Learning Languages through Interactive Gaming

This paper demonstrates the design and implementation of an innovative gamified software application for learning human-spoken languages.The game serves as an interactive and enjoyable supplement to aid the learning process of different languages for elementary-aged children.At its core, the application uses a translation Application Programming Interface (API) to process text and output translations in the target language chosen by the learner.Additionally, it is AI-enabled, allowing the utilization of APIs such as OpenAIs's ChatGPT to enhance the translation capabilities.Provided is a basic proof of concept that was developed as part of the Final Pi Project in the Intermediate Computer Programming (COSC 1352) course.The gamified program was written in Python, utilizing a modular design along with Google Translate 1 to generate progressively translated sentences.The game runs on a Raspberry Pi that is connected to a mini touch LCD screen, creating a portable handheld gaming console.The graphical adventure game interacts with the language learner through text commands.In its current implementation, it can handle translation of both full sentences and individual words within a sentence.This dynamic adjustment of the difficulty level allows the game to cater to a wide variety of language learning needs effectively.The results of the initial version of the game are very promising and demonstrate that the program is highly scalable and capable of evolving in future iterations into a fully interactive gamified languagelearning tool.Additionally, the modular design of the program provides an easy to integrate with alternative translation APIs and customization of parameters for various applications.Our proof-ofconcept demo won the "Best Technical Award" at the Final Pi Project Design Expo as evaluated by faculty, industry professionals and advisory board members.These results highlight the potential of our innovative approach to redefine language learning for young learners.