Playing Video Games in a Language You Don't Understand

[bagasme]

Hi,

I have PlayStation(R) 2 gaming console on my house. It is considered legacy per today's standard (as there are new-generation PlayStation(R) 5), but still popular here.

One of games that I installed on the console is Sengoku Basara. The gameplay is similar to Dynasty Warriors, but I won't discuss gameplay here. Many people played it because of availability reasons (it is installed on many places that offer console rental).

The language used in the game, however, is Japanese, yet people keep playing it by brute-force without understanding the language (they had no time to learn it). That is, they just know the button sequence required to perform certain tasks in-game (such as starting the game session and saving game data).

But I'm aware that Japanese has its own writing systems (Hiragana-Katakana-Kanji) that makes it one of hardest language to learn. I used to play that game, but now I don't play it anymore for language reasons above. I don't want to play any games using languages that I don't understand!

What do you think about above?

 

[Bandersnatch]

The flippant answer would be: then don't play those games. The way you framed your thoughts, it's more of a rant than a question.

It's hard to tell if you're approaching this from a foreign language learner's angle, as with your other recent post, or if you're just disappointed some entertainment you like is inaccessible.
In the former case, games can be powerful learning tool, thanks to the delayed gratification effect. But also riddled with pitfalls, especially if that's the only approach one takes. At least there could be something to discuss in terms of using them most efficiently.
In the latter case - tough luck. With legacy consoles there's pretty much zero chance of finding a localised version, if it wasn't released originally.

Also, come on. Japanese ain't that hard. Sure, one needs to learn a new writing system, but the structure is simpler than most.

 

[Hornbein]

I have met a man who learned Japanese from computer games. He recommended learning Hiragana.

 

[Bandersnatch]

I think I can credit (or blame) games for most of my early English education. But as I wasn't making much effort to pair it with conscious, structured learning, the results were mixed. Extensive and esoteric vocabulary, but horrible pronunciation. Great reading comprehension, but poor listening and speech production. Like inverted illiteracy, come to think of it. I was able to pass some standard language certifications on my strengths, but have found myself barely able to communicate when dropped in an English-speaking environment.
Took me years of actual effort to get rid of the bad habits. So yeah, definitely a mixed bag. Wouldn't recommend relying on it to the detriment of other learning methods.

 

[wukunlin]

Back in primary school, we played first generation pokemon games on gameboy emulators and the ROMs were all in Japanese. We brute forced everything by trying every single option.

 

[bagasme]

The flippant answer would be: then don't play those games. The way you framed your thoughts, it's more of a rant than a question.

It's hard to tell if you're approaching this from a foreign language learner's angle, as with your other recent post, or if you're just disappointed some entertainment you like is inaccessible.
In the former case, games can be powerful learning tool, thanks to the delayed gratification effect. But also riddled with pitfalls, especially if that's the only approach one takes. At least there could be something to discuss in terms of using them most efficiently.
In the latter case - tough luck. With legacy consoles there's pretty much zero chance of finding a localised version, if it wasn't released originally.

Also, come on. Japanese ain't that hard. Sure, one needs to learn a new writing system, but the structure is simpler than most.

Yeah, that's why I preferred to play games in English nowadays..

I posted this post from my perspective as casual gamer.

I remembered that during my times at high school, my school had Japanese lesson. My generation (class of 2019) didn't get that subject, but the preceding and succeeding generations got it. The reason was the textbook for that subject that tailored for national curriculum I used (my generation was the first one that deployed Kurikulum 2013) was only available and delivered in the succeeding generation after mine (class of 2020). Maybe I could say myself lucky for that.

 

[Hornbein]

I have learned two (German and Indonesian) and refused to learn a third (Japanese) while living in those countries. I have much to say about learning a foreign language, but if you want the executive summary, what really matters is motivation and practice. Where there's a will there's a way. Conversely, if you have no motivation, internal or external, then it isn't going to happen.

The teaching of languages doesn't seem to realize that the first thing to know is that there are at least two types of students. (That is, I know of two types though there could be more I don't know about.) The first type is able to memorize complete phrases without knowing what the individual words mean. I have purchased phrase books that bid me to simply memorize the phrases without knowing what the individual words meant. They tell me that I can figure it out later. I have a niece like this. She has is fluent in Mandarin and Uigher, has a PhD, but seems hardly capable of logical thought. She told me while learning she will sometimes use phrases she has heard without knowing what they mean. It works for many people. You'd be amazed how many Europeans have learned to speak English by watching reruns of Friends. There is no way in the world I could do that. My mind simply does not have this ability.

I moved to Indonesia and after two months of good effort realized that I had learned almost nothing of the language. Fortunately I was able to look back to age seven when my family was in Germany. My younger sister was able to pick up the language quite rapidly and spoke like a native. I couldn't learn via sound, but I did learn by reading Fix Und Foxi comic books. Indonesia didn't have any writing that basic so I learned Indonesian by making flash cards and brute force memorizing basic vocabulary. After memorizing a thousand words I was able to make basic conversation well enough that Indonesians wouldn't switch to English. Since I was living in Indonesia learning came naturally after that. About two thousand words is enough for everyday life. Reading the newspaper takes more. I never quite got that far.

I also taught English in Indonesia. One of the best things they had was a picture dictionary. Indo word, English word, and a drawing which shows what it means. It wasn't perfect. For "outgoing" they had a rat crawling out of a trash can. But it was a great way to learn. Somehow though the picture dictionary hasn't caught on. Too bad.

It seems to me that a type one person learns quickly but also forgets quickly. They are able to forget their native language. Prince Djelantik of Bali went to Holland to study to become a doctor and got trapped by the Nazi invasion. He mentions no difficulty in learning Dutch, but returning home he had forgotten his native language to such a degree he refused to give a speech. On the other hand type two me still recalls the German I learned sixty years ago. (Though I don't know adult words like "taxes.")

No one can teach you anything. All they can do is help you learn it yourself. They can guide you to use your time more efficiently, that is all. Learning a language is a skill, like playing the guitar. There is no avoiding putting in a chunk of time. For some people it is more than others. Just do your best to enjoy it so that you maintain the will keep going. You have to be willing to do it badly. Keep going. Make it fun to bumble and stumble. You have to do it badly before you can do it well.

What really matters is motivation and practice. If I had the motivation I could and would learn to converse in Japanese to some degree. Memorizing a thousand words is drudgery for me, learning a new alphabet is harder than you might think, but I could if I felt like it. If you have the motivation, great. Go for it.

 

[sbrothy]

[,.,,]On the other hand type two me still recalls the German I learned sixty years ago. (Though I don't know adult words like "taxes.")[,,,]

In Danish taxes is skat. Intuition wants one to say schatz which unfortunately, in German, means honey (as in babe), Steuer is taxes I think I remember. Also asking to go to the toilet is like English "may I ..." which in German translates to "must I..." (with obvious funny connotations). The correct form is "Darf ich...".

"In der schatten der öl-baum", sounds in Danish like "I skyggerne af øl-træet" (In the spillings of the beer-tree") when really it means "in the shadow of the olive-tree". Being neighbor countries there are lots of silly misunderstandings like that.