Video games are a growing way of spending free time, especially for young people at the end of a school day. You may have wondered if you could harness these games to a language while you’re playing a game at the same time. If you enjoy video games and learning languages perhaps there’s a way to combine the two together.

Is important to remember that language learning should be done through a variety of methods. Although it is possible to learn a language just by listening to it, it will be a slower and less effective method overall. Video games will be great for an immersive experience, and to learn vocabulary.

Learning other skills such as creating unique sentences as you are doing conversations as well as writing skills will probably be less supported. You may be other to pick up grammatical concepts through playing video games, but I would highly recommend that this is supported through the use of textbooks or online resources. The reason for this is that there is a difference between understanding the meaning when a grammatical concept is used and being able to explain it and replicate it yourself.

Can Language Learning Be Done Through Video Games?

In the same way that learning a language just from listening to it is possible, playing computer games in your target language will also be of benefit. A study titled Efficacy of computer games on language learning showed that overall computer games have a positive effect on vocabulary building.

Take care to note that vocabulary building is different from learning a whole language from scratch.

It’s important to distinguish vocabulary building from learning grammar or communicating in the target language, because you may need to look elsewhere to gain these skills. You won’t find that playing a tried-and-true videogame such as Skyrim in your target language will necessarily improve your grammatical knowledge or your ability to create language. This will obviously vary from game to game. If you need to interact with other players and communicate with them in your target language, you may actually find that your general and which skills improve.

What Kind Of Games Would Be Most Beneficial For Language Learning?

The study I mentioned previously performed a series of tests that indicated that fast-paced games were less effective for language learning. This makes sense, as a real-time strategy or first-person shooter game will rarely offer you the time to pull out your dictionary and look up a word.

Ideally, some sort of role-playing game would be most beneficial because there are a lot of conversations that may require that you provide a response from a series of options. This could be taken to be almost a comprehension quiz of what you have learned to see if you are able to provide a helpful response to the person.

At the end of the day, you’ll want to find a game that offers you a good amount of language exposure. This is another reason why first-person shooters are probably not the most effective for teaching language skills, because the games focus much more on action rather than interacting with players or non-playing characters.

Specific games that may be beneficial for language learning could include role-playing games such as The Elder Scrolls series, puzzle/adventure series such as Pokemon or Zelda, or turn-based games such as the Civilization series.

This isn’t to say that putting other games into your target language will be worthless, as you will at the very least grow used to being immersed in a non-English environment. Some games will provide more benefits beyond the immersive experience than others. If you are looking to actively try and extend your vocabulary of the language, I would recommend games with lots of reading and to be either slow-paced or have options to pause so that you can read and look up words as needed.

An alternative to playing one of these bigger more involved games is the start with either a game targeted more at children so that the vocabulary is easier, what a play a game that might have less vocabulary to learn for example the Age Of Empires series.

Be aware that the vocabulary you may learn from these games may not necessarily be used in everyday life. You will improve your ability to function in a non-English setting as well as your ability to work with your target language. Even if some words are game-specific, you will still gain other skills that can be used for language learning outside of the game.

Are New Or Old Games Better For Language Learning?

You might be unsure whether you should restart old games that you have already played and know very well, or if you should pick up a completely brand-new game and play that in your target language. Both are possibilities, however, there are positives and negatives to each option.

Pros And Cons Of Using Old Games For Language Learning

Many modern games today offer a change in language through their settings. This gives you the opportunity to try the game in a different language on games that you have already own without needing to buy a game specifically to learn a language.

Let’s say you make a decision to restart an old game you have completed and play it in your target language. I’ll use World of Warcraft as an example, as this is something I have done. For those who don’t know, World of Warcraft is an online role-playing game in which you create a character and travel the world completing quests and fighting monsters in dungeons.

There is a lot of reading for different quests, storylines, action abilities, stats on items, and effects of consumable items. It is not a particularly fast-paced game that, theoretically, allowed me to spend the time to search for words that I do not know.

