Amusement devices: games – Board games – pieces – or boards therefor – Word – sentence – or equation forming
Patent
1997-02-13
1998-10-06
Stoll, William E.
Amusement devices: games
Board games, pieces, or boards therefor
Word, sentence, or equation forming
454157, 454129, A63F 300
Patent
active
058165746
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a game and relates particularly, though not exclusively, to a board game using a foreign language, such as bahasa Indonesian, and a national language, such as the English language.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
There are a myriad of games presently available which are designed to develop and improve our vocabulary and language skills. These known games are played in a single language which is generally the national language or the language most commonly spoken in a country. Board games such as SCRABBLE test players' vocabulary by building and developing words from letter pieces which are placed on a board subdivided into squares.
As overseas travel and communication increases together with globalisation so does our need to be conversant in more than one language. For example, Australia's move into the Asian region with a trend toward free trade zones, embodied in international trade agreements, is increasingly important to our economy. The ability of Australians to converse in a variety of foreign languages may substantially assist and improve our trade relations with foreign countries. The success of a country's economy may, therefore, to some extent depend largely on the ability to communicate with people in foreign markets in their own language.
In Australia legislation has now been ratified whereby schools must include the learning of a second language as a compulsory part of the student syllabus. This proposal has largely eventuated as a result of the increased activity with our trading neighbours in, for example, South East Asia. Federal and State Governments view an ability to be conversant in one or more foreign languages as an important element in our future foreign trade success.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An intention of the present invention is to provide a game that can be played to learn and develop an understanding in a foreign language, the game being both educational and fun to play.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for playing a game comprising: defining a first track each of said first spaces containing at least an instruction in a foreign language; moving about the first track; and which can be selected from a plurality of keywords/phrases and displayed in both a national language and a substantial translation thereof in the foreign language whereby, in use, a player begins or continues a conversation in the foreign language and the player or another player having moved one of said playing markers about the first track continues the conversation or begins a new conversation, in accordance with the instruction contained in the space on which said player's playing marker resides, in the foreign language using their own foreign language vocabulary in conjunction with said one or more keywords/phrases selected from said plurality of keywords/phrases.
Preferably, the means for carrying information can also display one or more conversation starters randomly selected from a plurality of predetermined conversation starters each having at least part of a sentence which can be displayed in both the national language and a substantial translation thereof in the foreign language whereby, in use, a player can begin a conversation in the foreign language using said at least part sentence from said one or more randomly selected conversation starters.
Typically, said means for carrying information can also display one or more instructions/conversation starters randomly selected from a plurality of predetermined instructions/conversation starters at least some having at least part of a sentence and/or an instruction in the national language, and a substantial translation thereof in the foreign language whereby, in use, said one or more randomly selected instructions/conversation starters can be used, when directed from the playing surface, to begin or continue a conversation in the foreign language using a part sentence contained therein and/or to score the player according to an instr
REFERENCES:
patent: 3724102 (1973-04-01), Van Patten
patent: 5178542 (1993-01-01), Chigrinsky et al.
patent: 5275569 (1994-01-01), Watkins
patent: 5275818 (1994-01-01), Kind
patent: 5316482 (1994-05-01), Bryson
patent: 5486111 (1996-01-01), Watkins
patent: 5525060 (1996-06-01), Loebner
patent: 5645280 (1997-07-01), Zelmer
LandOfFree
Game for learning foreign languages does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Game for learning foreign languages, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Game for learning foreign languages will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-70561