Oh wow, it took me so long being a f17 dweller before the idea of searching for this thread came to my mind today. Had the pleasure of reading up on every reply so far and have finally caught up. Feels good to be back!
...........................Thoughts..............................
I used to think offline games "teach" english better than those Eng teachers at school or there are more things in english that i can learn from video games.
Years later...i realise that games is what persuade me to learn english in the early days or it is my first motivation to learn English
......................... About the games..................
We got a chance to meet and interact with vitrual characters through dialogues and actions, observe how they speak and react in different situations
another way may give the same experiences is watching interaction movies (example: Bandersnatch )
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I thinking of writing down the whole learning experience but maybe another time.... Just sharing some of my thoughts of how i approach english language
(Sorry...i haven't wrote english paragraph for years)
This is an old reply but it piqued my interest a bit and I thought I'd like to expand upon it. Do take my words with a grain of salt and I have no idea how long this is going to be because I'm literally thinking as I go.
Someone's already mentioned it a few replies below that it's because the games are not
actively trying to get you to learn English. They are just, erm, games.
The underlying psychological reason behind this is due to the fact that you're engaging in an activity that you personally and purposefully chose to do. You simply
like/love it. In other words, you could say you don't hate it. It's not such a burden or a struggle for you that you will detest it. You are willing to go any extra miles to learn about it. This is quite similar to how you're willing to research subjects in school that you prefer simply because you love them.
When it comes to games (which are more than often in English), learning English becomes a byproduct. It means when you learn to play the game, you subconsciously and passively start to learn English, albeit the end result will usually be acceptable at best, which allows you to understand how the game works at the bare minimum. The thing is, if you are someone who plays games, religiously or not, you don't just stop at one game now, do you? That's why you start making progress with English without knowing it. In some cases, like with what happened to the person whom I've quoted above, you begin to realize that you find it interesting and actively seek for a way to learn English.
This is also why some games are specifically made to teach you English. Although to my knowledge, most if not all fail because in the end they still try too hard trying to get you to learn English. A game is just a game, it's not capable of answering questions you might have, which is why you need a teacher.
What makes a
good teacher is they are able to use the teaching materials as guidelines, not just blindly preaching them.
What makes a
great teacher is they will go above and beyond to teach you English
without actually doing so. If they can make it feel near effortless and fun for you to absorb everything, then congratulations, you've got yourself an amazing teacher. Don't forget to be thankful, because those are in short supply.
If you're thinking about learning English, try to find where your heart is at with it. Do you need it for yourself or do you need it for work? How much are you willing to study for it? Will it pay dividends to force yourself to learn it at all? There's multiple levels of proficiency to mastering English, depending on the field of work you are in (if that's why you are learning) too.
A lot of times you will find yourself barely improving at all. This is completely normal because you've most likely reached a plateau - meaning the progress you're making is not by leaps and bounds anymore, you're improving, only slowly. Most people feel that way from IELTS's band 8.0 and above trying to make the jump to a higher band. Do
not beat yourself over it. Take a break and then come back. When you're quite comfortable with English, you'll find it easier to take in new things. Trust me.
Try to make it fun, don't make it a chore. People have been saying this a bazllion times: English in the end is only a tool. You choose what to do with it.
If you've actually read everything, thanks for that. I hope that it was somehow meaningful to you. I'll be checking in on this thread regularly though.