Thoughts on learning languages through Animal Crossing: Ideas, experiences, opinions?

[PakeAC]

Do you think learning a language (at least bits and pieces) could happen through playing Animal Crossing games?
- Do you have ideas or tips for learning a language through the games? Have you learned something while playing?

From personal experience, I feel like I have learned at least some vocabulary while playing the games over the years. In my opinion, there are lots of opportunities for running into language in AC games. Also, a lot of the charm of the games comes from the dialogue, which made me want to know what was being said if I couldn't understand back when my English reading skills weren't as strong.

I'm going to add my own thoughts and ideas here, too, but I would love to hear what you think?

(also, I added a poll you can answer if you feel like it!)

 

[Croconaw]

Interesting. I’ve been playing since Population Growing, and I’ve learned a good bit of words from playing this game. English is my first language obviously, but this game has helped me with grammar and punctuation. I’ve also learned words I didn’t know existed through playing video games. I think it can help, but it definitely shouldn’t be the only thing you do when learning a new language. I’ve also learned a bit of fun facts while playing this game — Thanks, Blathers!!

 

[CylieDanny]

Yes actually I have learned quite alot of Spanish from playing Stardew Valley, in the since of my character has a heavy spanish tongue. So I decided to use a translator, and used some Spanish language for when he talks (Were typing to each other, as our characters) which confused my friend. I did tell them in advance they were spanish, but I didnt plan on using any actual words, so that took her off guard haha.

Ive actually learned quite a bit, and its actually pretty interesting, and fun.
--
I actually learned quite alot of japanese from playing Persona 3, in japanese. This happened because I had accedently bought it at a second hand store and didnt realize it was in japanese till I got home.

But, I played it none the less and completed it, it was very hard as expected, and probably one of my most interesting game plays. As I had not realized for a while that I just kept sending my character to the bathroom over, and over to check. But I like how it's also very dark, and a bit creepy. Seriously, that kid in the opening, my god.

But I know more japense from it, because I looked up some words, but I also contected some words, and kinda like how you can learn various languages from watching a show in a different language, with subtitles, it was similar here. Which is how I learned a bit of Irish and Italian.
But instead of watching a show, Im trying to translate some text, so Im not completly lost in the same building, which I was.

So yes, in my experience I believe its very possible! Maybe playing Animal Crossing in a different language would do that.

 

[RollingAntony]

The repetitive nature of Animal Crossing can indeed help someone to "learn" or practice a language. Of course it's not a substitute for a proper education, but it's helpful. The world of Animal Crossing lends itself to a learning experience. It's cheerful and happy, you can learn basic tasks and improve from them at your own pace. While the game moves on it own, your progress is mostly up to you, and that means there is no inherent pressure.

My mom never learnt english, and she only had bits of knowledge of random words/phrases- y'know, the kind of stuff that gets used frequently on films or series ("I love you" kinda things). She never expressed any interest on learning english the proper way, and things like constantly watching something on TV/YouTube with subtitles is exhausting for her. But then, she wanted to play NH. And of course, I translated everything for her. Little by little, she began to understand on her own the game. She began to recognize certain words and with those, she could get the context of a letter or an interaction with a resident. Nowadays, she can play mostly on her own, even tho she still doesn't "know" english. She has made a lot of progress, and while I'd love to see her formally learning the language, I'm happy she now understands and has a better grasp of the english language.

 

[StarlitGlitch]

Like Croconaw said I think I got better at reading/writing through WW. I have a Japanese copy of WW but didn't get too far into the game.

Now with NH I generally play in Japanese and it's pretty comfortable but I'll switch back to English sometimes when I want to screenshot things to share online. I really like reading through what Blathers' has to say!

I think when my Korean's a bit better I'll try it out too. Like others have said since the dialogue is pretty easy in AC/pretty standard day-to-day vocab and you already have a good sense of context I think it's a good opportunity to practice.

 

[Neurotiker]

I tried it. I switched my console to Dutch and talked to my villagers to see how much I can understand already. I figured since your villagers basically repeat the same three types of dialogue I could figure out what they're talking about pretty quickly lmao. The first two times I ended up with two insanely language-specific puns and idioms that don't exist in any of the languages I speak. I figured them out but by that time I had a headache and was over it lol. Another thing I noticed is that my uchi used slang and also a tonne of abbreviations and colloquial speech that no beginner (or even intermediate) learner would have any knowledge of. So I was over it after like 10 minutes

I have to disagree with others that the dialogue is limited to easy and commonly used words, at least with NH. I don't think I would've stood a chance if I had gotten something like the Maglevs-In-Love dialogue, that seems impossible to me lol. Also some cranky and snooty speech is much more elevated, as their personality dictates. And let me not get started on Blathers.

