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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Does WoW help you learn a foreign language?
by Lesley Smith 
Jul 6th 2009 at 8:00AM
When I joined my current guild I suddenly found out about this hidden multi-cultural and multi-lingual side to the game and as a result three of my best in-game friends are from Norway, Russia and the Netherlands. All have fantastic English skills but it's still common for them to go back to their native languages in group chat or over voice. They know I can't understand them but that doesn't stop me being able to guess what they're saying. Indeed the language barrier exists but it doesn't hamper the game one bit.
So I wonder, readers, do you regularly play with people from around the world? Have you learnt another language or improved your linguistic skills using the game? Do you play on a realm which doesn't speak your mother tongue? Do you enjoy playing with people from other cultures and countries? Has it inspired you to take up learning a second or third language?
Filed under: Guilds, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics, Quests, Raiding, Forums, Europe
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 5)
Zortrax Jul 7th 2009 1:16PM
I play on gurubashi, and this is a server almost dominated by brazilians. Almost all the top guilds and half the populace are brs. I could join one of these guilds (im br too) but i think its very interesting to speak with americans and to learn more about their culture. Also, this help me a lot to improve my english, but sometimes pp laught about my accent. Hehe.
So far in my MMORPGs experience i met pp from USA, Mexico, Australia, Iraq, Israel and France.
Wulftracker Jul 6th 2009 2:40PM
Have I learned much playing with player from other nations? Not really. Of the few who manage to get on Winterhoof (U.S.) most usually are just spamming away in Trade chat making rude comments about the U.S. and bragging about their country.
I really don't know about other servers and how people behave on them, but I know on Winterhoof, trade chat is 90% trash talk/Flaming and conversations having nothing to do with trade.
What I have learned so far is no matter where you're from there are always jerks.
Busilak Jul 6th 2009 3:05PM
From 1997-2000, I played a highly customized version of a text-based MMORPG called Tele-Arena 1997. It was based on the highly popular Tele-Arena (TA) game playable on BBSes. TA97 was owned by Vircom, Inc. and playable on their BBS, Game-Master - based in French-speaking Laval, Quebec in Canada. They made their game available to a number of US-based BBSes. As a result, there was a lot of rivalry between the French Canadians and the Americans and English-speaking Canadians.
I was taking high school French at the time and people would always ask me for a translation of what the "enemy" was saying. It was extremely hard at first, because people wrote in "Joual" - which is basically the Montreal dialect, a far cry from the Parisian Standard we were taught in school at the time. For example, they'd write "TK MOE CHE PO" (anyway, I don't know) whereas in standard French it would be "EN TOUT CAS, MOI, JE NE SAIS PAS."
In the end, I managed and my French improved dramatically as well as my knowledge of Québéciois French. The Sysops took note appointed me as one two low-level American GMs game, in charge of running quests, battlegrounds, as well as proofreading content and receiving my input for upcoming patches. I was also basically in a customer service position, helping out both the Anglophone and Francophone players.
Vircom shut down TA97 in 2000 to work on a graphical MMORPG called The 4th Coming. Even after 9 years, I still speak French and credit that to my time with Vircom.
It's a shame that the European, Korean, and Chinese servers aren't easily accessible to American players otherwise I would totally play and learn another language. On my own server, Drenden, there is a small population of Brazilians, Québécois, Latin Americans, and my ethnic group, Filipinos.
Cédric Gagné Jul 6th 2009 3:34PM
Swing la baquesse dans le fond d'la boite a bois.
mravestein Jul 6th 2009 3:14PM
I'm from the Netherlands.
I'm currently 15 years old, and I've been playing games and watching movies from when I was 6. I've started playing WoW when I was 13. As of now, I speak, write and read English fluently. I can read/write and understand Swedish, the actual speaking is a nightmare though. I can also read and understand basic Japanese.
