I Love Using Video Games To Practice Foreign Language

I’ve been a language nerd for as long as I can remember. English was my favorite subject in grade school, so much so that I made it my degree in college (with Honors of course). But that fixation extends internationally, too – spending a few state-mandated hours a week studying Spanish in middle school sparked a new, foreign linguistic love in me. Since then, I’ve picked up varying amounts of German, Italian, French, Dutch, Russian, and Japanese, and I’m convinced I’ll move to Iceland if I ever retire, so I ought to start learning Icelandic, too. I guess there are worse neurodivergent special interests than linguistics, right?

Now, as an adult, I have a job where my language is important; in journalism, the way you present information is just as critical as the information itself. Japan is a dominant force in the gaming industry, so foreign language comes into play sometimes, too. One of my first interviews was with Final Fantasy director Naoki Yoshida, and we spoke at length through translators about the then-upcoming Rising Tide DLC for Final Fantasy 16. I found myself understanding pieces of his responses on my own, though, and his grin each time I got something tells me he likely noticed. As someone who’s traveled internationally and interacted with lots of speakers of plenty of different languages, I know that if nothing else, they typically appreciate it when you at least try.

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If you’re studying other languages like I usually am, games are a fantastic way to get some casual practice in, and not just from the titles meant for language learning. Duolingo has gamified language study, and there are actual game titles like Kana Quest that teach language in a casual way, but gaming offers plenty of organic chances for practice, too. If you’re looking for some solid immersion so you can practice while you play, most games allow you to change the language in which they’re spoken or written.

Something I’ve had good experiences with is putting a game’s text in one language and the voice acting in another. Sure, my total playtime spikes as I pause to comprehend, but it’s been helpful in picking up real grammar and syntax. I’ve never been someone who believes you can become fluent in Japanese by watching an anime with subs, but as someone who’s benefited from that kind of immersion when studying new languages, I know it helps approach foreign languages in a more practical, less textbook-y way. Not being bored is a big hurdle for people when they’re trying to learn something new.

It’s also a good way to mix up games I’m replaying; it gives me something new to do in a title I may know inside and out. I’ve done it a few times with Persona games over the years – as much as I already associate the characters with their English voice casts, changing the spoken language to Japanese makes for good auditory practice. Do I still giggle about the “delicious pancakes!” line that Robbie Daymond scribbled onto an Akechi poster for me? Sure, but Soichiro Hoshi has given us plenty of snarky Akechi quips over the years, too, and because I’ve been trying to practice more lately, I even understand them sometimes.

Practicing a new language while gaming doesn’t even have to be that formal, either. I’ve written about how much Mario Kart 8 I play, and racing online offers a chance to practice my Japanese speed-reading – you’re hard-pressed to enter a lobby without someone from Japan, no matter what time of day you pop in for a few races. I’ve caught myself exclaiming the names of kana-coded drivers as they blast past me, because seeing their names pop up that quickly so often has helped with my reading comprehension.

A lot of Japanese games retain pieces their native language even when translated, too. I was a little tardy to the party with spooky visual novel Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo, which half of TheGamer staff included on their 2023 GOTY lists. But when I played it earlier this year at their suggestion, with text in English and not much dialogue to speak of, I found myself delighted to not only be able to read, but understand some of the creepy questions being asked on screen in kana when the curse users received their curses.

Most methods of studying can be laborious at best and questionable at worst (shout out to Rosetta Stone for teaching an old friend to talk about horses in Chinese before teaching him to ask for the bathroom) but studying doesn’t have to be dull and drab. There’s merit to standard study practices in the earliest stages of foreign language acquisition in adulthood, but once you have the basics down, studying doesn’t always need to look like Bart Simpson at the chalkboard, drilling a sentence by writing it over and over and over.

Games and other media, when consumed in languages outside your native one, offer a modern, practical way to immerse yourself in something you’re learning, and in the digital age, this casual method of practice is usually just a few button clicks away in the settings. It’s not a perfect method of study, sure, and you won’t master any foreign dialect this way, but playing games in another language to practice it is a hell of a lot more amusing than cycling through flash cards.

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