Ash or Satoshi? Doesn’t matter – they’re the same person.

As an International Relations Coordinator in Japan, I spend a lot of time with people in my community. It is part of my role here to communicate with people around me! But sometimes I don’t know what to say.

When in doubt, I ask, “what Pokemon do you like?”

Talking about gaming is an accessible and reliable conversation topic. Especially something as universal as Pokemon.

Games and Learning

My brother and I grew up learning Japanese with our mother at home. We also attended Japanese language school every Friday night, throughout elementary and jr. high school. Thanks to the library at the school, we had exposure to Japanese books, manga, shows, and movies. Outside of this resource, we played a lot of video games.

The first video game I ever played was the Japanese version of “Pokemon LeafGreen” for GameBoy Advance, released in 2004 as an enhanced remake of the 1996 original, “Pokemon Green”. My brother had its parallel version: “Pokemon FireRed”. We received them as Christmas gifts from our grandparents in Japan.

These games became a steady source of entertainment for my brother and I and a somewhat passive, yet effective tool for learning. The dialogue and descriptive battle moves’ names were effective at broadening our vocabularies and grasping basic conversations. We also are forced to make decisions utilizing the new terms, which only helps to solidify our understanding of them.

I say that the games were somewhat passive in teaching us because it didn’t feel like studying. A lot of people choose to skip the dialogue in games (hah, guilty) but once I started to slow down and read everything, my vocabulary flourished. It was so easy to absorb information. The correct ways to use unfamiliar words, and the contexts to use them in.

Because the games themselves were so fun to play, I wanted to play all the time. I stayed up hiding under my blankets, playing with my GameBoy using a flashlight. Without a doubt, my brother was doing the same thing on the other side of the wall.

Fun builds enthusiasm

When in doubt I always ask “do you like games?” and most of the time, the answer is yes.

Without fun, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and start to get discouraged when facing a difficult task. Learning a new language is HARD and I think that people need to lean into what brings them joy to encourage building this skill.

In a group of young Japanese Pokemon enthusiasts, it’s fun to play “Who’s That Pokemon” based on simple hints. We take turns describing a Pokemon’s color, shape, resemblance to animals, and abilities in English. The kids are always delighted when they guess or have their answer guessed correctly, as they realize that they understand more terminology than they initially thought.

Many popular games occasionally have different names in English, and the characters’ names often change as well. Now, questions that I get from the kids in town are a little more creative than “what is ‘apple’ in English?” and they are either delighted or disgusted when I tell them that their favorite character is called something else on the other side of the world.

With lots of laughter and big smiles, they are excited to go to their next English class. They know that a new word they use can give them an advantage for the next time we play “Who’s that Pokemon”.

It really is the little moments that build enthusiasm in learning a new language.

In summary, I think it is incredibly important and beneficial to incorporate fun and leisure into your practice of learning a new language.

Not only are playing video games fun, but they also provide context and insight into vocabulary and the flow of dialogue. They also force you to make decisions using words and phrases in the new language.

What have you found fun and engaging when learning a new language? Feel free to leave a comment!