Learning a new language through games

[tgr]

I've recently moved to France. Besides going to courses of the local moonspeak, I was thinking about trying the french version of "the Longest Journey" that I found pretty cheap. I guess in adventure games they might talk about other stuff than "constructing additional pylons", maybe? I played "Dreamfall" in english, but I have no f-n idea what goes on in this one, so it might prove to be interesting. Or frustrating...

 

[Woe Is You]

Maybe you should read a little more of the thread before responding mspencer, you would have learned that there's definitely people where a game has helped to learn a language and you would have learned that I'm already trying out different things, this is just an addition.

I did read the thread. It's just common sense that you can't learn a language by playing a video game in two different languages.

But he isn't even suggesting that. Of course you can't learn a language by just reading the same sentence in your own language and then in a foreign language and magically know the language, its rules and why the sentence is like that in the first place. So, no, it doesn't sound like you did read the thread.

His idea wasn't that he'd be learning Portuguese solely through games but them being a supplement. But if you already have a base to build up on, games can certainly help in introducing vocabulary and expressions.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

You're not going to learn a new language in a video game, unless it's a kiddy language game.

See, that's interesting. Part of the reason why I write English so well is because I learnt English early on through games like Maniac Mansion. One could argue that it only enabled my learning, but in his case, he's got a base to build on, so it might be good way of increasing his vocab.

Speaking of which, Maniac Mansion [http://www.gamershell.com/news_13894.html] has a remake out with a Portuguese translation. Open source games like Battle for Wesnoth [http://www.wesnoth.org/] almost always have translators. Also, you listed Starcraft. That too has a Portuguese version of it.

Oddly enough, Lucasarts was really into translating all of their adventure games. Monkey Island helped me brush up on my spanish immensely.

 

[Capo Taco]

Oddly enough, Lucasarts was really into translating all of their adventure games. Monkey Island helped me brush up on my spanish immensely.

Wow I'm going to see if I can find those in portuguese! I always like reasons to replay monkey islands anyway! They helped tremendously in learning a language! Jokes are the best reward for learning a language: You need to do well to realize when something is a joke and when it is a clue. Maybe after playing those and I've gotten my grasp of typical adventury expressions in portuguese, I'll try some that I haven't played yet, like zak mckracken, the dig and loom.

Good inspiration, thanks jeffries!

I also had a fun experience when I was 11 and we were playing english hangman at school and my teacher doubted for a second whether 'dexterity' was really an english word:

"Yes it is, Ma'am, it is how good you are at dodging or hitting things with bow and arrow!"

 

[ZenMonkey47]

I've expanded my Japanese vocabulary quite a bit through games... though it's always words and phrases I'd never use in daily conversation.


{I've defeated the enemy commander!}

{My battle spirit burns brightly with justice.}
<Well, keep up the good work>
{I have no need for a false salvation}

 

[Capo Taco]

Hehe, I used to say english phrases from games at random. I'd say "Don't hurt me" all day (phrase out of wolfenstein: Difficulty level). Then I'd say it as my mother was trying to pull a splinter out of my finger and she was so impressed with my english. And I didn't even know what it meant until she said that.

 

[Capo Taco]

Aaaanyways, Thanks for contributing everyone! I've got loads of leads now and it'll be a fun way to expand my portuguese!

Tchau!

ps. Thanks mspencer in particular for your incredibly helpful and insightful advice. Muito obrigado!

 

[ExileNZ]

Looks like I've missed the boat here, but I learned some new phrases by playing through Jedi Outcast in French, complimentary to 8 years of study of course. From there I moved onto other games. Now I live there, so it's a different story (I play games in English to stop me forgetting).

The main advantage of games is exposure, same with music or television.

Have to admit Capo, I really didn't spot that you're not a native English speaker, so you're definitely doing something right.

As for other sources, for the moment I can only reiterate the suggestion of open source stuff - Battle for Wesnoth, UFO: Alien Invasion, things like that. They all get community contributions so they tend to get translated into a ridiculous number of languages. So yeah, short of google, Sourceforge is probably your best bet.

Also, I'd be amazed if Beyond Good and Evil didn't come in Portuguese.

 

[Capo Taco]

Thanks. It may be bad form to close a forum topic anyways. It's not my thread, it's usable for all who want to supplement their language learning.

Thanks for the compliment ExileNZ, but I must admit that 6 years of bilingual high school must have helped me a little bit. Still, if it wasn't for games I'd have never joined a bilingual school in the first place.

 

[Jamash]

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition comes with 10 European languages which you can install & use the English subtitles, so theoretically you could learn another language using that game.

Or you could just learn (crude) funny phrases like "You mum sucks Dwarf cock", "I fucked a she-elf" & "My balls itch".

Since the game is a fantasy RPG your topics of conversation may be fairly limited, but it's a huge game with fairly modern concepts, so you could probably learn quite a lot of useful basics.

It would also be an amusing way to baffle people on holiday, e.g walk into a shop in France and say "The squirrels are hiding out in the swamp, training for their battle with the Knights of the Order...I wouldn't go there myself, you're likely to be attacked by Drowners & Ghouls".

 

[Capo Taco]

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition comes with 10 European languages which you can install & use the English subtitles, so theoretically you could learn another language using that game.

Jamash, a game I can play in portuguese with english subtitles... that's AWESOME.

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

Heh, my flatmate ended up focusing on English as her primary subject throughout School and university just so she could figure out what people were talking about in games. This amused me greatly.

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

I've expanded my Japanese vocabulary quite a bit through games... though it's always words and phrases I'd never use in daily conversation.


{I've defeated the enemy commander!}

{My battle spirit burns brightly with justice.}
<Well, keep up the good work>
{I have no need for a false salvation}

hehe Tenchu Z taught me

"your end will be swift" "What was that?"
"oh...no...i'm...dying" "what the hell?"
"what?" "hes dead?!"
"huh?" "enemy"
"A NINJA!" "your partner is earless" (dont ask)
"Dog of goda!" "The moon is beautiful tonight"
"a shadow?!" "I see you"
I admit learning phrases arn't very useful but you can break them down into constituant parts if you try hard enough meaning you can learn the words which (sometimes) are more useful.

As for the OP have you tried things like surfing portuguese websites? Also wikipedia is available in portuguese scroll down and on the left theres languages could make for some interesting bedtime reading (everythng you ever needed to know).