In a previous entry, I discussed how my experiences with learning Japanese have led to a way that I have personally found is an effective study tool while also having a great deal of fun simultaneously. Let’s talk about this method again and then take a look at some other effective and entertaining methods of study.

I mentioned previously that I found that there is an overlap between one of my favourite hobbies, playing video games, and improving my ability to understand Japanese. As I mentioned before, I spend a lot of time in Akiba talking to the staff about rare video games, attempting to find and buy those games, and then hopefully buying them and playing them. As also mentioned previously, I do live in Japan, and most of the video games here in Japan are entirely in Japanese, although there are a few exceptions.

Aside from rare cases like this, most games are in Japanese with no other language options. Although you might be wondering how this helps me study, the answer is that it literally forces me to learn to be able to understand. This, in turn, also has another very important effect; it increases confidence. Confidence is important, I feel, as if you don’t feel confident, you may not enjoy what you are doing.

In the summer of 2009, I bought a Japanese PS2 and a certain Japanese PS2 game not long after I had moved to Okinawa. I tried to play it but failed, as I didn’t understand Japanese at that point. This took away some of my confidence, but rather than give up, I set that game and my Japanese PS2 aside until I was proficient enough to enjoy it.

I didn’t seriously try playing games in Japanese until the summer of 2020. At that point, I was playing a game in English when I realized something: I know all of these things in Japanese. I don’t see any reason why I couldn’t play this game entirely in Japanese, so I will. I did, and I enjoyed it. This experience gave me a lot of confidence, so I started buying more games in Japanese and playing them that way. In December of 2020, I remembered there was that one game that I had bought in 2009. I still had it and my Japanese PS2, 11 and a half years later, and I still have them now. I set up my Japanese PS2 again after over 11 years, played that game, and understood literally almost everything. I learned those few things that I did not understand, so I had a lot of fun doing something that I wanted to do for over a decade while also learning some things in the process.

What does all of this have to do with learning and how does it help you? The answer is that you, as a student of another language, can also apply this same technique and have just as much fun as I do while also building your own skills and learning what you don’t already know. Find something that you enjoy doing and try to do it in another language. One important thing to remember is that you have to consider your own level of fluency before attempting this. If you try something that is too difficult, you could end up becoming frustrated and you will lose confidence. This is what you don’t want, so be sure to try something simple at first. Once you find a level that you find is perhaps a bit too simple, you can move on to choosing things that become more complex or more difficult at a rate that you find is comfortable.