Learning Languages from Games

[Berzee]

Have you ever had an experience where after playing a game you found that you had retained some small knowledge of a foreign language (be it real or fake) spoken in the game? I've noticed that I will occasionally pick up a word here or there (for example, Dunmer insults in Morrowind, the general meaning of unit responses in Age of Kings, or the incessant "requiescat in pace" in Assassin's Creed 2 ensuring that I will always have three words of Latin). But I recently began wondering if any game has ever featured a more in-depth "learning some of the local language" either as a survival requirement, or as something that happens gradually from prolonged exposure while playing.

 

I think it could be interesting to play a game where you're dropped into a foreign land and wander around cluelessly while NPCs try to give you basic instructions; or one where you start in an English-speaking country but as you travel further away the characters tend to be decreasingly fluent in English and will insert more dialogue from their native language.

 

I'm partly interested in whether this would be an effective supplement while actually trying to learn a language; but I also think it might be excellent for world-building purposes in the game, to give a feeling of initial strangeness with increased belonging over time. (Buying a house in a game city kinda makes you feel like you're settling in -- but learning to communicate with its residents might do it better =).

 

There's probably games that do this already though, maybe with some kind of crazy space- and/or wizard-language. If you know of any, please share! I wish to play such a thing.

[sclpls]

I can't really think of any examples of a foreign language, but when I was a kid playing NetHack I definitely picked up a lot of SAT-quality English vocabulary.

[brkl]

Yes. The English language.

[elmuerte]

Yep, same here: English.

Best example I can recall would be from LBA: "Go clobber a clone". Had to look up what "clobber" meant.

[Berzee]

Yes. The English language.

 

True enough but I doubt many English games are designed with the idea that players won't know the language when they start the game. If you don't speak English, you'll get the whole language thrown at you at once without much concern for consistency or clarity. Which is still certainly a useful way to hear more of a language and expand on a basic understanding -- but I'd like to play a game where the NPCs know that they're talking to someone who doesn't speak the language at all, and try their best to make themselves understood (or alternatively, turn to their friends and make fun of your hat in flowery words that you only understand when you come back and play the game again after gaining fluency).

[SecretAsianMan]

I think an older episode of the cast included something about someone (possibly Bronstring Marek Bronstring) learning English by playing Lucasarts adventure games.  Something about the game helping him learn how to conjugate verbs.

[Berzee]

I think an older episode of the cast included something about someone (possibly Bronstring Marek Bronstring) learning English by playing Lucasarts adventure games.  Something about the game helping him learn how to conjugate verbs.

 

Ha, I do remember that now! Hmm, I wonder how well he knew English before he started playing those -- it seems like a good thing to play while aspiring to an intermediate level, but probably quite challenging as a total beginner. Though of course if you do struggle through any foreign-language activity translating as you go, it will prove beneficial -- and if you pick something of lesser writing quality than Lucasarts adventures, you'll get the added bonus of learning to speak in hilarious, stilted Game Protagonist sentences.

[Roderick]

Well, I definitely learned a ton of English through games. Some words are especially linked to them, like 'ominous' or any of the epic parlance of Blizzard titles that you only really hear there.

As for new languages... Hmm, there was a bit in I Have No Mouth where all NPC's spoke a nonsense language, but that wasn't really a big deal. I definitely loved digging into Elder Scrolls mythology and culture. I was huge on Morrowind and as a result picked up a lot of strange words and phrases. It adds to a game when it has its own tongue. Outcast also springs to mind. Ulukaï! Ulukaï!

[TheLastBaron]

I have a friend who is learning German by playing games in German like Deponia. When he looks at games on steam the box with the languages in it is actually something he looks at when deciding to buy a game.

[bakelite]

DayZ has taught me to read Cyrillic on the level of a chimp. I don't know what it actually means, but I know that a particular group of symbols means that I'm nearing Berezino. Where's my banana?

[melmer]

I know what "I'll see you in hell" is in Japanese, thanks Soul Calibur!

[BadHat]

You mean like how I learn japanese from watching all those anime?

 

Ah, so des ka.

[melmer]

dattebayo!

[posh_somme]

i'm english and i'm living in france right now, i can speak it to a reasonable degree to where i can understand just about anything and have normal conversations in french. sometimes i'll change a game's language to french, especially if it's voice acted too, like Trine 2 was. i'd probably be more apprehensive if a game was mostly story based since that's just more parts of my brain i don't necessarily want to be switched on while i'm playing video games, especially if i want to follow the story closely. it'd just end up taking me longer to process the whole thing. so to answer the question, yes, decent passive supplement i guess but i don't really want to have to detract from my enjoyment of a game by co-opting it with a learning experience

 

i've just started learning japanese and i'd say that rosetta stone is probably a better idea than a fan translated day of the tentacle. rosetta stone is good.

[elmuerte]

French is easy. 50% of it is just being arrogant

[osmosisch]

I beefed up my Polish by playing the Witcher in Polish with subtitles.

[darthbator]

I learned to read and write playing games as a kid. I would have my mom come in and read a ui or dialog to me then I would try and draw the words and memorize the sounds.I figured out I could play longer if I didn't need to rely on her to read. I contest I was just memorizing shapes and positions onscreen, however in some ways that is what reading is...

[Tanukitsune]

I completely forgot that I learned to read hiragana from Mario Paint...

[tegan]

I don't remember any of it now, but I was one of the many kids who inadvertently learned to read braille from Pokémon Ruby.

[Piffinatour]

At 6 years old, I actually tried to learn to read so I could tell what was going on in my Pokemon game, so my Dad didn't have that advantage.

 

And yes, my father got me Pokemon Blue and a Gameboy Color when I was Six Years old so he could have someone to play with. Man, I love my dad.

 

Parents. Not always bad, huh?