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Chinese is one of the most challenging subjects for many of us students. The symbols and ‘pinyin’ sometimes seem incoherent to us, especially if we are not that familiar with the language.
But it is an important subject that is used for communication purposes. So how can we make studying Chinese easier? Through playing games!
Chinese Scrabble
[Next Level Chinese]
Many of us are familiar with the original Scrabble in English and now, there is a Mandarin version! Use this opportunity to expand your list of ‘chengyu’ (Chinese phrases) and new words.
While playing the game, you’re forced to create new words you’re not sure about, so look them up to confirm. This helps especially if these new words appear during your exam, you don’t have to worry about not understanding the question or passage!
If you cannot buy the Mandarin Scrabble, you can just use the English board and form words and phrases in a ‘pinyin’ format. It still works just as well. Just remember to search up how to write the character if you don’t know.
Chinese Crossword
[Puzzling]
Chinese crossword puzzles work the same way as Scrabble. But instead of creating words on your own, you have to fill in the spaces with answers that come in phrases, idioms, common words and even names!
As you solve the different crosswords, you familiarise yourself with idioms, phrases and common words that you can use to write your Chinese compo writing.
It is a great way to learn more about Chinese history and culture too because some of the questions refer to historical events and traditions in Chinese history!
The Word Dragon
[YouTube]
Have a group of friends to play games with? Why not try playing The Word Dragon (Jie Long). It is a popular game in China, and it is a great way to expand your vocabulary and learn new phrases. Here’s how it works.
The first player chooses a word and the second player has to use the ending character of that word to form a new word or phrase. Then you repeat this with every player, and the cycle continues until one player cannot think of a word to continue.
In this game, you familiarise yourself with Chinese pinyin and phrases while still learning new words from the other players.
Influent Chinese
[Gamehag]
Not comfortable with the names of objects in Mandarin yet? Influent is a 3D immersive language online learning game, and it is great for learning nouns.
While playing this game, you interact with real-world objects like kitchen appliances or furniture. Then the name of the object in Mandarin is shown on a label at the bottom of the screen.
You can click on the object to hear the pronunciation of the Chinese characters so you don’t need to search it up yourself, how convenient!
Escape
[Hacking Chinese]
Ever heard of an escape room but in Chinese? Here’s one for you! Escape is an interactive story game where you can familiarise yourself with Chinese characters and sentence structures.
You need to understand what happens in the game and make the right choices based on what you read to escape from the ‘bad guys’. Don’t worry if your Chinese reading skills are poor, there is a built-in dictionary available for you to refer to.
This game is also good practice for your Chinese comprehension and oral skills as you have to interact with the characters and understand the situation that you are in. It is also a great way to pass time since the gameplay usually takes two to five hours.
Let’s Hunt Monsters
[Gizmochina]
If you love Pokemon GO, you might want to check this game out. Released in 2019, this augmented reality (AR) mobile game is all about catching cute creatures from Chinese Mythology.
It is a great way to learn Mandarin as these creatures – unlike Pokemons, are more talkative and interact with your character a lot. In the game, you also interact with other players through guilds and it is a great way to improve your conversational Chinese.
Conclusion
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Learning Chinese can be difficult, especially if you don’t use the language often. But it is an important subject because of its use in business and global connections.
These Chinese games allow you to improve your understanding and learning of the language in a fun and engaging manner. Have fun playing them! Let us know what other games you play to improve your Chinese.
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