Using RPGs to learn a foreign language?

[MisterStone]

Has anyone ever played a RPG as a means of practicing a foreign language (either reading or writing)? If so, which language, and which game? The only time I ever tried this was when I played a Mandarin language version of Dungeon Master, which taught me the phrase "I'm going to use your entrails to decorate my room!" among other priceless gems. (This really did actually helped me, because it taught me an important grammatical structure.) I didn't read or speak Chinese very well back then, so sadly I don't remember much else about it. I destroyed my Chinese-purchased warez CDs when I got back to the US... really.

 

[Kavax]

Yeah, for english, almost every RPG that the hivemind worships (Arcanum, Fallout/2, Torment, Ultima VII...)

 

[MetalCraze]

I'm playing KotOR2 with TSLRP right now and I can't believe I forgot how talented MCA as a writer is.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Every RPG, adventure game and soccer game in the world. Some FPS's too. Duke Nukem is a fantastic teacher. Even carries his own pocket money and all.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Yeah, for english, almost every RPG that the hivemind worships (Arcanum, Fallout/2, Torment, Ultima VII...)

I'm not sure about Torment. When the game first came out my English skills were quite rudimentary and wading through all the esoteric spelling and often odd phrasing of the various Sigil inhabitants made the game nearly incomprehensible for me. When i re-played the game two years later it was like a brand new experience.

 

[Jasede]

I learned English by playing Breath of Fire II.

Yes, it has an awful translation full of grammar errors and misnomers. That explains a lot, doesn't it?

I'm so damn fed-up with my room-mate. Always whining about his girlfriend and asking me, some sort of semi-recluse, for straight-people advice. And I give it, using what I read from books, and it helps. But at the slightest blow to the relationship with his girlfriend he comes crying to me again and expects support. But then, when I want to hug him, he of course doesn't want that. That's right, help others to be happy, make a difference, but when you ask for the ten-second comfort of a hug that's too much. Comfort is a luxury for normal people. Now he's sleeping with her, no doubt. I bet she likes it, using him as she did for years now, with him unable to see it. Just like she used he former friend for a whopping five years. But no, no, go to that bitch, don't let me hug you you ingrateful git; tonight the knives are sharp.

 

[Kavax]

Yeah, for english, almost every RPG that the hivemind worships (Arcanum, Fallout/2, Torment, Ultima VII...)

I'm not sure about Torment. When the game first came out my English skills were quite rudimentary and wading through all the esoteric spelling and often odd phrasing of the various Sigil inhabitants made the game nearly incomprehensible for me. When i re-played the game two years later it was like a brand new experience.

I think Ultima VII is worse, actually. (I've said "thou" some times in normal conversation because of it, I think)

 

[Jasede]

Thour art truly a fine poster. Wouldst thou give me a kiss from thy lips or must I convince thee by other means?

 

[Thor Kaufman]

I learned a big part of english (esp. colloquial phrases) through games, Fallout etc.

It's probably rather hard and annoying to learn a foreign language via gaming without a halfway solid basis, though, I fink.

 

[Texas Red]

With Oblivion you can teach retarded children.

 

[OSK]

I don't think I'd bother playing an RPG that wasn't in English.

 

[Castanova]

Isn't there an indie jRPG-style game which teaches (SHOCK! SURPRISE) Japanese Kanji? I remember playing it briefly and feeling like it would be useful if there was any point at all in actually learning that ridiculous writing system.

 

[pkt-zer0]

Isn't there an indie jRPG-style game which teaches (SHOCK! SURPRISE) Japanese Kanji? I remember playing it briefly and feeling like it would be useful if there was any point at all in actually learning that ridiculous writing system.

Hah, I think I remember one where you'd run around getting into random encounters with various kanji and phrases.

http://lrnj.com/
http://www.kicl.info/
http://chaosforge.org/taw/jrpg/

"Notice that the verb demons can conjugate themselves"

OH LAWD

 

[Raapys]

I've basically learned all my englizz through games. Started out with Monkey Island, couldn't understand a word of those sword-fighting insults so I had a hard time winning duels until I started writing down which responses worked.

