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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Akao aka FailArtist Senior Member United States Joined 5146 days ago 315 posts - 347 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Toki Pona | Message 1 of 22 25 June 2010 at 7:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Depending on which game you get, what you like to do, and how you learn can be a great part in how video games can effect your language learning. After you get a mild ground in the language, I've found that I can learn a ton of vocabulary from playing a video game. However, there are some genres that offer less vocabulary such as FPS, while there are others that offer much more such as Action/Adventure or RPG.
The best genre by far is MMORPG as it grants you the most vocabulary and the option to speak with other players who speak the language. The problem is, they will often use mangled versions of their language. The worst genre is probably single player FPS, as they would rarely have cutscenes, offer no contact with natives, and rarely have the language being shown at all. The exception is the title screen or a game such as TF2 or DoD:S. If you know all of the above terminology, you should vote on this poll. It is not limited to certain people, anyone can vote, but to get accurate results I'd prefer it if you had played video games before in another language or at least played video games more than once. So, just let me know what you think. I definitely believe it is fun and effective, but opinions are often different. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| feanarosurion Senior Member Canada Joined 5091 days ago 217 posts - 316 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish, Norwegian | Message 2 of 22 25 June 2010 at 7:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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I love video games, for sure, but I think there's only a couple of genres that would be really beneficial at all. RPGs I'd say would be the only ones that would be legitimately useful. Maybe some adventure games as well. However, there are very few that have good full translations, and some are only for game text, not for game audio. Too expensive to re-record all the voice acting sometimes I guess. MMOs or multiplayer games are probably less effective than single player games in my opinion, because language won't just be colloquial, it'll be extremely fragmented, and often rude and vulgar. I mean, I'm not bashing it. Everyone does it. I do it. But that won't really help anything at all. Single player games with a good translation, preferably a good RPG such as the Elder Scrolls games could be pretty effective in theory, but I think in the end, you're either focusing on language learning or the game. Unless you're already fairly fluent, you're not going to get around the game properly without a lot of trial and error unless it's a downright basic game. But by that point, you're probably not going to get very much out of it except exposure. However, for language learners learning English or Japanese, the resources are much more vast, so I think it's possible for games to be effective for learners learning those languages. That said it should be a game that is known fairly well by the player already, preferably beaten at least twice I'd say. Then focus can be on language learning. However, for learners learning other languages, I don't believe that there are enough resources to make this effective. Still fun though.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Akao aka FailArtist Senior Member United States Joined 5146 days ago 315 posts - 347 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Toki Pona | Message 3 of 22 25 June 2010 at 7:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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Of course it is a horrible primary resource, but like I said, if you have a good stance in the language the game could give you good deals of vocabulary.
I play the Minish Cap usually, and just out of the introduction I picked up a new word. There are so many words in the Minish Cap, and most of the dialogue is slightly formal and "high-brow," which can help greatly if you wish to sound educated, or BE educated for that matter. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| mrhenrik Triglot Moderator Norway Joined 5889 days ago 482 posts - 658 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, French Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 22 25 June 2010 at 8:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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MMORPGs and their forums is the way I learned/perfected my English, no doubt about it.
Hopefully I'll be able to do the same with French soon. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luhmann Senior Member Brazil Joined 5143 days ago 156 posts - 271 votes Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: Mandarin, French, English, Italian, Spanish, Persian, Arabic (classical) | Message 5 of 22 25 June 2010 at 8:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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Truly it may be effective. I was a game addict in my youth, I never regarded gaming as a learning activity, but it was the most important factor that has kept me learning English, because I was forced to understand the English text in order to advance.
But today I would not use games for learning, as I end up spending most of the time slaying monsters or the such. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| johntm93 Senior Member United States Joined 5137 days ago 587 posts - 746 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 6 of 22 25 June 2010 at 9:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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I posted something similar in your other thread:
It depends. Like someone above said RPGs (which tend to be text heavy) can be great, but you'd want to avoid too much interaction with other players as they'd probably use shorthand (like people do in English) online. But playing something like Fight Night in Spanish won't help much. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Akao aka FailArtist Senior Member United States Joined 5146 days ago 315 posts - 347 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Toki Pona | Message 7 of 22 26 June 2010 at 12:42am | IP Logged | ||
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"The problem is, they will often use mangled versions of their language."
Why did everyone miss this part? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| johntm93 Senior Member United States Joined 5137 days ago 587 posts - 746 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 8 of 22 26 June 2010 at 6:18am | IP Logged | ||
Just don't talk to them much, just use the text in-game. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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