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 Language Learning Forum : Music, Movies, TV & Radio |  | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5011 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes  Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 1 of 12 06 December 2013 at 12:24am | IP Logged | ||
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I think most people who read my posts have already noticed I love them. And they are a great way to practice (or even to learn!) a language. I learnt 95% of my English in a MUD game (text based multi user dungeon, basically a much better, creative and imaginative grandfather of games like the WoW which still survives and flourishes among some kinds of players) and I passed CAE using the knowledge and skills I got in the game. But even the usual ones can give you a lot of exposure while you are having fun, which is the best way to learn, isn't it?
So, here are some ideas: There are MUDs of various kinds and genres. Most are in English. You can get info about those still very active for example at topmudsites.com . There are some in other languages as well, I know some French ones are still alive somehow and I read about the German ones. Adventure and RPGs are often rich in text and audio. In many games, you can both listen and read at the same time. Be the hero and save the world from the evil magician and monolingualism! Strategies can still give you some exposure, even though much less (but there are things I remember perfectly from the AoE :-) ) -many games, especially the new ones, come in only one or two languages, sometimes even without the original (what atrocity!). But you can usually buy the physical copies from an eshop in the country. -one of my favourite eshops is gog.com .It is awesome, it brings back a lot of older, great games (from the days when games were really games and not just interactive movies), make them work on new OSs and sell them for good prices without the need to wait for any stupid, breakable, solid CD/DVD. There are jewels like the Broken Sword, the Longest Journey or even newer pieces like the Witcher or the Assassin's Creed. And they have put together several lists of the multilingual games such as this: http://www.gog.com/mix/multilanguage_games to make your search easier. -free games. There are interesting pieces by amateur or beginning creators which are fun and without any attack on your budget. This is one of the areas where learners of the asian languages may find treasures. Japanese and Korean are probably the only large "native" languages of games apart from English, including the freeware area. So, why not put these passions together? Do you have any experience with games in other languages? Any recommendations? P.S. Mafia 1 is originally a Czech game and the original Czech dubbing is really good. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Sizen Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4341 days ago 165 posts - 347 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Catalan, Spanish, Japanese, Ukrainian, German | Message 2 of 12 06 December 2013 at 2:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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I really enjoyed the French dubbing of Portal 2, even if the game is very short. I was
expecting something a little mediocre, but the voice actors are just fantastic. Diablo 3 also wasn't terrible for its French, but I still have bitter feelings about how that game turned out... D2 forever. Honestly, even though I love Japanese and video games, I haven't really played many games in Japanese. I think that would change if I got myself a Vita because my 3DS is region locked. I haven't been playing much lately though, mostly because I have a hard time getting the games I want to play in French. Maybe I should just buy a Vita and go Japanese. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Zireael Triglot Senior Member Poland Joined 4653 days ago 518 posts - 636 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, Spanish Studies: German, Sign Language, Tok Pisin, Arabic (Yemeni), Old English | Message 3 of 12 06 December 2013 at 4:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am playing a MUD where one of the mods is German. You can guess what language I am using when writing him.
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| chokofingrz Pentaglot Senior Member England Joined 5191 days ago 241 posts - 430 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Japanese, Catalan, Luxembourgish | Message 4 of 12 06 December 2013 at 8:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't know if anyone here has ever played an IF (Interactive Fiction) game. Well, a lot of older people probably know about "text adventure" games such as Zork or Adventure. But you may not know that this genre is still alive and going strong! Modern IF games can be played in your web browser and a couple I recommend include The Dreamhold and Lost Pig.
Of course, these games can be good for language learners. Not all of them are in English. In fact someone on IFDB asked for a list of games suited to language learners. Let us know if you play or know of any good ones! PS: you need plenty of patience and time to play these games! Young people today are probably too hyperactive to get anywhere... 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5322 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 5 of 12 06 December 2013 at 8:22pm | IP Logged | ||
I've never played those games, but I remember vaguely that I tried to play the interactive version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which accepted some kind of "Tarzan speak." If that's the case for languages other than English these games are probably of limited value to foreign language learners. Since you're apparently familiar with the IFDB .gblorb format, I've got a couple of questions for you: 1. Do these games work like the Choose Your Own Adventure books? I.e. at one point in the game, you're asked to make a choice and might get a different ending depending on the choice. 2. Does the IFDB interpreter support limited natural language commands and if so has it been localized to other languages? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| s0fist Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5048 days ago 260 posts - 445 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Sign Language, German, Spanish, French | Message 6 of 12 07 December 2013 at 12:03am | IP Logged | ||
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I can attest that games have helped me tremendously over the years to improve my English.
And I can't wait until my other languages are good enough to start playing (imho one needs B1+ to _enjoy_ playing the game in L2 I agree, adventure and RPG games are the best for learning. And if you're not the sort to get addicted to gaming, MMORPGs are awesome since there's loads of content and lots of players you can chat with in your target language. The more text and audio the better: you want to be involved in the language at least as much as in the game process, which makes strategies and FPS games less desirable. The good thing is that many modern games have translation into major European and Asian languages, such as French, German, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, etc. And many have translations into many other languages. I personally can't yet recommend multilingual games in that many languages since I'd played most of them in Russian or English. I do know that a lot of games are translated into Russian. Some are badly/passably dubbed and some are great/worthwhile, and some are even Russian originals. Here's some of the better ones that have good Russian content: World of Warcraft!, STALKER!, Heroes of Might and Magic, Kings Bounty, Аллоды, Космические Рейнджеры!, Блицкриг, and lots of others. I also know World of Warcraft has quality translations and lots of text and audio content in French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and a few other languages. As a former WoW player I might come back and play on EU servers to improve my French/German/Spanish/etc. But I won't recommend WoW to MMORPG novices due to how addictive MMORPGs can be. I also played Guild Wars 2 MMORPG a little and think it has the major languages supported as well with lots of content. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| chokofingrz Pentaglot Senior Member England Joined 5191 days ago 241 posts - 430 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Japanese, Catalan, Luxembourgish | Message 7 of 12 07 December 2013 at 1:49am | IP Logged | ||
They are a bit like Choose Your Own Adventure... not so much in that there are different storylines or endings to choose from... more like, the story is fairly linear but there are several ways of accomplishing each task. Sometimes there are hidden parts of the story if you type in unexpected commands... but you are always led back to the main story soon. In the ones I've played the language interpreter is surprisingly sophisticated! These are not the days of typing "PICK UP BOOK" and the computer replies "I do not understand PICK"! In the best games you can go, walk, run, move, step, march, advance, tiptoe - and get results. In other words a lot of synonyms and syntaxes are understood. In general there aren't localised versions of one game. There are English-written games where you play in English. German-written games where you play in German. And so on. Often the quality of the author's prose is a determining factor in how engrossing the game is. Well I'm off to play a short one in a foreign language tonight, and I'll report back if I enjoy it! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Eagle32 Groupie New Zealand Joined 6503 days ago 56 posts - 83 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 8 of 12 07 December 2013 at 11:21am | IP Logged | ||
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I like the point and click adventure games from Pendulo Studios: the Runaway series and The Next Big Thing (haven't bought their newest game, Yesterday, yet).
They have full French (not sure about other languages) audio and subtitles and you can pause/resume the game quickly by hitting space. So I can pause the game as soon as a line is said, read the subs and then resume and listen. I also have Sibera 1/2 and Mata Hari waiting to be played and they all have full French audio and subtitles. Haven't gotten around to them yet. Sales make for a large back log of games waiting to be played. ;) I'd agree that Adventure and RPGs are generally best because they provide lots of text/audio. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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