Deanna Terzian
President and Founder
Mage Duel
President and Founder: Deanna Terzian
Primary Audience: Government/Adult Ed., Translators
Mage Duel is a serious language learning game that builds receptive and productive language abilities using an innovative neural-network-based semantic similarity engine to accelerate players’ language fluency and improve their phonological, morphological, and semantic discrimination skills. Mage Duel exists to support military linguists and civilians seeking to master communicative competency in a new language and is a cradle to grave solution for vocabulary acquisition and translation competency to complement formal language study.
LaunchPad Questions
During the LaunchPad, the audience had an opportunity to ask questions about the products. The Tech Center shared those questions with the entrepreneurs and here are the responses.
Is there any kind of speaking in the game? Or is it merely translation-focused?
Future versions of Mage Duel will include activities that develop speaking and conversational skills. Current voice-to-text technologies lack the necessary sophistication to handle the varied input from a wide range of L1 speakers with varied pronunciations and word choices spanning multiple dialects.
Current Arabic and Spanish versions of Mage Duel feature reading and listening activities, where players read or listen to text in the target language and translate the text into English. Some of these texts are taken from conversational and spoken registers.
Current Arabic and Spanish versions of Mage Duel feature reading and listening activities, where players read or listen to text in the target language and translate the text into English. Some of these texts are taken from conversational and spoken registers.
How can students learn about the target cultures surrounding the language through the gameplay?
Mage Duel will feature culturally relevant side quests that teach about the target cultures surrounding the target languages.
What's the added value compared to a classic video game? Many people have learned to speak English through games like WOW or CS:GO.
Players of classic, non-educational MOG games like WOW or CS:GO might end up learning some language unintentionally and informally, but this scattershot method, with no teacher and no scaffolded or embedded language learning activities, cannot quickly produce the strong language learning outcomes that our students and our clients seek, nor can it fit easily into formal language curricula for use in classrooms.
Mage Duel’s game world is built to match the content and learning activities of language learning curricula, and the primary object of Mage Duel is for players to gain language fluency through deliberate practice, learning to use a complex language for real life (and often, for the military, life or death) situations.
Mage Duel’s game world is built to match the content and learning activities of language learning curricula, and the primary object of Mage Duel is for players to gain language fluency through deliberate practice, learning to use a complex language for real life (and often, for the military, life or death) situations.
It seems that it targets a particular type of gamer. Is it possible it may not be fun for gamers that don’t like this type of game?
We believe that people who want to practice learning a language quickly and efficiently will be drawn to Mage Duel’s immersive and beautiful game world and will appreciate the gameplay benefits of a new type of serious language learning game where language learning is integrated with game play. As we expand the game with different types of activities, we will appeal to different play and learning styles as well.
How do you make sure the vocabulary is wide enough for each learner's individual needs? Is the vocabulary mainly related to the game theme?
The language content is related to the game narrative and overall game theme but each player practices learning language content separately through the game mechanics which are adaptive and powered by our semantic similarity engine. This means that players receive in-game language learning content and feedback that is targeted to their current language knowledge and ability.
How does Mage Duel’s semantic similarity engine work?
Mage Duel’s semantic similarity engine powers the language production activity and makes language learning more effective.
Mage Duel’s semantic similarity engine represents language as vectors in a multi-dimensional meaning space. It’s like a set of coordinates but instead of having two dimensions like coordinates on a map, our meaning space features 512 dimensions to represent meaning. Using math applied to these vector embeddings, we can tell how close in the meaning space, and therefore meaning, the player’s translation is to the source phrase. We can do this without relying on the use of specific words in the player’s translation. We can evaluate if the player gets the meanings close, even without using previously-given translations for individual words.
Mage Duel’s semantic similarity engine represents language as vectors in a multi-dimensional meaning space. It’s like a set of coordinates but instead of having two dimensions like coordinates on a map, our meaning space features 512 dimensions to represent meaning. Using math applied to these vector embeddings, we can tell how close in the meaning space, and therefore meaning, the player’s translation is to the source phrase. We can do this without relying on the use of specific words in the player’s translation. We can evaluate if the player gets the meanings close, even without using previously-given translations for individual words.
Why do you focus on fluency and not proficiency?
