
Well language-learning is not that straightforwards, especially if the parents don't speak a language they want their child to learn. Also, a machine like this would help reinforce certain words and certain language skills that a parent or a professor cannot (learning new words in a language, or reinforcing their meaning is often done as a self-study technique rather than knowledge obtained from a teacher. A teacher comes in handy when you need to be able to form sentences and ideas and be able to properly express yourself in a language). Also, I think it would encourage a lot more exploration into a language. Suppose, for example, that you are a kid with this technology and you're interested in bugs. It would be pretty cool, I'd think, to go around the garden pointing it at bugs and learning the different names for it in, say, Old English or Icelandic or whatever. Whereas I would probably be inclined to go to the family video collection and have it translate all the film titles into Chinese. That sort of exploration is possible through technology nowadays, but it requires a higher level of technological savvy (i.e. it took me 5 minutes to figure out the proper name for Shrek in Chinese yesterday using Google. Admittedly I forgot you can just ask Google to translate something for you). Also that sort of visual interaction reinforces the meaning of the word you are learning. So if I point that thing at an apple and it tells me that the apple is called a 苹果 (Píngguǒ) my brain will process that differently than if I just read or learn the word through a textbook.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the projected capability of having this application check your pronunciation is invaluable because it will help kids (and other language learners) speak the language properly and more fluidly. A tool like that would be infinitely helpful in learning Chinese, for example, given that many words sound the same and are differentiated only by 4 tones (two of which sound very similar and are very difficult to tell apart even if a native is explaining the differences). Or for Spanish, I could imagine it helping individuals who are not accustomed to phonetic languages to properly pronounce the vowels or consonants that are harder to learn how to pronounce properly (such as the "rr" or "ll" sounds). It helps individuals with the learning of subtle differences like that.
The important thing is to remember that this is not a replacement but an aid and a tool for language study, not a replacement for parents and teachers. I think you tend to jump to conclusions about technology replacing humans (admittedly it does have a history of doing that sometimes), but you should be more careful of distinguishing between what is a replacement and what is an aid.
I'm a bit confused about your argument actually since neither the post nor the original article really implies that Sensei learns languages for children (which you seem to argue) or that it will somehow diminish a parents' role in childrearing (which you also argue). Just saying, if I want my kid to learn Korean (which I can't really speak beyond basic words) having a tool like this around would really help out (when combined with an actual teacher).
Well, I had thought you meant that this would be used for primary language acquisition. My mistake, if I was wrong in that assumption.
ReplyDeleteI think it's odd that you said that the kind of "exploration" that this technology would allow is only currently possible through "a higher level of technological savvy". What exactly is wrong with dictionaries? As you explain it, the only thing this technology is good for is building vocabulary, and that can be done with a dictionary. If the only problem with dictionaries is that you have to take the time to flip through them and find the word you want, then this is just a convenience technology, which doesn't count as a huge breakthrough in my book.
The problem with dictionaries though is that they won't cover proper nouns like film titles or a particular kind of insect. Also, while looking through western language dictionaries is easy, doing the same with Eastern language dictionaries (like Chinese) is anything but easy. Also, younger kids are usually not big dictionary-users because they haven't fully developed their reading and writing skills yet.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I would like to reiterate my point about different ways of learning. As I mentioned before, you can learn vocabulary from a dictionary but from my particular experience of learning languages, I tend to retain that vocabulary if I first made an association with something I could experience or interact with. i.e. I know a lot of the names of fruits in Chinese because I went to the supermarket one day with my tutor and had her point out and properly pronounce the name for all the important foods in there. It cemented the fact that the physical object apple has a name rather than just reading the word apple and having an idea of the apple in my head. Catch my drift? It essentially helps you learn a language by helping you learn how to interact with your physical environment in that language. And that's something that no current dictionary can really achieve.
Also, the technology helps with pronunciation as well. It isn't just a convenient dictionary.
And convenience is an important factor in the end too. Going around lugging a bulky 3-pound dictionary that you whip out of your purse isn't practical. And yes, there are pocket dictionaries, but those will not answer more specific queries. Why not have this technology aid in the optimization of the dictionary too?