Games, especially those of a heavy storyline, are a big investment in time and energy. It’s made an even heavier investment when playing those games is done in a second (or third, or fourth…) language. The last thing you want to do while taking in any entertainment media is missing parts of the content, which is easily done if you are not at a sufficient level. The problem that arises is two-fold. You may think you’re up to scratch but get caught out by surprising or unusual language you hadn’t gotten through your usual practice, or you may not think you’re as good as you actually are and so don’t even start in the first place. As a language learner, game-reviewer and all-round perfectionist, the latter is typically where I spend my time. Here’s hoping that this spiel on my current curse helps you readers and, perhaps with a little luck, breaks the damn holding me back from more good content.
Language fear is much more prevalent in big title games and even more so I find in recent games or nostalgic classics. These games have much more of a reliance on story for their entertainment factor and also tend to be bloody massive. They also carry much more social weight. As time becomes less and less available you want to ensure that you’re playing the games you intend to enjoy, let alone playing them at a slower pace (or even multiple times in English and your target language). You’ll likely want to be able to discuss your progress with your peers too which is going to be difficult if you’re struggling to comprehend the story. All of these factors are valid however they are like mental premonitions that may not necessarily come true. It can just be the minds way of procrastinating on something you think will be beneficial because it can lead to negative feelings. The genuine discomfort comes when you surpass these moments and start anyway, only to find how exhausting it can be to jump feet first into a 30 hour epic in a foreign language, even if comprehending it or not.
The next thoughts must then be “how do we overcome this”. There are a number of ways, all of which predominantly focus on making sure you understand as much as possible. If you want to do this prior to playing the game of choice then your options include generic studying, to improve all round understanding, or focussed studying using materials based on or similar to that game. Reading walkthroughs or reviews of games in your target language (while working hard to avoid spoilers) can bolster up your vocabulary, give you set words like boss or locations names and give you an overall feel for the topics and themes. If you’d like to avoid ruining the experience you can even aim your attentions at a similar game that features the same tropes, for instance if you’d like to play Ghost of Tsushima, why not play some Nioh first.
Alternatively, if you want to get right into the game and learn some hands on language that directly affects the game, you can start with a more stringent learning mindset, stopping to collect as many topical words as possible and speed up as your recognition improves. For instance, play the first level or the tutorials and jot down anything you either don’t know or believe would be useful later on. This will be much more specifically applicable however do be prepared to test your willpower as it can be a dull start to a game you’ve anticipated for some time.
There is a third option (and technically a fourth option). One that for most people will be acceptable but for me and the work I enjoy is slightly demoralizing; just play the game, not caring if you miss bits. The fourth option being to do this and possibly play the game again afterwards, if your patience and available time allows. In doing this you can more quickly ascertain the words you’ll see most frequently and build a more rounded comprehension of the language in the game however you’ll likely miss the finer points such as intricate grammar, nuance, characters feelings and possibly even secrets and mechanics that would have improved you playthrough. It’s all just a matter of personal preference.
The crux of this entire matter is that the best possible outcome is to take in more content rather than sitting on your laurels and worrying about how good your Japanese is. This is so much easier said than done and I personally have about 40 games on hand that I am actively putting off for fear of failing to catch every sentence. If this is something you are also going through perhaps start smaller and try out smaller, arcadier (shut up it’s a word now) or mobile games. There’s a reason I put so many mobile games on this site and it’s because there is significantly less pressure and expectation. Mobile games often show progress through numbers rather than location or event and tend to be more visual when it comes to gameplay. I suppose another suggestion that seems a little too on the nose would be to utilise this website… The articles and reviews I put on here discuss how easy or difficult a game is to follow but also feature glossaries to show you the most common or important words. By checking out the games library here you can perhaps find good first steps to games you want to try or even find similar games at a lower level that you can engage with before hand.
I think if I start putting in plugs for my own work then it must be time to draw this to a close, but I am definitely intrigued to hear if others have this same experience. My expectation is that mine is a severe case as I literally do not play games in English anymore but I hope this brief guide (ramble) helps someone. Let me know if you’ve got any other tactics to help you to overcome language fear, with games or in any other setting, and we’ll see if we can cure it together.
Games & Kanji 