Mage Duel focuses on language proficiency, and fluency is an important characteristic of language proficiency. We understand that there is no such thing as one learning tool that will develop all aspects of proficiency, and we are excited to focus on developing multiple aspects of fluency – reading, writing, and eventually, speaking.
Are there opportunities for learners to produce spoken output within the game?
Future versions of Mage Duel will include speaking. Current voice-to-text technologies lack the necessary sophistication to handle the varied input from a wide range of L1 speakers with varied pronunciations and word choices spanning multiple dialects.
Your pitch highlights integration. Can you say more about how the language tasks relate to the player’s quest?
The language tasks relate to the player’s quest through the central game narrative: In the fantasy world of Degom, word magic is erupting across the land to threaten the Mage Lords who control all language on the planet and seek to keep a stranglehold on common folks’ development of the word magic that comes from proficiency in multiple languages. Within this context of multilingualism vs. monolingualism, the Mage Duel player has to navigate complex challenges and win quests all while developing fluency in the target language.
To what extent does your game adapt to the language learning needs of individual players?
All gameplay is individualized through the game mechanics that adapt content to the learner’s language ability as measured by the accuracy, speed and complexity of their language production. Also, because players are making choices, learning is personalized as players have agency to complete tasks in their own desired order.
Are there specific aspects of the game that facilitate comprehensible input?
Yes, every word in the game – whether as part of a character dialogues, game play directions, or language fluency activities –is comprehensible input and is placed with pedagogical attention as to how real languages are learned and how real communication functions. And, if a player does not provide a correct in-game response, the player receives a socio-pragmatic response such as, “What do you mean?” This is how comprehensible input in real language communication works.
Is language learning based on translation?
Translation is one strategy for learning a language and most beginning language learners actively translate from their native language to their target language. Also, Mage Duel is designed for military translators who need to learn how to translate a second language quickly.
What devices is Mage Duel available on?
Mage Duel is available for Mac and PC devices.
How are the learning mechanics integrated with game mechanics?
Learning languages while playing Mage Duel emerges from the interaction of the player’s game play and the game mechanics. All parts of the Mage Duel game world are designed with pedagogical attention as to how real languages are learned and how real communication functions.
Learning languages while playing Mage Duel emerges from the interaction of the player’s game play and the game mechanics. All parts of the Mage Duel game world are designed with pedagogical attention as to how real languages are learned and how real communication functions.
Mage Duel allows for reading and writing. Future versions of Mage Duel will include speaking.
Is it all translation?
Answered above.
Do you like playing this game? How many hours would you say you spend on average in each session?
Yes, we love playing Mage Duel and can play for multiple hours each session! We noticed the same long play habits among the participants in our usability study.
How would you measure intelligibility?
Mage Duel’s uses a semantic similarity engine to measure the intelligibility, or meaning, of the player’s word choices and to evaluate how close in the meaning space, and therefore meaning, the player’s translation is to the source phrase. We can do this without relying on the use of specific words in the player’s translation. We can evaluate if the player gets the meanings close, even without using previously-given translations for individual words.
Does the learner have any choice in the content covered?
The learner may choose from beginning levels of Arabic, Spanish or Mandarin.
I see how this can give depth to the task at hand, but less clear about how it adds breadth (e.g., many different language tasks)?
Mage Duel is currently in development and we are adding more second language acquisition activities to the game.
Who wrote and designed the game narratives of the games?
Mage Duel is designed and written by a team of researchers, developers and stakeholders.
You mentioned fantasy, so I wanted to know if there’s any violence, especially since you said children could use this.
The version of our language learning game that we design for children will be different from the current Mage Duel, which is designed for ages 13 and above.
Awesome presentation!! I was wondering if there are multiple languages available with your program? I love the video game concept.
Thank you! Mage Duel will be available to support language acquisition in Arabic, Spanish and Mandarin.
Are you using fluency as a synonym of proficiency?
Answered above.
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The Language Flagship Technology Innovation Center is funded under a grant from the Institute of International Education (IIE), acting as the administrative agent of the Defense Language and National Security Education Office (DLNSEO) for The Language Flagship. One should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Project P.I.: Dr. Julio C. Rodriguez
