I've been wanting to learn portuguese, but beyond my ipod enhanced pimsleur language course, I thought it'd be cool to learn portuguese through playing games. I wanted to start with alpha centauri because I know the game well enough to play it in swahili if necessary and because it would teach me the right words to discuss philosophy in portuguese (how's that for aiming high?).

But Alpha Centauri doesn't have portuguese translation, so I'll put that off until I want to learn spanish or German. Right now: Portuguese. Does anyone know good games that have a portuguese version and a method of obtaining it? I live in the netherlands.

Preferably a game with some depth of language to it (I just read halo was translated to portuguese... but that might not really be what I'm looking for). So please! Wow me with your knowledge of games that can be played in portuguese!

Well, there's all those insultingly patronising edutainment games for teaching languages, aren't there? If you don't want to be insultingly patronised (wouldn't blame ya), there's also every JRPG ever, if they have portuguese translations. Play through them with the english script over your knee :D

Although you might wanna learn the syntax of portuguese first. It'd probably be much easier that way.

Yeah, I was thinking about fun games in portuguese rather than boring edutainment. By consuming entertainment in another language, anything will be edutainment anyways.

A JRPG might not be the best way to learn. Even those translated to english are barely intelligible. Maybe something like starcraft in portuguese would be a good idea. I wouldn't mind repaying and replaying starcraft and starcraft brood war.

Any other ideas?

Pimsleur langauge course focuses both on the syntax and function words of a language. I just wanted something to enrich my vocabulary in a fun way.

Heh, this thread remninds me of a very old adventure game released for the PC in the late 1990's. It was called 'Outcast' and the game required you to learn how to speak the aliens language. While it wasn't very difficult it really added some atmosphere to the whole game.

Now if they only could get to work on a bloody sequal already...

Outcast? I got pretty far in that and I don't recall needing to learn... unless you mean character names? They could be pretty confusing.

EDIT: On reflection, are we talking about the same game? Lead character called Cutter Slade or something, jumps to a parallel dimension, needs to save using a GamSaav?

Aren't there a series of 'Teach Yourself...' games for the DS that let you learn different languages? I seem to recall Penny Arcade doing a comic about a French one. Those seem to be pretty good. If they made a Japanese one, I'd be into it.

if you want to learn how to speak portuguese i'd say do one of two things because not sure there's a lot of games out there with portuguese translations

so i suggest this go rent movies and use the language feature, some have portuguese if not find a niche video store with it or just order them online. my other suggestion is take brazillian jiu-jitsu from a brazillian and get them to speak to you in portuguese

but honestly playing a game won't really help you, as with most translations, they suffer from the difficulty of not being as verbose as english is and no where even remotely close to it. the next closest lang has half the words english does

If you're really into learning new languages get Rosetta Stone or something. You're not going to learn a new language in a video game, unless it's a kiddy language game. And you won't be discussing philosophy in Petey Portuguese: Island Adventure.

Prince of persia taught me to swear again, that's sorta the same thing.

Thanks for the suggestions. I already have the rosetta stone. I have Pimsleur language tapes. I've been taking capoeira lessons for more than 6 years and picked up plenty of portuguese in action. I've been to brazil for a month and I'm probably going to live in portugal for a year.

It's not like I think I can pick up portuguese from the get-go from games: I've already got a base to build on.

So I thought, maybe someone here would know how I can find out which games are translated to Portuguese.

Side note: I searched for that game outcast, not because it has the portuguese I'm looking for, but because it sounds like fun. Gotta love google: "Did you mean: outkast".

Shivari:
You're not going to learn a new language in a video game, unless it's a kiddy language game.

See, that's interesting. Part of the reason why I write English so well is because I learnt English early on through games like Maniac Mansion. One could argue that it only enabled my learning, but in his case, he's got a base to build on, so it might be good way of increasing his vocab.

Speaking of which, Maniac Mansion has a remake out with a Portuguese translation. Open source games like Battle for Wesnoth almost always have translators. Also, you listed Starcraft. That too has a Portuguese version of it.

Awesomeness woe is you! I've never yet finished maniac mansion, this might be a good time to do it! I'll also try battle for wesnoth and I'll see if I can find a Portuguese starcraft! Thanks! All three very helpful suggestions!

I too learned English mostly through games. I was 11 and my English vocabulary was better than my teacher's. I'm not a native English speaker, but games have really helped to elevate my English to a really good level. My pronunciation was really bad though, but that came with time and traveling. It was a little embarrassing when I played leisure suit larry and asked my mother for some translations (I never figured out what that censored bar covered until a few years later). To me the game was just a puzzle game.

Erm really, learning a language through games?

Why don't you just play the game you like the most and turn the sound off and have a dvd playing with the relevant lessons from linguaphone or some other type of learning system in the background.