I also tried to learn some german by playing the german version of Gothic. The german version is like ten times more atmospheric than the english one, but alas my attempt to learn the language didn't go so well.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

I credit most of my english skills to sitcoms and a part to videogames also. I never used it as a learning tool it just kinda sunk in. By the time I started a formal education on it I was already pretty good specially for a kid my age.

 

[MisterStone]

Hmm... so for something like Fallout, how hard would it be to hack the install so that it used dialogues in another language? Is it as simple as just switching out a couple of files, or would it require a patch that changed many other things?

Also, are there any online stores where it would be easy for a North American to buy multi-lingual or non-English language versions of games? I'm thinking about trying to practice French and get some quality gamin in at the same time. Where do folx in Quebec get French language games? Or do they just settle for English usually?

 

[Ausir]

Fallout and Fallout 2 greatly improved my English.

 

[OSK]

Also, are there any online stores where it would be easy for a North American to buy multi-lingual or non-English language versions of games? I'm thinking about trying to practice French and get some quality gamin in at the same time. Where do folx in Quebec get French language games? Or do they just settle for English usually?

I suppose you could always just import the European versions.

 

[Ismaul]

I've learned english playing games too. I started small though, with Diablo, where understanding wasn't required to play the damn game. Then Fallout, then Torment. I don't even know how I was able to understand most of it. Motivation and a dictionary, I guess.

I also tried to learn some german by playing the german version of Gothic. The german version is like ten times more atmospheric than the english one, but alas my attempt to learn the language didn't go so well.

Same here. I got Gothic 1, 2 and the add-on still waiting to be replayed in german. But I'm not as patient as I was. And having one tiny german course doesn't help much with the understanding.

Where do folx in Quebec get French language games? Or do they just settle for English usually?

Usually there's shelf place for both english and french (translated) games. There's also some english games with french translation manuals, where dialogues and terms are there both in french and english. It was a big help when I first played Diablo.

 

[MisterStone]

I don't believe this shit... Canadian amazon.com doesn't have shit in French video games, unless I am missing something. Come on, someone throw me a bone here... where can I get me some francophile RPGs?

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

I started learning English when I was 5 by watching my dad play Civilization.

 

[The Rambling Sage]

Has anyone ever played a RPG as a means of practicing a foreign language (either reading or writing)?

Most of my English-Fu originally came from playing games, mainly Adventures (the ones i remember the strongest as related to my mad english skillz are the original Darkseed, Lure of the Tempress, and The Stealth Affair or something) but also some RPGs (the EoB games, both parts of U7 and then Pagan, Hard Nova and some other shit) and old pseudo-RPGs (like the Elvira games, or Waxworks). I guess that actually explains a lot, since i have come to the point where i can read high-level things comfortably (Marlowe, Byron, Milton, blah blah) without ever needing a dictionary and understand spoken English pretty well but i fail miserably at writing/speaking the damn thing. Or maybe i'm just lazy.

Also most of my japanese comes from playing japanese games - The MegaTen universe games are among my favourite RPGs ever (and in fact the older ones are my favourite ones from a Gameplay standpoint - simple yet stupidly hard if you do not know what you are doing), and then the shmups i play are almost exclusively japanese. That and lots of anime, what i believe explains why my Jap is a mixture of sub-cultures, idioms, and engrish that no japanese would ever recognize as related to his beloved language but is still able to understand with a little effort and imagination. I'll get better some day.

More or less on topic: Is it true there is an Oblivion mod that translates the entire damn thing into Latin? I believe i remember something about that from a while ago.

 

[MisterStone]

Well, it looks like the only way to get French games is to import through amazon.fr... Are there any better stores than this out there? Anyways, you guys are kind of lucky that English games are so plentiful... although I imagine that that must suck when you are 13 and you just want to play the game and not study.

 

[Balor]

Well, I've also learned most of my English by playing RPGs (Planescape: Torment, Fallout), quests and reading books (Pratchett, Jordan).
I did study English at school too, but it's really minor compared to what I've learned myself.

 

[Jasede]

The best advice I can give is to completely forget everything you learned about English at school, it never ever applies anyway and just burdens you.