I'm at the University of Southern California.

I had a research lab that does work in artifcial intelligence technology for education. And the past couple
of years we been working on a project that we think has a real potential for revolutionizing the way
people learn foreign language and culture and we since formed a company tactical language
training LLC which is now developing products and is providing services to instigate that
revolution. And what do I mean here. let the approach we call it a tactical language culture
training. Basically we're dealing with the problem that just about every foreign
language and culture training program faces said they are they don't work well because
they are ineffective, they're boring or if they are effective, they're unaffordable
time-consuming and then people, once they leave the course they forget the language and then
they're not prepared when go to the foreign country. We've developed a new method that
combines video game technology and artificial intelligence in speech technology that's highly
interactive operates on a computer people can employ at their own pace which enables
people to develop basic communication skills, basic knowledge of foreign language and culture at a very
rapid rate. The works flow wide range of learners. You do not have to be a high aptitude language
learner to employ this technique. You don't have to have knowledge of the foreign language. We
see learning results in ten hours or less. In about 50 hours of training large numbers
of learners come away with a sense that they have a functional ability in the target language.
There are three basic modules to the program. This is what we call the skill builder which is a
set of interactive lessons which help you practice your language and culture
skills , how an inner intelligent tutoring capibility built in. There is an arcade game there on the
right where you navigate through a maze using spoken commands people can start playing that from
the very beginning , and on the bottom left what we call the mission game where you actually go into
a simulated town, you have to talk to the local people establish rapport with them in order to
accomplish your particular mission. So without further ado to give you a sense of what this is
about and I'm going to give you now a live demonstration. This is called tactical or rocky one of several
training systems we've developed. We've been happy to take the military's money to develop this
military version but what you will see here is in no way military specific and can apply to any
range of training applications. So here I am, I'm Sgt. John Smith, I'm in
the middle there and I've been assigned to go into this village to make contact with a local leader to
plan a reconstruction project with me. Behind me is a Sgt. Farris who speaks the local language who can
help me out if I don't know what to say, what to do.
Question inaudible.

So good suggestion so I will now walk up to one of these characters here and arrange
to try to speak with him.

And I can both speak into the microphone as well as select gestures of, see the icon in the top
left, I'm going to use the palm over the heart gesture very common in men in the Arab world as a sign of respect
And, oh, very important I will take my glasses off. Sunglasses are very rude when you meet
someone in of in the Middle East, does anyone know why that it?

Because it breaks our eye contact. So now I'm proper position to say hello to this fellow, let me do
that.

A salaam aleequim. (foreign language inaudible)

And you may see a couple of green plusses load up there. That indicated that their opinion of me just
went up a little bit because I showed some cultural sensitivity. Also reflected on these of meters on the
right, we call those trust meters that give you an immediate view of how the characters you're
interacting with are reacting to you, so this encourages learners to actually try to see if they can
win these characters over their side. It's a way of actually developing skills of politeness and
etiquette. Let me proceed to introduce myself.


Inaudible John Smith.

And if I don't know what to say, I can ask Sonia for a hint.

But I can disregard that hint. Following good game design technique, we leave the learner in
control. The learner is free to say anything here which is appropriate in this situation. For example,
I can introduce Sonia, let me do that.

Inaudible (foreign language)

What are we doing here? Well, we want to help you.

Inaudible (foreign language)

So let's see now if I've developed enough rapport with these people that they'll cooperate with me. Let me ask where
the local leader is. Inaudible, foreign language.

Okay, and how do we get to his House? Inaudible, foreign language.

And I have these subtitle's up so you can follow along but we actually encourage learners as
soon as they're ready to turn those off so they can engage in a more natural conversation. So I have now
directions to get to the local leader. Let head-on to try and find him.

Except I forgot an important thing. I forgot to thank this person and I failed the mission.
but now I can't actually go and say okay, so what did I do wrong? I can actually check the list of
skills that I needed to learn here and oh, build trust with a local, pare these different skills and oh okay
build a rapport, I need to do more with that. So what are the different skills? Oh, Common politeness forums
On here are various lessons built into the game that I can now persue so I had only a five out of ten
I need to do some more work in being polite with these characters. So do I have any time left?
.

Then that will deal like is the basic idea. Come to our booth during the C2O showcase to see more.

Thank you.