In order to facilitate my Spanish (I took two years of it three years ago, and now I have to start from scratch in college), my phone and iPod have been switched over to Spanish, and I have Portuguese on there too. As far as games, though, I've never tried to switch over but I'm sure the translation would be butchered on most of them- movie translations are indicative of that.

Hmm setting my phone and ipod to portuguese is not a bad idea! Thanks mkb07a!

Too bad windows vista doesn't allow easy language switches. It would really help my work as doing portuguese house-to-house tech support when I'll live in portugal.

Anicecupoftea: You're missing the point. I'm already using language tapes, but I wanted something fun to do with portuguese. MKB's suggestion is awesome because I'll start to use it without thinking pretty quickly.

Woe Is You:

Shivari:
You're not going to learn a new language in a video game, unless it's a kiddy language game.

See, that's interesting. Part of the reason why I write English so well is because I learnt English early on through games like Maniac Mansion. One could argue that it only enabled my learning, but in his case, he's got a base to build on, so it might be good way of increasing his vocab.

I too learned english through games, warhammer and magic. We didn't really know the rules for warhammer or magic, only what we had been told in Games Workshop, so we spent a lot of time discussing english grammar in order to figure out what a card or a rule meant. Civilization 2 also helped me extend my vocabulary and pronunciation through the videos of the advisors and wonders of the world.

But to the OP:
Listen to Portuguese or brazilian music and read the lyrics at the same time. It gives you an idea how things sound, as well as introducing you to an interesting style of music.

I've learned everything I know about the German language from Wolfenstein.

Tuac Al Bhed luihd?

Playing a game in Portuguese won't help you learn the language any more than staring at an ATM for an hour would help you learn Braille. A lot of games use made up words and terms anyway, how could that possibly teach you a language other than gibberish? Just because you can say "You need to construct additional Pylons" in French or Spanish doesn't mean you can speak the language, it just means you can say obscure game quotes in other languages.

If you're serious about learning another language, get some books or maybe some interactive software. Shivari suggested Rosetta Stone and I've heard a lot of good things about them, maybe you should try that.

Maybe you should read a little more of the thread before responding mspencer, you would have learned that there's definitely people where a game has helped to learn a language and you would have learned that I'm already trying out different things, this is just an addition.

Very funny PrlSM.

Uskis, it's a good idea, but I'm already doing that. Jorge ben, Sergio Mendez, Jorge Amorim, Antonio Carlos Jobim and dare I say it, some portuguese songs by shakira (she translated some of her songs for the brazilian market). Any other suggestions to add to that?

Uskis:

I too learned english through games, warhammer and magic. We didn't really know the rules for warhammer or magic, only what we had been told in Games Workshop, so we spent a lot of time discussing english grammar in order to figure out what a card or a rule meant. Civilization 2 also helped me extend my vocabulary and pronunciation through the videos of the advisors and wonders of the world.

Ha, it's an awesome way to learn isn't it? Glad to see I'm not alone. What's your native language?

Capo Taco:
Maybe you should read a little more of the thread before responding mspencer, you would have learned that there's definitely people where a game has helped to learn a language and you would have learned that I'm already trying out different things, this is just an addition.

I did read the thread. It's just common sense that you can't learn a language by playing a video game in two different languages. Yes, you might pick up on one or two words or phrases but it's a pitiful substitute for actually learning a language. If you're trying other things (hopefully books, language software, or an instructor) you should just drop the whole idea of learning from playing a game.

When you actually learn the language, then it might be fun to play the game again in Portuguese.

I've recently moved to France. Besides going to courses of the local moonspeak, I was thinking about trying the french version of "the Longest Journey" that I found pretty cheap. I guess in adventure games they might talk about other stuff than "constructing additional pylons", maybe? I played "Dreamfall" in english, but I have no f-n idea what goes on in this one, so it might prove to be interesting. Or frustrating...

mspencer82:

Capo Taco:
Maybe you should read a little more of the thread before responding mspencer, you would have learned that there's definitely people where a game has helped to learn a language and you would have learned that I'm already trying out different things, this is just an addition.

I did read the thread. It's just common sense that you can't learn a language by playing a video game in two different languages.

But he isn't even suggesting that. Of course you can't learn a language by just reading the same sentence in your own language and then in a foreign language and magically know the language, its rules and why the sentence is like that in the first place. So, no, it doesn't sound like you did read the thread.

His idea wasn't that he'd be learning Portuguese solely through games but them being a supplement. But if you already have a base to build up on, games can certainly help in introducing vocabulary and expressions.

Woe Is You:

Shivari:
You're not going to learn a new language in a video game, unless it's a kiddy language game.

See, that's interesting. Part of the reason why I write English so well is because I learnt English early on through games like Maniac Mansion. One could argue that it only enabled my learning, but in his case, he's got a base to build on, so it might be good way of increasing his vocab.

