WRITTEN LANGUAGE LEARNING USING AN ENHANCED INPUT METHOD EDITOR (IME)

• US 20150088486A1
• Filed: 09/25/2013
• Published: 03/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Barrett, Paddy, Penrose, Andrew, Zhang, Jing
• Granted Patent: US 9,384,191 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/332 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3326 using relevance feedback from the user, e.g. relevance feedback on documents, documents sets, document terms or passages
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3328 using graphical result space presentation or visualisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3332 Query translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3337 Translation of the query language, e.g. Chinese to English
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/018 Input/output arrangements for oriental characters
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/53 Processing of non-Latin text kana-to-kanji conversion G06F40/129; vowelisation G06F40/232
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/06 Foreign languages with audible presentation of material to be studied G09B5/04

Abstract

A computer processor operating an input method editor (IME) receives an input of a phonetic word. The processor identifies one or more word characters corresponding to the phonetic word, wherein each of the one or more word characters represents one or more words of a first language. The processor translates each of the one or more word characters that correspond to the phonetic word into a second language, and the processor displays each of the one or more word characters of the first language and a translation into the second language of each of the one or more word characters of the first language.

Claims

1. A method to improve learning of a language using an input method editor (IME), the method comprising:

a computer processor receiving an input of a phonetic word;

the computer processor identifying one or more word characters corresponding to the phonetic word, wherein each of the one or more word characters represents one or more words of a first language;

the computer processor translating each of the one or more word characters that correspond to the phonetic word into a second language; and

the computer processor displaying each of the one or more word characters of the first language and a translation into the second language of each of the one or more word characters of the first language.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the phonetic word is a phonetic radical.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the phonetic word is represented in Romanized characters and the first language is at least one of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computer processor searching for the phonetic word corresponding to one or more word characters of the first language by using an ASCII character input of a word in the second language; and

the computer processor inputting to the IME, the phonetic word corresponding to the one or more word characters of the first language.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a native language is selected by a user or by a default language setting of a user computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer processor displaying each of the one or more word characters of the first language and a translation into the second language of each of the one or more word characters of the first language, further comprises:

the computer processor color-coding the one or more word characters of the first language to indicate association with a level of language proficiency certification.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computer processor storing a word character selected by a user, from the one or more word characters of the first language; and

in response to a user selecting an option to hide translations of a previously selected word character, the computer processor hiding the translation of the previously selected word character from a display of the one or more word characters of the first language.

8. A computer program product to improve learning of a language using an input method editor (IME), the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable storage medium(s) and program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable storage medium(s), the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to receive an input of a phonetic word;

program instructions to identify one or more word characters corresponding to the phonetic word, wherein each of the one or more word characters represents one or more words of a first language;

program instructions to translate each of the one or more word characters that correspond to the phonetic word into a second language; and

program instructions to display each of the one or more word characters of the first language and a translation into the second language of each of the one or more word characters of the first language.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the phonetic word is a phonetic radical.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the phonetic word is represented in Romanized characters and the first language is at least one of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

program instructions to search for the phonetic word corresponding to one or more word characters of the first language by using an ASCII character input of a word in the second language; and

program instructions to input to the IME, the phonetic word corresponding to the one or more word characters of the first language.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein a native language is selected by a user or by a default language setting of a user computing device.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer processor displaying each of the one or more word characters of the first language and a translation into the second language of each of the one or more word characters of the first language, further comprises:

program instructions to color-coding the one or more word characters of the first language to indicate association with a level of language proficiency certification.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

program instructions to store a word character selected by a user, from the one or more word characters of the first language; and

in response to a user selecting an option to hide translations of a previously selected word character, program instructions to hide the translation of the previously selected word character from a display of the one or more word characters of the first language.

15. A computer system to improve learning of a language using an input method editor (IME), the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more computer-readable storage medium(s);

program instructions stored on one of the one or more computer-readable storage medium(s) for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to receive an input of a phonetic word;

program instructions to identify one or more word characters corresponding to the phonetic word, wherein each of the one or more word characters represents one or more words of a first language;

program instructions to translate each of the one or more word characters that correspond to the phonetic word into a second language; and

program instructions to display each of the one or more word characters of the first language and a translation into the second language of each of the one or more word characters of the first language.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the phonetic word is represented in Romanized characters and the first language is at least one of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

17. The computer system of claim 15, further comprising:

program instructions to search for the phonetic word corresponding to one or more word characters of the first language by using an ASCII character input of a word in the second language; and

program instructions to input to the IME, the phonetic word corresponding to the one or more word characters of the first language.

18. The computer system of claim 15, wherein a native language is selected by a user or by a default language setting of a user computing device.

19. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the computer processor displaying each of the one or more word characters of the first language and a translation into the second language of each of the one or more word characters of the first language, further comprises:

program instructions to color-coding the one or more word characters of the first language to indicate association with a level of language proficiency certification.

20. The computer system of claim 15, further comprising:

program instructions to store a word character selected by a user, from the one or more word characters of the first language; and

in response to a user selecting an option to hide translations of a previously selected word character, program instructions to hide the translation of the previously selected word character from a display of the one or more word characters of the first language.