Teaching aid for foreign language

Apparatus for assisting the learning of a foreign language employs a text in the foreign language printed with an ink which reflects part of the visual spectrum, such as red ink. Superimposed on that foreign language text is a literal translation of the text in a language familiar to the reader, imprinted in an ink which reflects a different portion of the visual spectrum, such as blue ink. A student reads the text using eyeglasses which have lens coated with filters so that the lower portions, through which the student normally reads the text, pass light reflected from the foreign language text, rendering it visible to the reader, and block light reflected from the familiar language translation, rendering it invisible to the reader. When the reader's gaze is shifted, in the manner of use of bi-focal glasses, to observe the text through the upper sections of the filter, the translation is visible. In an alternate embodiment of the invention, the filter may be incorporated in a book mark having two longitudinally aligned sections incorporating the different filter materials.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to apparatus useful in the teaching of a foreign 
language comprising a media imprinted with both a foreign language text 
and a familiar language translation of that text positioned closely to one 
another, and filter means to render either the text or its translation 
visible to a reader. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
A simple and effective method for learning a foreign language is to read 
entertaining literature in that language. However, the need to constantly 
refer to a dictionary often makes what should be an enjoyable experience 
tedious, thus discouraging the reader. 
One solution to this problem involves printing the foreign language text 
and its familiar language translation on opposing pages of a book so that 
quick reference may be had to the translation. This has been implemented 
in prayer books and the like but the relatively extensive eye movement 
required to refer to the translation interrupts the reading of the foreign 
language text sufficiently to destroy the flow of the reading process. 
Alternatively, it has been proposed to print the familiar language 
translation and a foreign language text directly adjacent to one another, 
effectively interleafing lines of the foreign and the familiar text. U.S. 
Pat. No. 3,126,647 discloses this type of arrangement in which the 
familiar text is printed in such small size type as to be unreadable to 
the normal unaided eye. When the familiar language translation of a word 
in the foreign text is required, a hand magnifying glass is brought into 
position over the translation, rendering it visible. Similarly, U.S. Pat. 
No. 4,891,011 discloses a system in which a familiar language translation 
is printed directly beneath the foreign language text using a medium which 
is generally invisible to the human eye unless exposed to light of a 
specified frequency range, such as ultraviolet light. The reader is 
provided with a portable light source of the specified frequency which may 
be used to illuminate the translation when required. 
These arrangements require that the lines of the foreign text be spaced 
relatively widely from one another, and require the reader to move the 
device which will reveal the foreign language into position over the text. 
Swiss Patent 363010 suggests overprinting the familiar and foreign texts 
using inks of different colors and employing a sheet of the same size as 
the book incorporating a series of two-color filters which may be 
positioned over the text so as to reveal either the foreign text or its 
familiar language translation to the student. This apparatus eliminates 
the need for the student to shift his gaze when referring to the 
translation of an unfamiliar word or phrase, but it is difficult to shift 
this overlay so as to reveal the desired text line and the delay required 
to manually shift the large sheet incorporating the filters to the 
required position interrupts the flow of reading the foreign text. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is directed to apparatus of this general type which 
is simple in construction and allows reference to the translation in such 
a simple manner as to avoid interrupting the reading of the foreign text 
to an inconvenient degree. 
The present invention broadly involves pages of a media imprinted with 
foreign language text in a first colored ink and the translation of that 
text in a different colored ink and the use of a two-colored filter that 
may be interposed between the reader and the text. 
The two-colored filter is preferably formed as the lenses of eyeglasses. 
The lower section, through which the viewer normally gazes, is tinted a 
color complementary to the ink with which the foreign text is imprinted, 
rendering the foreign text visible and the translation invisible. When the 
viewer shifts his gaze upwardly through the complementary colored sections 
of the filters forming each lens of the eyeglass, the translation is 
rendered visible. 
The reader wearing these special glasses may thus refer to the translation 
of a difficult word or phrase without shifting his gaze and without the 
need to manually adjust a filter. This encourages the reader toward 
relying on the foreign text and produces a rapid acclamation to the 
foreign language. 
Alternatively, the filter may be formed as a bookmark having a length 
similar to the length of the text lines and a relatively narrow width. The 
bookmark is transparent and the upper halve is tinted a color that will 
reveal one overprinted text and hide the other, and the lower halve is 
tinted the complementary color to reveal the other overprinted text. The 
bookmark is shifted on a line-by-line basis as the reader progressed 
through the text and may be shifted over a line to reveal the translation 
where required.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring to FIG. 1 the preferred form of the present invention takes the 
form of a book, generally indicated at 10, and special eyeglasses, 
generally indicated at 12, to be worn by a student 14 when reading the 
book 10. It should be understood that other forms of printed media, other 
than a book, may be used in connection with the present invention. For 
example, single sheets, imprinted cards or the like may be employed as an 
alternative to the book 10. 
