How to Practise Japanese by Playing Video Games Every Day
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Earlier this year, I was telling a friend about the various monthly challenges I set myself to practise Japanese.
“What are you going to do in July?”
“I might try writing every day, like a diary or something? Or I might watch Japanese TV every day…”
“Fran, watching TV every day doesn't really sound like a challenge.”
“…or I might play video games every day.”
“That definitely doesn't sound like a ‘challenge’ to me.”
“…all the more reason to do it, right?”
Who says challenges have to be challenging? I played Japanese video games for about 20 minutes a day for a month. Here’s what I learned: six reasons to play video games in a foreign language.
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Like many people in the UK, I studied French in school. I liked French. I thought it was really fun to speak another language, to talk with people, and to try and listen to what was going on in a new country. (Still do!)
When I was 14 we went on a school exchange to the city of Reims, in northeastern France. I was paired with a boy, which I’m sure some 14-year-olds would find very exciting but which I found unbearably awkward. He was very sweet and we completely ignored each other.
That was nearly 20 years ago, and I didn’t learn or use any more French until, at some point in lockdown, I decided on a whim to take some one-to-one lessons with online teachers. Here are some things I learned about French, about language learning, and about myself.