Wired

Developed by the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute, the Tactical Language Training Program is different from interactive language programs of the past, which focus solely on spoken language. In Tactical Iraqi, players navigate a set of real-life scenarios by learning a set of Arabic phrases, culturally relevant gestures and taboos. Other titles include Tactical Levantine and Tactical Pashto.

Following each lesson, the player is asked to interact with other characters using speech and gestures, while a speech-recognition system records and evaluates the responses. Accurate responses allow the soldier to build a rapport with other characters and advance to the next level.

The Army and Marine Corps have trained about 300 soldiers using the system, says Lewis Johnson of USC’s Information Sciences Institute. Some of them traveled to Iraq with the game to continue their own training and share the knowledge with other troops. Johnson expects several thousand soldiers will have used the game by the end of the year.

Misunderstanding nonverbal cues such as proximity while speaking, handshakes and subtle gestures like bowing the head or placing one’s hand over the heart can create or destroy trust, says Hannes Vilhjalmsson, the project’s technical director. “There is a whole sequence of things that has to happen in connection with what you are saying, and it’s that kind of rich context of interaction that we are trying to re-create in the virtual environment,” he says.

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