[2Win5] Poster session 2

[2Win5-53] Developing a VR Game for Japanese to Learn Cantonese Using a Dialogue AI and Conversation Scripts

〇TSZCHUN LAM¹, Suguru Matsuyoshi¹ (1.Tokyo University of Technology)

Keywords:Language Education, Game, Language education Game Cantonese

Cantonese is one of the Chinese dialects. While there are many educational materials and games for Japanese to learn Mandarine Chinese, those for Japanese to learn Cantonese are hardly available. Our goal is to develop a VR game for Japanese to effectively and enjoyably learn Cantonese. We employ the following two tools: Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) and Convai. UE5 enables a learner with a VR headset to walk through a 3D model of a junior high school in Hong Kong, one of whose official language is Cantonese, and to interact with character agents and several materials in it. Convai supplies our game with Cantonese speech recognition, speech synthesis and dialogue AI in order for learners to actively use and reinforce their knowledge. We propose Cantonese conversation scripts about Hong Kong culture and schol life, which convert Convai into an interactive AI teacher. We adopt a Katakana transcription system, neither Yale nor Chishima romanization systems of Cantonese, so as to make it accessible to Japanese learners. We also report experiments with Japanese beginners of Cantonese.