Breakfast 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 1 of 5)
JustinScott Jul 6th 2009 8:07AM
I have played with a few people from Europe, mostly Norway or Germany. But they have all spoke english pretty well, and whenever they would talk on vent never used their native tongue very much. So, since they were already so well versed in english, i was never really inspired to learn their language. Although i have always wanted to learn German, Im just a procrastinator =P
Go Hasselhoff!
Budbaer Jul 6th 2009 12:04PM
"Go Hasselhoff!"
Irrg, why does every single American have to bring up Nazis and Hasselhoff when referring to Germany?
JustinScott Jul 6th 2009 12:50PM
@ Budbaer
hay Bud, dont you start to Hassel the Hoff.
vbvanderlinden Jul 6th 2009 8:13AM
I am playing on the EU and I play on the english realms and I really, really have learned alot of english from WoW. How? I don't know. I just did. So I did learn a foreign language from World of Warcraft! Yay! Greets from Qaqilja ( Emerald Dream )
dAnixx Jul 6th 2009 9:54PM
Although it's not perfect, my english grades have gotten much better since I started to play WoW. I play in Europe and english is my secondary language.
My grades in english used to be 13/20 but now i have a 18/20
kidjudas Jul 6th 2009 8:14AM
I've played with people in other countries and it adds a completely fresh spin on things. We've talked politics, movies, etc. I know some Italian and if I could find a server with a majority of Italians, I'd go. Does anyone have any leads for me?
sephirah Jul 6th 2009 8:22AM
Don't. Do. It.
Impaler Jul 6th 2009 9:25AM
You mat want to try Hakkar or Crushridge if you want some almost 100% ITA realms, else go for Runetotem for a majority of italians, but with a good bunch of non-italians too, it's a well balanced realm (nationality-wise)
Muse Jul 6th 2009 10:25AM
Someone should really do a "which language on which server" report. The one on wowwiki's realm list is rather outdated and slightly arbitrary.
Royal Jul 6th 2009 8:21AM
WoW's (USA) server restrictions really puts a clamp on interaction with international players. The server I am on everyone is a natural english speaker or learned English prior to playing WoW (a russian immigrant in the guild). People are generally from Canada or the USA (haven't met any french Canadians).
However in other games with no such country restrictions on what server one can connect to, I have made friends with others (who are Macedonians) that have learned English through the mmo game we were playing.
I found that to be impressive to play a foriegn game and learn English by playing. Most said they learned English in school but never retained the skill or paid much attention in class. After some time mastering written English (generally comes first in mmos), through talking programs they'd polish their speaking skills.
International mmos can really provide some interesting learning experiences and interactions. I really wish that I could play with my European and Macedonian friends on WoW. I know there is a way to do it but a true international server would be cool.
themightysven Jul 6th 2009 8:42AM
from US servers you can get on Latin American Servers, I don't know how much they speak in Portuguese or Spainish though. Might roll there today when I'm bored.
Tirris Jul 6th 2009 8:56AM
I heard that a lot of the people on Latin American servers don't speak Spanish or Portuguese and just use English a lot. WoWInsider may have done an article on it.
Zhadruun Jul 6th 2009 8:26AM
Crushridge (Eng - EU) is pure Italien, except for me, who made a transfer there by a mistake. *Coughs* But I get to learn some Italian, while waiting for the month to run out.
sephirah Jul 6th 2009 9:04AM
If there's something you'll learn there in this month, it's the meaning of "Bimbominkia" and why you should avoid them...
volicio Jul 6th 2009 8:26AM
WTB a transfer from Winterhoof to any EU server >> I'd love to pick German back up, haven't spoken it since i was little
Mike Jul 6th 2009 8:27AM
I play with Americans all the time. Occasionally, I'l whip out a thick Canadian or Newfoundlander accent when in Vent to throw guildies for a loop.
Although I've never interacted with them, there's a guild on my server named Légion du Québec, and I imagine they're natively French speakers.
malaika Jul 6th 2009 12:27PM
Which server?
I'm on Gorefiend (US) and we have a pretty good casual french-speaking guild called "Les ombres de la nuit" (It means: The shadows of the night). "Renaissance" on my server is a raiding guild.
However, I know when we do a heroic or raid, what ends up on vent is a mish-mash of french-english because we don't translate the game specific words.
ThatOneGuy Jul 6th 2009 2:31PM
On Gnomeregan? I think I've seen an alliance guild named that.
Farfalla Jul 6th 2009 8:30AM
Crushridge is indeed basically an Italian server. On my home server there's a large Dutch population, followed by Scandinavians and then everyone else. They all speak English in public channels though. Through guilds and friendships I've picked up some Dutch and Norwegian. It really is my favourite thing about being on an EU server, the amount of people from different cultures you meet; it makes RL meetups much more fun.
Ravasha Jul 6th 2009 9:04AM
Ik speel best regelmatig met mensen uit andere landen, Duisters, Denen, van alles eigenlijk.
Door WoW ben ik wel beter geworden in het Engels. Haal betere cijfers in het vak Engels dan eerst. Ik speel nu op een Engelse Realm, waarin ik in een Nederlandse guild zit met meer dan 500 members. Spelen met andere spelers vind ik wel leuk, maar het maakt het wel anders. Je kan bijvoorbeeld geen dingen zeggen die je tegen iemand anders uit hetzelfde land kan zeggen.
Ben nu Duits, Frans en Engels aan het leren, en het gaat me best goed af.
Now Lesley, Guess what I just typed here and look if you understand it. It is actually Dutch, if you want to translate it.