Interactive L-R Parallel Texts Book - Continuous Comprehensible Input

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AllenN
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Interactive L-R Parallel Texts Book - Continuous Comprehensible Input

Postby AllenN » Thu Aug 27, 2015 12:01 am

Hi everyone, inspired by siomotteikiru's L-R method of nearly 8 years ago from the old forum, we have finally created an interactive tool/website to help language learners to immerse in meaningful continuous exposure through long parallel text novels.

KEY FEATURES:
- L2/L1 in left/right columns aligned in matching sentence/phrase (side by side)
- Green READ button plays interactive reading (small red button is for audio only)
- Interactive Audio reading will be highlighted along texts in L2 column (you'll never miss it again!)
- Screen scrolls automatically as highlighted text reaches the bottom of screen.
- L2 phrases can be click-replayable at any part of the novel
- Simple hover dictionary L1-L2/L2-L1 as you move your mouse over words in both columns
- click SPACE key to stop/play

Please test drive it, Listen-Read along during your language learning process and let us know your experience/feedback. Although we only have completed a French-English children novel as of now :lol: :
Les Aventures D’Alice Au Pays Des Merveilles

Please sign up and read it FREE at

http://www.languagelovers.net/fr-en-alice/
Image

Enjoy

AllenN
"There's something addictive about listening to a well narrated story in any language. Here I can connect to voice-words-phrases-contexts while letting the story flows..."

---------------------------------------
...."I see the availability of texts with both a fairly literal translation and a pleasing and loyal voice as the main stumpling block for this project - especially when you venture outside the 'big' languages." ...Iversen

You are right about limitations of materials. That will be a major constraint for time to come.

...."Even the translation used here has sentences where the translator has had to change the order of the elements to produce 'pretty' English phrases, and this will inevitably make the coupling between the French voice and the English translation less smooth." ...Iversen

Agreed, that is why selecting/making the right translation is key. In a more mechanical sense, when aligning in shorter parallel phrases as in example of German, the phrases are often not matched due to construct, so I have to resort to larger blocks of texts to have corresponding contexts. On the other hand, the larger the parallel blocks are more difficult for the learners to grasp the phrase structures.

...."More often that not I use machine made translation as when I make bilingual texts for my own intensive studies, not only because this liberates me from searching for suitable translations, but also because they generally are more literal than human-made translations -"...Iversen

I appreciate your emphasis. I will definitely put more thoughts about using more literal translations although good natural translation is still ideal. Using machine machine made translation could seriously speed up the parallel texts books creation.

...."In this test I didn't miss the dictionary because I know French and English quite well and I even had time to cross check the versions, but it would definitely be useful to have access to the dictionary even when you are listening - evidently you have to stop the voice while you study a dictionary article, but it would be even more cumbersome to stop the recitation and go back to reading (or use an external dictionary). "...Iversen

Currently we had to resort to external dictionary until we can build up a larger internal vocab library for instant hover dictionary. With the good parallel texts I think learners would use less dictionary in general because it is very natural in L-R to flow with the story while glancing to the L1 column for comprehension.

...."As for the division into bible-like 'verses' it is very helpful, but in a couple of cases the divisions don't follow the natural pauses in the recitation. "...Iversen

I personally like the "bible-like 'verses'" since it allows me to glance quickly for context without stopping the highlighted reading. There are still flaws in the aligned texts. But if we can achieve say 97%+ of matching phrases/texts :) I think we may sucessfully created the exposure experience the learners needed.

...."Btw. it must be a labour intensive process for you to chop up the texts into natural units, if you do it by hand, but it makes it much easier to check how far you have come in the text." ...Iversen

:) Yeah and a bit crazy I say. Each highlighted divisions are created by hand and therefore are not always follow the natural pauses in the reading. So in a book like this there are thousands of manual division. This is the only way for now to achieve re-click-playable/highlight along reading texts. Our learner will never lose place of the reading. Lots of love went in these parallel books and they will be with us for a long time.
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chobbs
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Re: Interactive L-R Parallel Texts Book - Continuous Comprehensible Input

Postby chobbs » Thu Aug 27, 2015 4:22 pm

Looks like an interesting site. I seemed to be able to listen/read okay without signing up. What does the signup add to the experience? Is this intended to be a commercial site at some point or will it remain free to use? The about page was empty so it was hard to gauge the overall intent of the site.
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Esperanto: 3 / 30 (Books Read)
French: On Hold

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iguanamon
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Languages: Speaks: English (Native); Spanish (C2); Portuguese (C2); Haitian Creole (C1); Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol (C1); Lesser Antilles French Creole (B2)
Studies: Catalan
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=797
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Re: Interactive L-R Parallel Texts Book - Continuous Comprehensible Input

Postby iguanamon » Thu Aug 27, 2015 4:45 pm

I am not learning any of the languages covered but I did have a look at the French Alice In Wonderland. I recently read the book in Ladino (Djudeo Espanyol) translation and have read it before in English. I read the translator's notes and saw what a challenge it was for him to render a good Ladino version. I wonder if two classics in original L1 could be used for pairs, i.e. English L1 to French L2 and French L1 to English L2. My preference is for original TL to L1 pair. In other words, I don't want to see a lot of text originally written in English translated to L2 for my learning. In small languages there may be little choice, as in my experience with Djudeo-espanyol (Ladino). In larger languages, there is more choice available and in a resource like this I would like to see original L2 text with an L1 translation whenever possible. I don't want to be reading The Picture of Dorian Gray in 20 different languages.

