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New Browser-Based MMO Teaches Mandarin Chinese
Have you ever wanted to learn Mandarin Chinese? (Yeah, me neither.) However, if you suddenly feel the urge to learn how to welcome your new Chinese overlords, researchers supported by Michigan State University and the Office of the Chinese Language Council International have a game for you. "Zon" is a browser-based virtual world, currently in beta-testing, that helps users to learn the Mandarin Chinese language.
I suppose if you don't like the dialect you're learning, you can always reroll.
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An acquaintance of mine went to China an she found something rather interesting. Young folks right out of college would go to China for a couple of years to teach English or whatever, the Chinese Government pays them and gives them a stipend (more $$$ if you can speak Chinese too!). They just bank their pay and when they come home, they have enough money to put a sizable down payment on a house and start their lives. And they had an adventure that they'll remember fir the rest of their life.
Considering that the US will be China's bitch in a few years, I suggest you do in fact learn Chinese!
I welcome any free opportunity to learn a new language.
I might mess with this a bit and see if I can pick up some new phrases.
I hope there are more things like this developed in the future. Games can really bring people together, and language is a huge barrier that could be broken down if things such as this are successfull.
But, half an hour later, you just want to learn another new language.
I don't have time to play this, my hovercraft is full of eels! *pretends to strike a match*
Enemy of the Sun
Now I'll be able to understand what those chinese gold farmers are actually saying.
Firefox at least:
Go to Tools, Options, then click on General on the left
click the languages... tab on the right hand side
click the down arrow where it says select a language to add
click add.
then just click the down arrow by where it says "Default character encoding" and pick the language you just installed and confirm it all with ok's.
Ice Cream has no bones.
...we can all watch Firefly without the subtitles! Is this just a clever preparation for the MMO?
If you're using Linux, it can be pretty easy too. Ubuntu and it's progeny have the fonts in the repositories, so you just open up your package manager and search for them. I'm sure other distros would too.
Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
The DS is the perfect platform - multiple types of possible input, including typing, writing, and voice (which could be turned off if you're on the go), portable, affordable. Create a game where you're a tourist in some foreign city and must complete little missions like finding a hotel and eating in a restaurant, along with something more out-there for the fun factor. In addition to language, you'd be able to get some cultural info (like currency, etc) as well as a map of part of the city if that's where you'll be visiting. Sure, the stores etc won't be accurate but it could incorporate major tourist landmarks like museums and historical sites.
SOMEONE PLEASE STEAL THIS IDEA AND MAKE IT. Please. I have no idea how to go about making a video game.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
There is also Project LRNJ, an RPG game that teaches you JAPANESE.
It is not browser-based, but it is available for every major OS.
Get it here!
And good luck getting rid of all those slimes!
If I clone myself, can I call it a thread?
If a girl winks to us, can I call it a race condition?
Your passport does not confer the right travel, your nationality does. Your passport is proof of nationality, and you can still prove your nationality by other means. Having your passport's number and expiration date helps. If you have an American passport, turn to page 6. You will notice that the State Department recommends making two photocopies of your passport data page.
"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." - Bob Dylan
I managed to escape the airport and get to my hotel in the game, but I wouldn't put much money on my remembering many of the specific words that I 'learned' in the airport in an hour. Without some sort of review mechanism, I don't see this being very effective. Of course, perhaps if I play this eight hours a day I would just soak it in by immersion, but I think that it is more likely that I would kill myself from the boredom first. Not that learning languages is that horrible, but this is more painful than just reading a book (well, a book and a 'set of tapes'). As it is, it seems the point of the game is to not starve to death. A noble goal, to be sure...
I think that the game would greatly benefit from a 'journal' function or something that lets me revisit past vocabulary and grammar lessons (and pinyin reference!) if I feel so inclined...then it really would be like an interactive language program, but with avatars that starve to death. I suppose that the big benefit would be getting to try out your stuff with other players...I imagine that at this point in the beta, everyone is too embarrassed by their hideous accents and word pacing to try out their Mandarin on the other players (that is my excuse).
Ah, one last observation. When you 'observe' the conversations, it seems to me that sometimes the two people involved have different accents, and pronounce certain words slightly differently. A heads-up as to what accent everyone is demonstrating would be nice, so I don't end up speaking a mixture of Beijing-accent, Shanghai-accent, and ignorant farmboy accent (for all I know).
Overall, a pretty good effort for a beta, I suppose. Actually, I used to play FFXI in the middle of the night to try out my Japanese--not a very good way to learn kanji, I'll admit, but at least there was more to do in the game than starve to death. Perhaps some sort of happy medium between these extremes is possible?
I live in Beijing and rarely carry my passport for anything aside from a trip to the bank - but ALWAYS have a copy on me.
In three years the _one time_ I was stopped by an officer and asked for ID he was fine taking the number from a photocopy and understood my (poor) Chinese explaining I just dont want to lose the damn thing.
Same thing though with your housing permits - try not having one of those when the police come by for checks. I got a knock last week at 12:30 AM from two cops making the rounds in my building checking on listed foreigners - I have heard without the right housing permit it would have been much more than a 5 minute affair and more like a 5 day mess with my possible deportation.
Protip: carry a copy, leave the real one at home. If its that big of a mess they will gladly escort you there
---- The real Slashdot is still here. You just have to browse at -1 to read the comments.
Seriously.
..
Having played a number of MMO betas in chinese language, due to the fact they were the only versions available on the planet besides korean, I do recommend such option for players looking forward to learn the language.
Even more helpful would be to play a chinese version of a game you already know in english version, so you have a working knowledge which would make your first steps easier.
Examples : RF Online, Granado Espada (aka sword of the new world), etc
A ceveat though, would be the recent and very annoying trend from companies to dictate that all other licencee companies exploiting a particular MMO restict their player's access by country IP. Even though the MMO maker itself never intended so.
This is very annoying and should not be allowed to be, it may force you to look for a proxy service in the country where the servers are located.