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Video Games, a gold mine on Steam for L-R | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| TMoneytron Groupie United States Joined 4796 days ago 70 posts - 83 votes  Studies: German | Message 1 of 13 08 September 2011 at 3:29am | IP Logged | ||
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Everyone loves a good long, 40+ hour RPG, replete with dialogue.
Well, imagine this, THEY HAVE THEM IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES. Many of them are available on Steam. All you have to do is change your default language and Steam will download extra files for your game in that language. I can't really imagine a more fun way for "immersion." Mass Effect 1+2, Knights of the Old Republic 1+2, Assassin's Creed 1 and I'm sure many many more come in French, German, Spanish, and Italian, complete with hours and hours of dialogue. Yes, voiced dialogue. Does anyone else do this and have any suggestions as to grammatical correctness? I just started Knights of the Old Republic I in German, it seems pretty spot on (considering I've beaten the game 3 times before, though for some reason the characters address me as "Ihr" instead of "Ihnen", I wonder why). Just thought I would share this tip with the forum. Also, Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic have subtitles. So it could be a creative way to implement the L-R technique. Edited by TMoneytron on 08 September 2011 at 6:23am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6374 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 2 of 13 08 September 2011 at 12:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's not LR, for the same reason that movies with subtitles aren't, but it can still be a good way to squeeze in some extra study!
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| TMoneytron Groupie United States Joined 4796 days ago 70 posts - 83 votes Studies: German | Message 3 of 13 08 September 2011 at 4:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ohhh. Well,you can turn the subtitles off lol.
What exactly is L-R then? I mean, you could take notes while you play.... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6374 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 4 of 13 08 September 2011 at 4:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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L-R, as I define it, and as it was presented on this forum initially, is an intensive language-learning method, using an L2 audio recording of a familiar and long story.
Optionally, you'll have a corresponding L1 text, or an L1/L2 parallel text; this is always extremely helpful. The 'density' of new material is critical for L-R: a novel has enough words per minute and few enough other distractions to be excellent for L-R, while movies and video games fail on both counts. They're still worth learning from, and your proposal is an excellent way to get some language learning out of gaming time, but games aren't usable for L-R. It's still a goldmine, just not an L-R one. :-) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| TMoneytron Groupie United States Joined 4796 days ago 70 posts - 83 votes Studies: German | Message 5 of 13 08 September 2011 at 5:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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Oh interesting. Well in KOTOR and Mass Effect they have subtitles in the L2 language, along with recorded dialogue. So, it might not be QUITE L-R, but it sounds pretty close. Moreover, things like the context in the game, the surrounding, and the overall story might help. Like, I know the story of KOTOR, so contextual clues help me to figure out the German dialogue.
But I get what you say with the distractions. KOTOR is VERY dialogue dense. You can spend hours just talking to the characters. That is one of the reasons why I loved the game. Eventually if you get the characters to trust you after hours of talking to them, they reveal their past secrets and back stories. Doing that in another language would be really fun, actually. Thanks for the clarification! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6374 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 6 of 13 08 September 2011 at 11:39pm | IP Logged | ||
Sounds awesome. That kind of dialog-density is definitely a plus for language learning, as is the existing familiarity you have with it. Enjoy! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Dr. POW Groupie Canada Joined 4900 days ago 48 posts - 58 votes Studies: German, English* Studies: French | Message 7 of 13 09 September 2011 at 1:22am | IP Logged | ||
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I made a topic about using video games to learn languages as well. It's on the next
page. I've found that simply playing Pokémon in a different language is fairly effective. There is tons of dialogue, over 1000 NPCs, meaning incredible amounts of vocabulary. Another pro is that you can let the person stop talking and look at anything you don't understand/are interested in without them talking past it. Also, it may seem that the vocabulary would be 100% about battles, but other than the names of Pokémon and other items (name of people, cities, items, and Pokémon are in full capitals, and you can identify them) the dialogue covers fairly broad subjects. You won't get a vocabulary based on magic, dragons, the apocalypse, etc. The speakers are also very different from one another. Some talk formally, some talk at a personal level, and some use slang. There is, unfortunately, no audio to go along with the text. BTW, do you have to pay for the game in the other language again if you already bought it in English? I have spent a fair sum of money on Steam, so this would be something great to use if I don't need to. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| mikonai Diglot Senior Member United States weirdnamewriting.bloRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4864 days ago 178 posts - 281 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Swahili, German | Message 8 of 13 09 September 2011 at 4:25am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the resource! I totally didn't know Steam had all those alternate language
files. Now I'll probably have to sign up for my own account to play in other languages, instead of stealing my brother's computer all the time. And now I can justify playing video games as language learning! Woot! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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