Language Games

[gracerph]

Hello everyone!

It is always fun to learn things through games and I think it's also the same when it comes to learning languages. I tried searching if there are indeed some language games available for download and there were a lot of them that came out from my search. I think that this technique of learning is most especially good for kids studying a certain language. There are also some adult language games for all adult learners out there.

Have you ever tried downloading and playing games related to languages? How effective do you think are they?

[Lingua Franca]

I have played some language comes some years back and they really do help. The best way to learn a language is if you are having fun and games do this very well. Movies are another good tool but in the case of games you are interacting with something while with movies you are just listening to a dialogue.

[takibari]

Language games help learning only to a certain extent. But this opinion is limited to games I've only used before. Most language games I knew then were most on vocabulary building. In increasing the number of words you know in the new language you're learning, then games help make the learning fun. But if you're talking about being able to help building your writing and speaking skills, I think language games become wanting. That said, language games to me are helpful at the very beginning stage of language learning.

[darkchild]

I think it depends on the type of game. If it is an educational game then I think it would go a long way in assisting in language learning but otherwise could be limited.

[gracerph]

16 hours ago, Lingua Franca said:

I have played some language comes some years back and they really do help. The best way to learn a language is if you are having fun and games do this very well. Movies are another good tool but in the case of games you are interacting with something while with movies you are just listening to a dialogue.

I agree. I found this to be true especially for children. I found that my son was able to easily grasp vocabulary learning when I encouraged him to play language games in English. As what @takibari said, I find language games to be helpful when it comes to improving one's vocabulary, especially for beginners.

[lushlala]

You know, this could be a very good learning tool! Yet I've never given it any thought at all. Maybe it's because I'm not really big into games, IDK. However, there's stuff like Scrabble that I really like, and I wonder if I could maybe find Italian and French version. If they do exist, I'd be over the moon and wouldn't hesitate to buy them both! I have always said that I prefer a little light heartedness involved in my learning process and I feel strongly that word association games would be a fantastic way to grow your vocabulary. I think it'd be a little....shall we say ambitious? Yes, that's the word, IMHO it would be ambitious to expect playing games to build your oral or written skills. I'd be looking at them purely from the standpoint of learning new words and boosting my vocabulary bank, so to speak. Thanks for this thread, @gracer.....I'll be watching it closely in case there are some ideas I can pick up  

[Lingua Franca]

10 hours ago, gracerph said:

I agree. I found this to be true especially for children. I found that my son was able to easily grasp vocabulary learning when I encouraged him to play language games in English. As what @takibari said, I find language games to be helpful when it comes to improving one's vocabulary, especially for beginners.

The funny thing is because you have the visual cue, you actually do remember the words. It's much easier associating the word to an image then just trying to remember the word by itself. It really does work. 

[Lingua Franca]

51 minutes ago, lushlala said:

You know, this could be a very good learning tool! Yet I've never given it any thought at all. Maybe it's because I'm not really big into games, IDK. However, there's stuff like Scrabble that I really like, and I wonder if I could maybe find Italian and French version. If they do exist, I'd be over the moon and wouldn't hesitate to buy them both! I have always said that I prefer a little light heartedness involved in my learning process and I feel strongly that word association games would be a fantastic way to grow your vocabulary. I think it'd be a little....shall we say ambitious? Yes, that's the word, IMHO it would be ambitious to expect playing games to build your oral or written skills. I'd be looking at them purely from the standpoint of learning new words and boosting my vocabulary bank, so to speak. Thanks for this thread, @gracer.....I'll be watching it closely in case there are some ideas I can pick up  

Here is a site the games are very simple and the graphics aren't out of this world but it will give you an idea of how they function.

 

http://www.digitaldialects.com/

[lushlala]

Wow, thanks a lot for that, Lingua Franca.....this looks like a neat little site! I just had a quick look and they cover 80 languages, including French and Italian, which are the two I'd be interested in. I also like that they cover so many different areas. I'm definitely bookmarking this one. I tried to sample the Italian fruit and veg game, but for some reason, it didn't work  But I'll keep trying, for sure.

[KimmyMarkks]

This is a good question!  I wonder too.  I know that its important to constantly speak and interact in a language you are trying to learn.  I feel like playing games in it would really help to understand it better. 

What are some of the most effective game apps? 

[OddVisions]

I feel like how helpful the game is and what stage during the learning process is most effective with it depends on the language being learned. I don't see too many Spanish games that cover the particles. However, I do see a lot of other games that do cover the similar portions of their respective languages. It's all about finding what works for the individual. 

[Lingua Franca]

8 hours ago, lushlala said:

Wow, thanks a lot for that, Lingua Franca.....this looks like a neat little site! I just had a quick look and they cover 80 languages, including French and Italian, which are the two I'd be interested in. I also like that they cover so many different areas. I'm definitely bookmarking this one. I tried to sample the Italian fruit and veg game, but for some reason, it didn't work  But I'll keep trying, for sure.

I did go through some of the languages and I realized that I hadn't selected the audio option so it wasn't as much fun, but if it didn't work for you it could be a Java issue. Maybe if you update java, it could work.

[lushlala]

@Lingua Franca.....Thanks so much for your response  It was just a quick visit to get a feel of how the site works. My audio is always on, so that wasn't a problem. I don't know if it could have been my Java, everything gets updated automatically. Or should I say everything is up to date, and if anything needs updating, the system sends notifications. I wouldn't be surprised if it was internet playing up, though. It's very temperamental and I find speed can be an issue, which obviously thows everything else off. But it's such a neat site, I'll persevere with it :)

[AntonioCalcano]

I haven't tried any language game. I think most of these games are aimed at younger people, kids to be more specific, that's not to say that an adult can't learn with these games but they're designed for kids; these games are fun for them and some of them do actually help them learn languages in a more natural and fun way. For adults there are language apps, which are not games but learning apps; I can highly recommend memrise and duolingo since both of these apps are really well mantained and have tremendous support from developers and community alike.

[gracerph]

Thank you so much for sharing the site @Lingua Franca! I also tried checking it out and I'm actually very happy to find my native language as one of the languages played there. Sad to say that my flash player is not yet updated though so I haven't been able to open any game yet. Just like @lushlala, I'm definitely bookmarking the site.

[Lingua Franca]

11 hours ago, gracerph said:

Thank you so much for sharing the site @Lingua Franca! I also tried checking it out and I'm actually very happy to find my native language as one of the languages played there. Sad to say that my flash player is not yet updated though so I haven't been able to open any game yet. Just like @lushlala, I'm definitely bookmarking the site.

Your welcome

The graphics of the site already look a bit dated but the content is up to date. I was lucky to find it, it's not easy to find a site like this that offers this sort of content for free. I'm glad it helps.