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

Animal Crossing DEFINITELY helped. I got NL when I was 4 and I did not read that good but my Mother would help me. I really liked knowing what they said so I would practice with my teacher and stuff so it helped!! I learned alot of vocabulary too which is probably why whenever we did vocabulary tests in elementary it seemed easier for me. Since I want to learn Chinese next year since alot of people in my family except me and my brother know it I think AC will help me practice. I know on the switch you can change the language so I might change it to Chinese characters so that I can practice them. But yeah it helped alot when I was little! I even think that writing the letters to the villagers helped my grammar as well!

 

[Introspective Onlooker]

So far, I've been playing Animal Forest e+ and New Horizons in Japanese. One never made it outside Japan, while the other is something I chose to play in that language. I haven't been able to gain a lot from it, because the games don't have real voice acting. And it's also because New Horizons drags its tutorial for a week or more, so during the first two weeks, I skipped a lot of dialogue.

With that said, it's nice being able to experience media in its original language, so nothing gets lost in translation, even if I can barely understand any of it.

 

[-Mars-]

I tried it. I switched my console to Dutch and talked to my villagers to see how much I can understand already. I figured since your villagers basically repeat the same three types of dialogue I could figure out what they're talking about pretty quickly lmao. The first two times I ended up with two insanely language-specific puns and idioms that don't exist in any of the languages I speak. I figured them out but by that time I had a headache and was over it lol. Another thing I noticed is that my uchi used slang and also a tonne of abbreviations and colloquial speech that no beginner (or even intermediate) learner would have any knowledge of. So I was over it after like 10 minutes

I have to disagree with others that the dialogue is limited to easy and commonly used words, at least with NH. I don't think I would've stood a chance if I had gotten something like the Maglevs-In-Love dialogue, that seems impossible to me lol. Also some cranky and snooty speech is much more elevated, as their personality dictates. And let me not get started on Blathers.

Will it mess up my switch if I change the language on it to something else besides English to see the dialogue in different languages? If I change it and then log on to animal crossing will it just kind of reload so it can change the language? I don't want anything bad to happen to my save files for switch games and my switch to be stuck in a different language.

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

Will it mess up my switch if I change the language on it to something else besides English to see the dialogue in different languages? If I change it and then log on to animal crossing will it just kind of reload so it can change the language? I don't want anything bad to happen to my save files for switch games and my switch to be stuck in a different language.

I dont think so?? It works fine for me. It just changes the whole systems language and then you can change it back whenever you feel like it! <3 It just restarts the system.

 

[Croconaw]

Will it mess up my switch if I change the language on it to something else besides English to see the dialogue in different languages? If I change it and then log on to animal crossing will it just kind of reload so it can change the language? I don't want anything bad to happen to my save files for switch games and my switch to be stuck in a different language.

I had no idea it changed your game’s language. I thought changing the language only did it to the console itself and not whatever game you have inserted. That’s cool.

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

I had no idea it changed your game’s language. I thought changing the language only did it to the console itself and not whatever game you have inserted. That’s cool.

Yeah it changes EVERYTHING. The switch is not region locked and will play games in the native language set

 

[Aniko]

Maybe a bit of the species names? Not sure, but If I play in my own language I'm totally lost. I started playing in French but because all forums I went to were in English, it was just too confusing. If you ask me now the names of the species or furniture in French, I forgot. I know the general name like shark = requin, chair = chaise but not the specific names. Like a "yellow butterfly", the literal traduction would be "papillon jaune" but it's not what it's called, it's a citrin. Giant Stag = Lucane cerf-volant. So I don't know.

 

[Neurotiker]

Will it mess up my switch if I change the language on it to something else besides English to see the dialogue in different languages? If I change it and then log on to animal crossing will it just kind of reload so it can change the language? I don't want anything bad to happen to my save files for switch games and my switch to be stuck in a different language.

Nothing's gonna happen to your files. It'll just give you a kind of "warning" when you start a game that your console changed languages since the last time you played and that you should be aware that character names and other things you're used to might be called differently. Pretty sure you also have to restart the console upon a language change but it'll prompt you to do it immediately after picking one.

 

[Neb]

You’d have to already understand basic grammar and vocabulary to progress, but otherwise I don’t see why not. Characters talk in a natural way, so it could be decent practice for reading conversations. Your vocabulary could also be expanded a bit since Animal Crossing games tend to have lots of items.

I haven’t had the chance to play any video game in Japanese yet. I’ve been stuck at JLPT-5 (or basic Japanese) for 3 years now, so I wouldn’t be able to understand much. Maybe once I’m JLPT-4 or 3, I’ll consider doing that.

