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Elements of a Chinese Language Game
A. Eliëns
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Abstract
There are a number of online resources, including games, for learning the chinese language, or chinese characters which are also used in japanese. In the presentation, we will give a brief overview of existing chinese and japanese language games, and introduce an architecture, based on the open source flex 2 SDK, for an extensible language game, allowing user-contributed content and learning practice, supported by interactive video.
Keywords and phrases:chinese language, serious games
www.xubing.com
...

Introduction
?(s)
- chinese -- growing impact ...
- language -- syntax, semantics, and pragmatics
- game -- effective method to learn
- elements -- online components

What is in a Chinese Character?
genealogical chart(s)
- pictograph(s) -- e.g. tree
- ideograph(s) -- abstractions, e.g. one
- logical aggregate(s) -- e.g. rest (person, tree)
- phonetic complex(es) -- e.g. loyal (center, m: heart)
- associative transformation(s) -- extension to related concept
- borrowing(s) -- unrelated meaning, similar pronunciation

Chinese Language Resources
[|](s)

Online Language Games
flash card, pocket, spell-it, test
(s)

Game Elements -- Play, Learn, Explore
game(s)
- play -- turn-based, score(s)
- learn -- simulation model, target(s)
- explore -- interactive video, mini games

A Platform for Serious Games
online(s)
- ajax -- dynamic updates
- flex2 SDK -- XML Game Description Templates
- (flash) video -- Interactive Video, Mini Games

Conclusions
conclusion(s)
- chinese -- characters, grammar, usage
- language -- tools, translation, context
- game -- play, learn, explore
- elements -- dialog(s), video, mini games

References
- [VULife] Eliens A. and S.V. Bhikharie (2006),
- Game @ VU -- developing a masterclass for high-school students using the Half-life 2 SDK,
In: Proc. GAME'ON-NA'2006, Sept. 19-21, 2006 - Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, USA
- [Serious] Eliens A. and Chang T. (2007),
- Let's be serious -- ICT is not a (simple) game,
In: Prc. FUBUTEC 2007, April 2007, Delft
- [VUSL] Eliens A. Feldberg F., Konijn E., Compter E. (2007) ,
- VU @ Second Life -- creating a (virtual) community of learners,
In Proc. EUROMEDIA 2007, Delft, Netherlands

(C) A. Eliëns
21/5/2007
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