The book 10 is imprinted with sequential lines of text 16 representing a 
novel, essay or other reading material chosen to be of interest to the 
student and a single line of text, as it would be viewed in normal light 
without the aid of the eyeglasses 12, is illustrated in FIG. 3. As thus 
illustrated, the line is difficult to read because it consists of a single 
phrase imprinted in two languages superimposed on one another. FIG. 4 
illustrates the phrase as imprinted in one of the languages, and FIG. 5 
illustrates the phrase in a different language. The user of the apparatus 
should be familiar with one of the two languages; normally it would be the 
student's native language. The apparatus of the present invention is used 
to improve the reading fluency of the student in the other language, which 
will be termed the "foreign" language. For the purpose of understanding 
the embodiments of the invention illustrated in the drawings, the 
assumption is made that the foreign language is English, as illustrated in 
FIG. 4, and the familiar language is Spanish as illustrated in FIG. 5. In 
this form the apparatus of the invention would be used to assist a student 
who is familiar with Spanish to read English. 
In the embodiment of FIGS. 1-5, the foreign language text of FIG. 4 is 
imprinted with ink of a particular color, preferably one of the primary 
colors, i.e, red, blue or green. The familiar language translation, which 
is preferably a word-for-word translation but may alternatively be a 
higher level translation such as phrase-by-phrase or the like, is 
imprinted in ink of a different color than that used to print the foreign 
language, preferably one of the other primary colors. For example, if the 
foreign text is imprinted in blue, the familiar language text may be 
imprinted in red. 
The student reads the line 16 of text through a filter. In the embodiment 
of FIG. 1 the filter consists of the eyeglasses 12 which are illustrated 
in detail in FIG. 2. The eyeglasses consist of lenses 18 supported in 
frames 20. Normally the lenses 18 will not provide any optical power, 
although prescription lenses could be employed by students who require 
optical correction to read. 
The lenses 18 are divided into upper sections 20, which are tinted a first 
color, and lower sections 22 which are tinted a second color. Preferably 
the upper sections 20 take up the upper half of each lens and the lower 
sections 22 take up the lower half in the same manner as bifocal lenses. 
The upper sections of the lenses 20 are tinted in a color that is 
complementary to the color of the ink in which the familiar language, FIG. 
5, is imprinted and preferably the same color as the foreign language text 
of FIG. 4 is imprinted. Because of that coloring, the reader, viewing the 
text lines through the upper sections 20, will be able to see the foreign 
language text but the familiar language text will be hidden. 
The lower sections 22 of the lenses are preferably tinted the same color as 
the foreign language text, and of a color complementary to the familiar 
language text. Thus, when the student 14 lowers his head so as to view a 
particular line 16 of the text through the upper tinted sections 20 of the 
eyeglasses 12, the familiar language text of FIG. 5 will be visible and 
the foreign language text will be hidden. In use, the reader 14 simply 
reads the text in the foreign language on a line-by-line basis by viewing 
it through the lower sections 22 of the lenses and may easily find the 
translation of any word or phrase which is not understood by simply 
maintaining his gaze on the line of text and lowering his head so that the 
line of view is shifted through the upper sections 20 of the eyeglasses, 
revealing the translation. Because there is no need for the student to 
shift his gaze to another place for the translation and then reposition 
his gaze back to the foreign language text, there is minimal interruption 
in the reading flow, encouraging the reader to continue with the foreign 
language text. 
FIG. 6 illustrates an alternative form of printing the text. Rather than 
superimposing the familiar language text and the foreign language text, 
they may be imprinted immediately adjacent to one another. FIG. 6 
illustrates two lines 30 and 32 of the foreign language text, with 
word-for-word translations in the familiar language text imprinted 
immediately below them at 34 and 36, respectively. This embodiment 
provides the advantage of eliminating any over-printing which may obscure 
one of the texts of the embodiment of FIG. 1 but requires a slight 
shifting in the gaze of the student to refer to a familiar language 
translation of the foreign language text. In the practice of this 
embodiment of the invention the upper section 20 of the lenses 18 may be 
plain, untinted glass so that when the student 14 lowers his head so as to 
view the translation he may also observe the foreign language text. 
FIG. 7 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the invention wherein the 
filter takes the form of a bookmark 24, preferably having a length about 
equal to the width of a page of the book 10 and having a width equal to 
about the space of two lines of text. 
The bookmark 24 is divided into an upper longitudinal section 26 and a 
lower longitudinal section 28. The section 26 is transparent and is tinted 
the same color as the upper lens sections 20 of the eyeglasses of FIG. 2 
while the lower section 28 of the bookmark 24 is transparent and tinted in 
the same manner as the lower section 22 of the eyeglasses. 
The reader uses the bookmark 24 by placing the upper section 26 over a line 
of the text and reading the line through the upper tinted section 26. The 
user moves the bookmark as successive lines of text are completed. In 
order to view the translation in the familiar language, the bookmark is 
shifted upward with respect to the line 16 so that the line 16 is visible 
through the lower tinted section 28, rendering the familiar language text 
visible without interference from the foreign language text.