Using RPGs to learn a foreign language?

[Atrachasis]

Learning English with the help of games used to be a piece of cake back in the days of text-based games (ASCII graphics don't count)... I took up gaming in the days of Infocom and Magnetic Scrolls, and even my English teacher nodded his approval at this method.

My suggestion to you would be to consider interactive fiction, as text adventures are called nowadays, rather than RPGs. Graphics-based games just don't contain enough text, nor do they really force you to parse and understand it. An additional advantage is that there are a lot of freeware titles out there, although I have not come across many in French... but do peruse the Interactive Fiction Archive or Baf's Guide (unfortunately, the index of non-English games doesn't appear to be working, but a search for games in French returns 27 titles).

 

[Ismaul]

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?

I take it you don't live in Canada. Then finding french games is going to be a bitch unless you import from overseas. Canadian online stores that have those only ship to Canada, those that I know of anyways.

Waitaminute. amazon.ca does sell french games. Search for vf or french in the video games section. Oh, but they only ship those to Canada. Looks like you're out of luck.

 

[mondblut]

I learned english mostly from games (well, a bit of AD&D fiction too, but this counts into games too, really).

I also tried to play german games with a dictionary, but that was a wasted effort. Too little basic knowledge and too few games worth the effort.

 

[JarlFrank]

If I hadn't played Morrowind and Arcanum, my English would be standard school English at best.

 

[Ammar]

I learned english partially from RPG's (Ultima V and the Underworld games mostly), but I picked up more by simply starting to read english books.

 

[Walkin' Dude]

Why would I want to learn an inherently inferior language [/troll]

Seriously, though. How did you guys do this? Play the game with an english=>whatever dictionary until you started to pick it up?

 

[Suchy]

Betrayal at Krondor + riddle chests + pocket dictionary, back in 1995.

 

[JarlFrank]

Why would I want to learn an inherently inferior language [/troll]

Seriously, though. How did you guys do this? Play the game with an english=>whatever dictionary until you started to pick it up?

Going into the game with an already existing knowledge of basic English, using a dictionary when I really don't understand a certain word, and getting all the other words out of the context. Like, when I see a halberd and it's called halberd in the game but I don't know what "halberd" means, I'll know what that word means as soon as I see that item having the name "halberd". It's simple as that. Nouns are easy. Verbs can be guessed out of context. Minimal dictionary-work required.

I do it the same way when watching a movie or reading a book. Okay, now my English is pretty advanced and I seldomly encounter words I never heard before. But if I meet such a word, I either immediately know what it is [if it's a movie or a game where I actually see the thing] or guess it out of the context. My only problem is that with some words that I've learned out of books, games or teh intarnetz... I read the word, know what it is, but always got the pronounciation wrong until I heard somebody speak it for the first time, which is a pretty lulzy moment
[like "wtf, I always thought you pronounce that thing differently!]

 

[callehe]

I know what you mean. I had no idea how to pronounce ROFLMAO until I saw this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEWgs6YQR9A

 

[JarlFrank]

That was so bad that it was funny.

 

[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?

I take it you don't live in Canada. Then finding french games is going to be a bitch unless you import from overseas. Canadian online stores that have those only ship to Canada, those that I know of anyways.

Waitaminute. amazon.ca does sell french games. Search for vf or french in the video games section. Oh, but they only ship those to Canada. Looks like you're out of luck.

Amazon.ca can ship items from our Software and Computer & Video Games Stores only to destinations within Canada.

What. the. FUUUUUCCCK. Dammit.

Is the result of some kind of retarded law, or intellectual property concerns or what? Fuck. I guess I'd better give Amazon.fr a shot... it's going to hurt buying stuff in Euros...


Hmmm... let's see here. In the cheapie section (which has stuff that I can afford, that my computer can run, and that have more text we've got...

Civilization IV
Pharaon Gold (That means Pharoh, yay I just learned a new word)
Myst 4
Stonghold 1 and 2
Caesar 3
Various settlers games
Archlord
The shitty new bard's tale
D Siege 1 and 2
Sacred
Age of Wonder

Ah, FUCK. Amazon.fr won't sell me video games from France. Fuck you amazon. Sigh.

 

[Chefe]

Decline of the Codex

 

[Comrade Hamster]

I just end up renting foreign movies to help me get accustomed to hearing the language. Itz defunutly cheepur. It seems everybody learned English from these games...what's a native English speaker to do?