Speaking of which, Maniac Mansion has a remake out with a Portuguese translation. Open source games like Battle for Wesnoth almost always have translators. Also, you listed Starcraft. That too has a Portuguese version of it.

Oddly enough, Lucasarts was really into translating all of their adventure games. Monkey Island helped me brush up on my spanish immensely.

L.B. Jeffries:

Oddly enough, Lucasarts was really into translating all of their adventure games. Monkey Island helped me brush up on my spanish immensely.

Wow I'm going to see if I can find those in portuguese! I always like reasons to replay monkey islands anyway! They helped tremendously in learning a language! Jokes are the best reward for learning a language: You need to do well to realize when something is a joke and when it is a clue. Maybe after playing those and I've gotten my grasp of typical adventury expressions in portuguese, I'll try some that I haven't played yet, like zak mckracken, the dig and loom.

Good inspiration, thanks jeffries!

I also had a fun experience when I was 11 and we were playing english hangman at school and my teacher doubted for a second whether 'dexterity' was really an english word:

"Yes it is, Ma'am, it is how good you are at dodging or hitting things with bow and arrow!"

I've expanded my Japanese vocabulary quite a bit through games... though it's always words and phrases I'd never use in daily conversation.

<Do you have those reports ready?>
{I've defeated the enemy commander!}
<Does... does that mean yes?>
{My battle spirit burns brightly with justice.}
<Well, keep up the good work>
{I have no need for a false salvation}

Hehe, I used to say english phrases from games at random. I'd say "Don't hurt me" all day (phrase out of wolfenstein: Difficulty level). Then I'd say it as my mother was trying to pull a splinter out of my finger and she was so impressed with my english. And I didn't even know what it meant until she said that.

Aaaanyways, Thanks for contributing everyone! I've got loads of leads now and it'll be a fun way to expand my portuguese!

Tchau!

ps. Thanks mspencer in particular for your incredibly helpful and insightful advice. Muito obrigado!

Looks like I've missed the boat here, but I learned some new phrases by playing through Jedi Outcast in French, complimentary to 8 years of study of course. From there I moved onto other games. Now I live there, so it's a different story (I play games in English to stop me forgetting).

The main advantage of games is exposure, same with music or television.

Have to admit Capo, I really didn't spot that you're not a native English speaker, so you're definitely doing something right.

As for other sources, for the moment I can only reiterate the suggestion of open source stuff - Battle for Wesnoth, UFO: Alien Invasion, things like that. They all get community contributions so they tend to get translated into a ridiculous number of languages. So yeah, short of google, Sourceforge is probably your best bet.

Also, I'd be amazed if Beyond Good and Evil didn't come in Portuguese.

Thanks. It may be bad form to close a forum topic anyways. It's not my thread, it's usable for all who want to supplement their language learning.

Thanks for the compliment ExileNZ, but I must admit that 6 years of bilingual high school must have helped me a little bit. Still, if it wasn't for games I'd have never joined a bilingual school in the first place.

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition comes with 10 European languages which you can install & use the English subtitles, so theoretically you could learn another language using that game.

Or you could just learn (crude) funny phrases like "You mum sucks Dwarf cock", "I fucked a she-elf" & "My balls itch".

Since the game is a fantasy RPG your topics of conversation may be fairly limited, but it's a huge game with fairly modern concepts, so you could probably learn quite a lot of useful basics.

It would also be an amusing way to baffle people on holiday, e.g walk into a shop in France and say "The squirrels are hiding out in the swamp, training for their battle with the Knights of the Order...I wouldn't go there myself, you're likely to be attacked by Drowners & Ghouls".

Jamash:
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition comes with 10 European languages which you can install & use the English subtitles, so theoretically you could learn another language using that game.

Jamash, a game I can play in portuguese with english subtitles... that's AWESOME.

Heh, my flatmate ended up focusing on English as her primary subject throughout School and university just so she could figure out what people were talking about in games. This amused me greatly.

ZenMonkey47:
I've expanded my Japanese vocabulary quite a bit through games... though it's always words and phrases I'd never use in daily conversation.

<Do you have those reports ready?>
{I've defeated the enemy commander!}
<Does... does that mean yes?>
{My battle spirit burns brightly with justice.}
<Well, keep up the good work>
{I have no need for a false salvation}

hehe Tenchu Z taught me

"your end will be swift" "What was that?"
"oh...no...i'm...dying" "what the hell?"
"what?" "hes dead?!"
"huh?" "enemy"
"A NINJA!" "your partner is earless" (dont ask)
"Dog of goda!" "The moon is beautiful tonight"
"a shadow?!" "I see you"
I admit learning phrases arn't very useful but you can break them down into constituant parts if you try hard enough meaning you can learn the words which (sometimes) are more useful.

As for the OP have you tried things like surfing portuguese websites? Also wikipedia is available in portuguese scroll down and on the left theres languages could make for some interesting bedtime reading (everythng you ever needed to know).