Because I had spent quite a bit of time playing this game in English, I was fairly comfortable playing the game in another language. Unfortunately, because I was so familiar with the game, I did not need to engage my language skills as often as I thought I would need to. The quest giver would often give me a story of what they asking me to do, but I found that often I could just accept the quest and travel to the marked area on the map with plenty of prompts for what I needed to do when I got there, such as collecting objects that sparkled or attacking specific monsters.

This was in some ways disappointing because I was expecting that I would stop and read through all the information the quest is giving me, taking the time to look up words I didn’t understand. This was also the same for understanding the effects of the different abilities or consumable items as I already had a fairly good idea of what they would do largely based on their icons. Overall I would say that has been some benefit to playing this game in my target language, as it gave me an immersive feel to have all after the game in another language.

Personally, if I were to start a game with the intention of language learning I would be more likely to pick up a game I have not played at all, for at least have not played in a long enough time they would all be new for me again. My hope would be that in doing so I would spend more time trying to comprehend what the game is telling me, rather than doing the bare minimum to complete the tasks.

Pros And Cons Of Using New Games For Language Learning

The alternative to playing a game that you already know is obviously to find a new game and play it in your target language. This would mean that you would skip the issues I met in focusing on the icons of abilities rather than reading the words in my target language.

Some things to consider is that not only are you learning a new game which can be difficult even in English, are you also learning the language at the same time. This is a fully immersive experience as there would be no English assistants within the game itself. This can be quite overwhelming if you are not prepared for it.

You’ll also need to make sure that the game you have picked is suitable for language learning. This means that you need to be able to take your time inside the game to make decisions and look at words you may not understand. For this reason, I would recommend steering clear of first-person shooters as sitting back and taking your time in-game is not typically what this genre is about.

When you consider picking new games, consider if you know any games you have previously enjoyed and see if there are any sequels or similar games made by the same creator. This can help you understand the game mechanics without giving away the storyline before you have tried to understand it in your target language.

How Should I Go About Learning A Language From A Video Game?

Now that you have found a game you want to use to learn a language, you’ll need to take some practical steps to effectively learn a language from the video game. The first step is to create a place you will write (or type) new vocabulary and make sure that you have a dictionary handy.

When you are writing down new vocabulary, be patient with yourself and remember that although you are playing a video you should still take the time you need to write down the words you do not know. Unlike practicing a language by reading a book, would be best to look up important words as you go, so that your gameplay experience isn’t impacted. This may mean that if the character is asking you a specific question you may need to look up a few words to understand what they are saying, so that you may give the correct response.

If there are less important words, add these to your vocabulary list as well, so that after you have finished playing you can look there up. You’ll quite quickly create a vocabulary list that you will be out of practice outside of playing the game. Practicing a vocabulary list while not playing the game is the most effective thing you can do to ensure that when you have another gaming session, some of the previously unknown words will be more familiar.

Are There Games Specifically For Language Learning?

I have spent quite a bit of time looking for myself but have not been out to find a cheap, interesting game that suits my needs. There are obviously interactive games targeted at children who are learning a language, but the problem I’ve found is that they both feel childish but more importantly, are well below the level of language that I need.

Many of the games that come recommended in the searches are variants of crossword puzzles or some type of vocabulary game that is essentially interactive flashcards, sometimes with a subscription or extra cost for different languages. You may have better luck searching in your target language but unfortunately at the moment, it does not seem as though there are many widely known games that are specifically designed for intermediate and advanced language learning.

Playing games you already own in a different language is the best solution for this problem at the moment. If you have found any games feel free to send me an email or comment on this post and let me know what you have found.

Search For Games Created By Native Speakers Of Your Target Language

There will be a noticeable difference in the quality of the language between games that are simply dubbed, games that are created by native speakers of your target language. If you are open to playing a new game have a look to see if there any popular game is created by native speakers that seems like a good fit for your interests.

The benefit of doing this is that you can be sure of the language is correct and will probably sound more natural. It may not always be possible to find a game that suits your needs but this is something worth considering.