WoW has dramatically increased my English/Swedish reading and writing skills.
cato austdal Jul 6th 2009 4:08PM
i have playd with ppl from most of eu im from norway and my writen enlish has improwed sins i started playing wow
norwegiam: jeg har spillt med folk fra det meste av Eu jeg er fra norge og min skriftlige engelsk har blit bedre etter jeg startet å spille wow
cato austdal Jul 6th 2009 4:10PM
ops typo norwegian:
Fnord Jul 6th 2009 6:31PM
I'm glad that people from various nations and linguistic backgrounds are playing WoW, but I don't recommend it to anyone as a language-learning tool. I love the game and the WoW community, but a significant number of native-Anglophone players are not literate by any but the most generous definitions. If you've obtained your English from WoW, your speaking/writing abilities aren't likely to pass muster with a potential employer or other educated interlocutor.
This isn't a jab at English-speakers per se; one should probably be just as hesitant to rely on an EU server for learning (or even sharpening one's command of) French, German, Czech, Hungarian, &c.
vknong Jul 6th 2009 6:39PM
I've been learning Italian for about 4 years and once I finished uni, it became quite hard to meet Italians here in London unless you got Italian friends who could introduce you to others.
Luckily, I found an active guild called Cavalieri dell'Alba on EU Dragonblight, who have been around from vanilla WoW. I was in that guild for a few months and communicated entirely in Italian. It really helped me to become more fluent.
Shintar Jul 6th 2009 7:08PM
My native language is German but I only play on English servers since the people who originally started playing the game with me are Dutch and Swedish respectively. I never had a problem with the language since I had already improved my English drastically through several years of regular internet use (it's not all 733t speak :)). About the only "issue" I had was that everybody was constantly making fun of me and went into hysterics whenever I linked something from my German client ("Mondstoffmantelung zomg rofl") - eventually I got fed up with it and installed the English language pack to escape that unwanted attention. Now I don't even know what all the Northrend zones are called in German and couldn't imagine going back to playing the game in my native language anymore. Funny how these things work out.
Oh, and I think I can count the other German-speakers I've met on English realms on one hand. I think if people have the option to have a realm in their native language, they'll mostly stick to that, no matter how much people praise the benefits of international contacts in the comments here.
SidusNare Jul 7th 2009 2:23AM
Hi,
I guess this is as good a place as any to post it. I am unhappy that the EU servers and US servers (and chineese for that matter) are isolated. The internet is about global communication and blizzard fails us. Sure I can sign on to aussie servers, and do, but how can it hurt to bring more cross cultural interaction?
Koffiebekker Jul 7th 2009 4:09AM
I am from South Africa and English is my second language all tho i have to say it feels like my first language. My first language is Afrikaans its a lot like dutch just with a bit of a twist.
I love playing wow and to interact with different nationalities, its always something new and interesting.
It's amazing to have made friends with people on the other side of the world. I've even had the chance of meeting some of them in real life.
SHOUT OUT TO ALL SOUTH AFRICANS
Neyssa Jul 7th 2009 6:19AM
Yeah my new server is Ragnaros :) I like it much more. I logged in with my long-abandoned druid on BS a few weeks ago, and just standing around Stormwind, reading trade channel for a few minutes convinced me that I wouldnt come back here for any price :) I also changed from Ally to Horde, maybe thats also a difference, I have no clue about BS Horde - Ragnaros Ally.
Sarabande Jul 7th 2009 9:34AM
I play on a North American server and in the past have grouped (and been on vent) with friends who speak Spanish when they are together. I have picked up some words. Though (to the amusement of some and alarm of others in that group) it's mostly been profanities. :D But I do enjoy just listening sometimes and asking about this word of that. I took Spanish in high school many years ago but didn't get many chances to use it outside of the classroom.
I also know of someone (in that group of friends) who lives in Mexico but his English is so proficient, I never would have guessed that he lived outside of an English speaking country. Even then, he has a hard time now and then with a certain word, and expression or correct pronunciation. He feels free to ask me or others, and we will gladly help him. As he is planning to study English further in school, this kind of interaction (and just being able to speak in English daily) will help him.
Plus, it's fun to talk to people of different cultures like this. :)
isaac.hector Jul 7th 2009 8:09PM
Well in my guild located in Us realm where we pretty much use Spanglish (Spanish and English) personally im one the ones with less english and i learn a lot every day so the answer is yes we do learn another idioms through Wow