The format is good for a PC but is it equally as good for a tablet? The dictionary mouse over is useful, but I did notice a too literal definition for some words that didn't seem to jibe with context. Nothing of this kind will ever be perfect, but you have created something that should help quite a lot of learners.
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Kamlari
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Re: Interactive L-R Parallel Texts Book - Continuous Comprehensible Input

Postby Kamlari » Thu Aug 27, 2015 5:50 pm

More on L-R (LR, mLr)
L-R - the most important passages
http://users.bestweb.net/%7Esiom/martia ... ssages.htm

And some remarks written by Volte (the most intelligent person I've ever met).
lr_for_grasshoppers
http://users.bestweb.net/~siom/martian_ ... ppers.html

Well aligned parallel texts with good audio is all you need, as far as LR materials go.
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Frei lebt, wer sterben kann.

J'aime les nuages... les nuages qui passent...
雲は天才である

1. There’s only one rule to rule them all:
There are no Rule(r)s.
2. LISTEN L2, read L1. (Long texts)
3. Pronunciation.
4. Delayed recitation.

AllenN
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Re: Interactive L-R Parallel Texts Book - Continuous Comprehensible Input

Postby AllenN » Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:29 pm

chobbs wrote:Looks like an interesting site. I seemed to be able to listen/read okay without signing up. What does the signup add to the experience? Is this intended to be a commercial site at some point or will it remain free to use? The about page was empty so it was hard to gauge the overall intent of the site.


Hi Chobbs, you probably just viewed the highlighted link section. Signed up member can access the entire book. This is for a donation based only for the foreseeable future. So I hope that language learners would enjoy it. :P

AllenN
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AllenN
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Re: Interactive L-R Parallel Texts Book - Continuous Comprehensible Input

Postby AllenN » Sat Aug 29, 2015 12:00 am

iguanamon wrote:... In larger languages, there is more choice available and in a resource like this I would like to see original L2 text with an L1 translation whenever possible. I don't want to be reading The Picture of Dorian Gray in 20 different languages.

The format is good for a PC but is it equally as good for a tablet? The dictionary mouse over is useful, but I did notice a too literal definition for some words that didn't seem to jibe with context. Nothing of this kind will ever be perfect, but you have created something that should help quite a lot of learners.


Hi Iguanamon,

The idea is of parallel texts is instant access to context while allowing the L2 exposure to be continuous. Ideally where there is L2 phrase/sentence there would also be a corresponding L1 translation. According to the originator the exposure to L2, L3...Ln of the same favorite book in the new languages will facilitate a faster comprehension/activation due to anticipation of known context.

I also read of hyperglot priest Giuseppe Mezzofanti who was known to to acquire many new languages through deciphering same part of the bible in new languages. This is the beauty of the original "Rashid" stone. I hope to hear more feedback from learners.

The format is good for tablet, although it works through flash supported browsers such as Android, iOs(puffin, photon)... You are right the mouse over dictionary library is a work-in-progress and can be improved.
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AllenN
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Re: Interactive L-R Parallel Texts Book - Continuous Comprehensible Input

Postby AllenN » Sat Aug 29, 2015 12:13 am

Kamlari wrote:More on L-R (LR, mLr)
L-R - the most important passages
http://users.bestweb.net/%7Esiom/martia ... ssages.htm

And some remarks written by Volte (the most intelligent person I've ever met).
lr_for_grasshoppers
http://users.bestweb.net/~siom/martian_ ... ppers.html

Well aligned parallel texts with good audio is all you need, as far as LR materials go.


Hi Kamlari, I believe both links above are the writings of MsGrasshopper/aYa/siomotteikiru who shared the personal learning structures/methods in the discussion thread. Volte was instrumental in engaging/inquiring aYa about it although I believe he had used parallel texts before but differently.
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iguanamon
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Languages: Speaks: English (Native); Spanish (C2); Portuguese (C2); Haitian Creole (C1); Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol (C1); Lesser Antilles French Creole (B2)
Studies: Catalan
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=797
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Re: Interactive L-R Parallel Texts Book - Continuous Comprehensible Input

Postby iguanamon » Sat Aug 29, 2015 12:23 am

I'm a huge believer in parallel texts and have used them extensively in my learning, AllenN. I didn't just fall off the turnip truck. I am very familiar with how they can be used effectively to learn a language. As I said, I like your product. Personally, speaking just for me, I prefer to read a parallel text, whenever possible with a translation to my L1, not a translation from my L1. This can't always be done, especially with less commonly learned languages, like two of mine. Despite the faults with the Haitian translation of the Bible, I have found it useful. Still, I believe your product is a good one and much easier to use than others on the market.
Last edited by iguanamon on Sat Aug 29, 2015 1:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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AllenN
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Re: Interactive L-R Parallel Texts Book - Continuous Comprehensible Input

Postby AllenN » Sat Aug 29, 2015 12:57 am

Sorry I didn't mean it that way, ;) I see your point Iguanamon. You are right, lack of good natural material will always be a challenge for ||-Texts, especially with good translations. Like other learners said this approach will be very difficult to implement when venturing on to less-spoken languages.
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Fortheo
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Re: Interactive L-R Parallel Texts Book - Continuous Comprehensible Input

Postby Fortheo » Sun Aug 30, 2015 9:16 am

The site has a nice layout. I'm looking forward to the future when it has more texts and it starts to flesh out more.
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