Written language learning using an enhanced input method editor (IME)

• US 9,384,191 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2013
• Issued: 07/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Barrett, Paddy, Penrose, Andrew, Zhang, Jing
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhu, Richard
• Application Number:
  US14/036,251
• Publication Number:
  US 20150088486A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,014 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 one or more words in a native language;

the computer processor determining a phonetic word of a word character of a first language, the phonetic word corresponding to the one or more words that are received in the native language;

the computer processor displaying to a user, the phonetic word of the word character of the first language corresponding to the one or more words that are received in the native language;

in response to receiving a selection by the user of the phonetic word that is displayed, the computer processor submitting the phonetic word to an input method editor, wherein the input method editor identifies one or more word characters corresponding to the phonetic word, and wherein each of the one or more word characters represents one or more words of the first language;

the computer processor receiving the one or more word characters corresponding to the phonetic word, and determining a translation for each of the one or more word characters that correspond to the phonetic word into the native language; and

the computer processor displaying each of the one or more word characters of the first language and the translation of each of the one or more word characters into the native language, to the user, wherein the one or more word characters of the first language are formatted to indicate an association with a classification level of a learning proficiency certification examination of the first language.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the phonetic word corresponds to a word character of a first language that is composed from one or more phonetic radicals.

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 native 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 the native language is selected by a user or by a default language setting of a user computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computer processor displaying for selection by the user, each of the one or more word characters of the first language and the translation of each of the one or more word characters into the native language;

the computer processor storing the one or more word characters of the first language that are selected by the user; and

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

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the computer processor automatically sending the phonetic word to the input method editor, the computer processor receiving from the input method editor, 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 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 device(s) and program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable storage device(s), the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to receive an input of one or more words in a native language;

program instructions to determine a phonetic word of a word character of a first language, the phonetic word corresponding to the one or more words that are received in the native language;

program instructions to display to a user, the phonetic word of the word character of the first language corresponding to the one or more words that are received in the native language;

in response to receiving a selection by the user of the phonetic word that is displayed, program instructions to submit the phonetic word to an input method editor, wherein the input method editor identifies one or more word characters corresponding to the phonetic word, and wherein each of the one or more word characters represents one or more words of the first language;

program instructions to receive the one or more word characters corresponding to the phonetic word, and determine a translation for each of the one or more word characters that correspond to the phonetic word into the native language; and

program instructions to display each of the one or more word characters of the first language and the translation of each of the one or more word characters into the native language, to the user, wherein the one or more word characters of the first language are formatted to indicate an association with a classification level of a learning proficiency certification examination of the first language.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the phonetic word corresponds to a word character of a first language that is composed from one or more phonetic radicals.

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 native 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 the 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, further comprising:

program instructions to display for selection by the user, each of the one or more word characters of the first language and the translation of each of the one or more word characters into the native language;

program instructions to store the one or more word characters of the first language that are selected by the user; and

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

14. 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 one or more words in a native language;

program instructions to determine a phonetic word of a word character of a first language, the phonetic word corresponding to the one or more words that are received in the native language;

program instructions to display to a user, the phonetic word of the word character of the first language corresponding to the one or more words that are received in the native language;

in response to receiving a selection by the user of the phonetic word that is displayed, program instructions to submit the phonetic word to an input method editor, wherein the input method editor identifies one or more word characters corresponding to the phonetic word, and wherein each of the one or more word characters represents one or more words of the first language;

program instructions to receive the one or more word characters corresponding to the phonetic word, and determine a translation for each of the one or more word characters that correspond to the phonetic word into the native language; and

program instructions to display each of the one or more word characters of the first language and the translation of each of the one or more word characters into the native language, to the user, wherein the one or more word characters of the first language are formatted to indicate an association with a classification level of a learning proficiency certification examination of the first language.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the phonetic word is represented in Romanized characters and the first language is at least one of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

16. The computer system of claim 14, 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 native language; and

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

17. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the native language is selected by a user or by a default language setting of a user computing device.

18. The computer system of claim 14, further comprising:

program instructions to display for selection by the user, each of the one or more word characters of the first language and the translation of each of the one or more word characters into the native language;

program instructions to store the one or more word characters of the first language that are selected by the user; and

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