 

[PakeAC]

Hey! Thanks for your replies so far!

From your replies I've gathered that maybe it is possible to learn languages through the games at least if you have some previous knowledge of the language and your learning is supported by traditional education. I definitely agree that Animal Crossing alone is not enough to become fluent in a language even though certain things could be learned through it. One thing that AC games have that is, in my opinion, pretty handy, is the way you play the game throughout the year, returning for more through a long period of time instead of running through a 15-hour game with a definitive ending.

Also, like @RollingAntony pointed out, you get plenty of repetition in the games. For example, if you're into doing the Nook Miles goals and it keeps asking you to talk to your neighbors or catch some bugs, you could eventually learn to connect the dots and learn what it means (at least with the help of translating). Having goals to complete also might make you want to know what to do if you don't already.

@Neurotiker also has a good point about the difficulties of some of the language in the games! I have to agree that since the villagers are supposed to represent people with different (and somewhat natural, as in not like a language learning text book, for example) personalities they can have some pretty complex pieces of dialogue that require the player to be more familiar with the language beforehand.

Lastly, I would like to share one of my own experiences learning language through the games. Even though AC games don't appear to be that heavily focused on multiplayer, I feel that chatting with other players through the games could be useful. Back in the NL days I used to chat with a lot of native English speakers through multiplayer. I can't say for sure how much I learned, but I'm gonna guess I learned to type in English at least a little better. In any case, it was nice practice for having back-and-forth discussions in the language. Do you have experiences or opinions about the multiplayer aspect?

 

[mermaidshelf]

Yes! I learned a couple Japanese words from Animal Crossing, either in game or from researching about it. I looked up all of my villagers' catchphrases and I used Sherb's Japanese catchphrase in my game.

It even helped me with my English! Having to input K.K. songs perfectly with the correct punctuation and capitalization really changed me as a person... (Damn you, K.K. Étude!)

Intrinsic motivation is one of the strongest motivations for language acquisition. My brother learned how to read by playing Pokemon Red when he was 5. It put him in advanced learning group when he started school. I know some people personally who learned Japanese from anime/manga/games back in the 90's/2000's, before they became more mainstream and accessible. I had a few Japanese games myself that I never got very far in because I didn't have their drive or smarts haha. I know two people who learned Japanese enough to move to Japan and work there. One of them moved back and now works for the State Department. The last I heard, the other person still lives here.

 

[PakeAC]

Yes! I learned a couple Japanese words from Animal Crossing, either in game or from researching about it. I looked up all of my villagers' catchphrases and I used Sherb's Japanese catchphrase in my game.

It even helped me with my English! Having to input K.K. songs perfectly with the correct punctuation and capitalization really changed me as a person... (Damn you, K.K. Étude!)

Intrinsic motivation is one of the strongest motivations for language acquisition. My brother learned how to read by playing Pokemon Red when he was 5. It put him in advanced learning group when he started school. I know some people personally who learned Japanese from anime/manga/games back in the 90's/2000's, before they became more mainstream and accessible. I had a few Japanese games myself that I never got very far in because I didn't have their drive or smarts haha. I know two people who learned Japanese enough to move to Japan and work there. One of them moved back and now works for the State Department. The last I heard, the other person still lives here.

Really interesting point about the power of intrinsic motivation! I agree that having the motivation through being interested in the content of a game is probably a very good place to start learning a language. There may be games that are designed for language learning purposes, but if you're not interested in the game itself you might not pick it up at all, so if a game like Animal Crossing which wasn't made for the purpose of teaching languages seems interesting, you might learn some language as a side product.

 

[nightglow]

I don't see why it couldn't. I played alot of pokemon as a kid and it made me read better. If you are learning a language you could also watch shows with subtitles in one language and audio in a different one for more exposure.

 

[PakeAC]

I don't see why it couldn't. I played alot of pokemon as a kid and it made me read better. If you are learning a language you could also watch shows with subtitles in one language and audio in a different one for more exposure.

Good tip on the mixing of different languages in different forms like spoken and written! This brought to mind the fact that Animal Crossing games don't necessarily have the best opportunities to hear the language you want to learn in action (since the characters only speak animalese). Maybe other games that have both subtitles and voice acting could be a better option if you want to hear how words are pronounced. I haven't tried it yet but I guess, with the AC games that currently allow online multiplayer, New Horizons has the option for voice chat using the mobile app (and I think the Wii game had an extra accessory that was designed specifically for the purpose, too). So you could do voice chat with someone who speaks the language through the app (or pretty much any voice chat app I guess). But yeah, I think learning something to do with the written form of a language is probably the most plausible option when it comes to AC games.