A language learning apparatus includes a syntax-structure analyzing unit and a syntax-rule learning unit. The syntax-structure analyzing unit is provided with a speech recognition portion for recognizing a word string from input speech data Oi based on speech pattern information of a vocabulary-information storage unit. A semantic analyzer detects image patterns from input moving picture data Vi by using the information stored in the vocabulary-information storage unit, and analyzes the relevance of the detected image patterns and outputs a concept representation using the words corresponding to the individual image patterns. A relevance analyzer verifies the word string extracted by the speech recognition portion against the semantic representation extracted by the semantic analyzer so as to determine the syntax structure of the word string. Then, the syntax-rule learning unit learns the syntax rule by using the determined syntax structure. <IMAGE>
Language learning