We are often asked whether you can learn and/or practice German, French, Italian etc. by just using our GamesforLanguage program. Our honest answer is no.
The same way one cannot learn a foreign language by just studying a text book, you shouldn't just use ONE approach or program to learn a new language.
How About Language “Immersion”?
In our opinion, language immersion is likely the most effective way to learn a foreign language rapidly. Ideally such “immersion” takes place in the country whose language you are learning, supported by personal tutors, classroom sessions, or self-teaching courses, books, audio/videos, etc. (And I don't mean "immersion" CD or online language courses!)
There are language immersion schools in the US and in many other countries. In the US, the Center of Applied Linguistics (CAL) provides a directory of foreign language immersion programs in US schools. Many colleges and universities operate study-abroad programs and/or summer immersion programs.
Adults who have the time (and money) will certainly benefit greatly from such immersion courses (abroad or in the US), especially, if they continue to learn, and practice reading, speaking, etc. afterwards.
Classroom Courses and Personal Tutors
Many adults who have taken classroom courses during their school years know that they never became fluent or proficient without additional work and practice. But for some adults classroom courses are a way to stay focused and motivated.
And, if they supplement their course learning with other materials, e.g. books, audios, online courses and/or apps, audios, videos, movies/TV, find a conversation partner, etc. they are sure to progress. Personal tutors can also accelerate your learning with individual attention as they can focus on your strengths and weaknesses.
Self-Teaching Books and Programs
Many self-teaching books (a popular one is the “Teach Yourself” series) have now been joined by CDs/DVDs, online courses and, increasingly, apps for Apple or Android mobile devices. The self-teaching programs have many advantages. In fact, we subscribe to LingQ's Steve Kaufmann's notion: “Nobody can teach you a language – You have to learn yourself.” -
- Cost - there are many entirely FREE language programs, including Duolingo, Gamesforlanguage; “Freemium” programs with a free base version and premium upgrades, such LingQ., RocketLanguages, etc.; and pricey programs such as Rosetta Stone, Fluenz, etc., to just name a few – however, all are likely to be less expensive than immersion programs or classroom courses and tutors.
- Flexibility – you can learn by fitting them into your work schedule or life style. This advantage works for highly motivated and disciplined learners, but flexibility can become a disadvantage when motivation fades.
- Focus on particular skills – Some learners want to improve a particular skill (e.g. reading, listening, writing, speaking) and you can find programs that focus just on one or more skills.
Exposure is Key
One reason immersion programs are quite effective can be explained by the amount of time a learner is exposed to the new language. Hours and days of hearing a new language, being challenged to remember new sounds, words, and phrases and, most importantly - to speak - all will impact both your short and long-term memory.
A weekly 1-2 hour class or online session gives you only a fraction of exposure time to a new language, when you compare this to an immersion course of several weeks. So, unless learners that use self-teaching programs can substantially increase their language practice/exposure time (often limited by work, family etc), they will have to accept a slower pace of learning.
Clearly there are approaches and programs that can accelerate your learning: They all require motivation, time, and money in varying amounts.
As we outlined in previous posts for Beginners and Non-Beginners, there are a number of steps you should take BEFORE and AFTER you start learning a foreign language. And, by all means, use several programs and/or approaches so learning remains fun, exciting, and motivating.
The Rosetta Stone reviews had been missing from our “Online Sites” section and we are therefore adding them here now. Just click on one of the above links for the review. Rosetta Stone is still the dominant language learning site in the US. If you have used a Rosetta Stone course in the past and would like to leave a comment, put a visitor post on our Facebook page.
Disclosure: Gamesforlanguage.com has no business relationship with Rosetta Stone other than having purchased the Spanish (Latin America) course. See our PrivacyPolicy and Terms of Use for further details.
During one month in 2014, we created a game a day for German and were encouraged by the response.
We're now continuing to make German "Quick Games," at the pace of about one a week. As these games can be played without registering, we are looking forward to attracting more players to our site.
Several months before, we'd started adding "Quick Games" to our 36-lesson language courses and already have over 100 games for our four languages (plus a few Quick Games for our course "Inglés para hablantes de español," currently under development, with 3 lessons online.)
They include Trivia Quizzes, games for numbers, days-of-the-week games, common verbs, common phrases. We've begun posting our German games, on our new Learn German Facebook page (link below).
German - A Game A Day
During our one-month German - A Game A Day "experiment," we created and added a language game daily. We took one or two German words or expressions and put them into a game to teach and practice certain grammar points.
For example, the first few games practice the gender of compound German words, present tense verb forms, separable-prefix verbs, verb/subject inversion for questions, how the article for a masculine direct object changes, etc.
The games let the user discover key grammatical structures on his or her own, and provide brief explanations that sometimes confirm a learner's insights. Click here for: Learn German Facebook page.
Let's be honest: Most adults don't classify learning and practicing a foreign language as one of their favorite fun activities!
It's not because it's really difficult. But it requires persistence and endurance. You don't learn to understand, speak, read and write a new language in a few days or even a few months.
A “foreign language” isn’t something you cram for a week and then it’s yours. Learning a language is a journey of discovery. Putting parts of the journey into a games format can definitely lighten the experience.
Stories for Learning German
I remember how we enticed our American-born sons to learn German. We didn’t just give them the German translation of our daily vocabulary. Stories were key. We read stories to them. We unabashedly made up tales as we talked. We built on the stories that they invented. All of this in German, with explanations when they were needed.
And we played many German language games: The German version of Monopoly and many other German board games, such as "Spiel des Wissens", the German version of "Trivial Pursuit"; "Ich seh, ich seh, was du nicht siehst, und es ist rot" (I see, I see what you don't see, and it is red.), while walking or driving, and many others we invented on the go.
Our sons ended up mastering spoken German quite well. When I hear them switch easily into German while we're on a trip oversees, I know that all that story-making effort was worth it.
As the boys were growing up, video and later computer games were becoming enticing activities. How often did I wish that some of these games had a fun and worthwhile component for learning German!
Language Games Can Make Learning Addictive
That's how the idea for Games for Language was born. Google it, and, in addition to GamesforLanguage, you'll find many entries for language learning games, an ever increasing number for the educational market.
And even if programs like Duolingo are not listed here, most online language programs are now using games or gamified features, all for obvious reasons:
Learning becomes more effective if the playing becomes addictive: the learner keeps learning because s/he wants to improve the score, beat the game clock, earn a badge, doesn't want to lose a streak, etc.
Games can provide short intense challenges with quick closure. Done right, they can put you into a kind of quick “flow learning” that bypasses slugging things out mentally. An online language learning site is a great resource.
You can go there to play games when you feel like it - maybe even on an iPhone while you're waiting or just sitting around. You want to get easily into the game setting and pick up the game where you left off earlier.
With words, phrases, and sentences from our courses, these Quick Games can also be played for FREE as well, without even logging in. They are perfect, when you want to get a quick practice in.
For example, you can play games to practice numbers, months and seasons, basic phrases, essential verbs, or learn how to check into a hotel.
The games only take a few minutes to play, but keep the language you are learning in front of you for the day.
In Translating words from one language to another can be a very tricky thing and translation errors are common across the world. Even if you are proficient in a foreign language, specialized or technical language will often require professional translations.
In some cases,it is obvious what those making errors were trying to say (even if JFK had told the German people he was a plump and juicy jelly doughnut - see picture - as a persistent myth suggests, it would have been very obvious as to what he really meant) whilst others simply boggle the mind (such as a sign above a restaurant in Thailand declaring that their “food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy”).
The fact that saying you are a Berliner (or a Frankfurter or Hamburger for that matter) may mean very different things depending on the context, highlights just how troublesome a minefield translation can be.
Whilst such lingual faux pas are amusing in certain contexts, many of the culprits no doubt wish they had visited translation experts such as thebigword rather than relying on free online tools.
Fortunately for all of us, some of the more extreme translation gaffes are simply hilarious and, rather than landing people in serious trouble, have simply given us something to brighten our days.
Translate Server Error
It is probably not uncommon for individuals to find the words ‘Translate Server Error’ staring back at them when online translations go wrong, although few would think that this is the direct translation of the words they fed in.
Yet this is exactly what one Chinese restaurant owner assumed, creating a huge sign to hang above his restaurant entrance declaring that ‘Translate Server Error’ was the name of his business.
If translating the name into English was a plan to attract more interest, we would say the restaurant very much succeeded.
What’s that smell?
One of the most common areas for a translation to fail is on a menu, some of them are simple spelling mistakes or written out of context, but few are quite so off-putting as the one which declared that a restaurant’s rice smelled of wee.
We are not quite sure what they meant to say, but we are hoping that ‘Hele soup smell of urine’ wasn’t the exact translation they were going for. If it was, they get top marks for honesty at least.
Sweet Dreams
Not all confusing translations are outright hilarious. Some are also kind of sweet. In one Chinese town, a sign asking individuals to keep off the grass had its meaning lost in translation in a very wonderful way: “Do not disturb. Tiny grass is dreaming.”
The baffling demand is most likely the result of back translating from English to Chinese to English since the Chinese translation above also makes no sense. However, who needs sense when you have something so whimsically delicious to enjoy?
Boots of Ascension
It isn’t just those in the East who have trouble translating words. Even right here in Europe where English is a much more common tongue, and our culture is not so alien, the same language issues can raise their funny little heads.
In one Austrian hotel, skiers were asked “not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension”. Whilst it starts off well, if unnecessarily grandiose, it is unlikely that many people in a ski resort will have a special wardrobe of shoes to ascend to a prominent position. Nor is it likely that Jesus will be popping in to say hi.
Getting what you asked for
Either the following translation lost its true meaning en route, or there is a hotel manager in Athens who is very much a masochist.
The sign declaring that “visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 and 11 am daily” will not be very comforting to new guests and is either a poorly translated phrase or a master class in honesty and resignation.
Obviously though, these are worst case scenarios to translation that can lead to funny if not serious repercussions. This is where professional translation really is a requirement for businesses and individuals alike. In today’s world of instant communication, ever shrinking business borders and online reputation management, professional translations can be the difference between being seen as credible and trustworthy or, the complete opposite.
Author Bio: This article was provided by Gino De Blasio from thebigword. Thebigword is a global, technology-enabled language solution provider that delivers translation and interpreting services.
Disclosure: Gamesforlanguage has no business relationship with thebigword or Gino De Blasio, other than having published Gino's post.
We are often asked whether you can learn and/or practice German, French, Italian etc. by just using our GamesforLanguage program. Our honest answer is no. 
