I am seeking another means of practicing Chinese, and have thought that trying some Chinese adventure/rpg games may be an innovative approach. Since I have no expertise in this area, I am specifically wondering whether any traditional western 2D point-and-click adventure games have ever been fully translated [ie. into traditional characters and not pinyin]. And more generally, do most western pc games receive a full translation, or are they kept English with only the manuals being changed? Also, somewhat along similar lines, are there any really good original Chinese computer games? Any help would be great.
I've never seen CH translations of point-and-click games. The only CH game I've played is called Heroine Anthem 2: Angel of Sarem. You'll really get your practice from that one, there's always a lot of stuff that comes up that I can't make any sense of at all(especially from the crab character, Biden). It's an RPG btw. There's a code out there that lets you automatically win any battles though, really useful if you're like me and are just playing to see the game itself + practice your Chinese.
I haven't seen much for PC games but i'm pretty sure there are quite a few out there. Just have to find someone who knows chinese to help you search chinese sites for it. =) Another option to consider is console/handheld games as some Nintendo/Sony stuff gets translated into chinese for the HK/Taiwan market. I have one PSP RPG in chinese and i'm meaning to get some of the Dynasty Warriors game in chinese too. You could also go further and pick up an iQue which is a N64 for the mainland china market. It's got a few good n64 games fully translated into chinese (zelda, mario, custom robot, animal forest). =/ Now if only I could get off my ass and start learning soon.
It generally depends on what the game is, a number of Western games are converted to Chinese in some form or another, others get a full translation and others get the manual converted. Japanese PC games (yes they do exist...) also can be translated too. A few big companies like EA, Sony and Microsoft do have offices in the three main Chinese regions of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong (which normally includes Macau). Try searching the website of a western game you want, you'll probably see a chinese language version of the website and then you can tell if the game does have chinese or just English language versions... Some games also have simplified (china) and traditional (taiwan) variants of chinese too. Halo 3 for example exists in at least 4 different chinese formats... (Chinese voice, English Voice, simplified chinese, traditional chinese and English...).
Besides the whole chinese game thing which I don't know much about, what helped me learn (basic mandarin) was Rosetta Stone software which makes learning easy and slightly funner then using books. But you probably already used it.
I've really been tempted at trying that out. Does it really cover enough to get you started to where you can learn the rest on your own? also does it cover reading simp chinese? I know I should probably use my my wife to learn but I want to take a class or find a good app to at least get the basics down.
For the basics it's good, it also covers simp/trad chinese or pinyin (you're choice) it's very repetetive but that's a good thing to remember stuff. What I did to test it first is download an illigal copy to be sure I wasn't wasting my money on something, after some testing I was quite happy with it and bought the package. Off course its not the best way to learn but at least its something, I have the problem that I can't pratice with anybody here in Holland as most chinese people speak cantonese here but at least it kept me busy in between trips to China. But at the end of the day taking an official course with a teacher to pratice with is the best way to go.
Cool. I'll look into it (i know from time to time they give 30 day trials, i'll wait for one to pop up). For me, I think I just need something basic to get me started and get me understanding the grammar. I know I can pick up the vocabulary off my wife since she is from northern china and is always watching chinese shows/movies or talking to her folks back home. So i hear a lot of mandarin every day. =)
Thanks for all the heads up, seems there's more to this than I initially thought. I'm pretty impressed to hear of a traditional character version of Halo, simply because teaching the simplified variant appears as the de facto standard in the West. Heroine Anthem 2 looked quite interesting from the youtube clip [although it showed pretty much nothing but action], and I'll look into console/handhelds if the pc games turn out good language practice. At least this all seems more exciting than more textbooks, worksheets ect....
I've lived in China since 2003 and speak (somewhat) fluent Chinese, and am able to read both simplified and traditional Chinese characters. In fact MOST PC games released these days have Chinese versions..granted not all of them are official releases. One I can think of off the top of my head would be both Oblivion and Fallout 3. The Chinese editions can both be downloaded off the net (check somewhere like verycd or tgbus) if you know where to look. If you can't read any Chinese at this point this may be a challenge. I'd recommend starting out with very little reliance on pinyin, simply because it can become such a crutch if you allow it to. In addition, when learning characters, try to learn both the simplified and traditional versions at the same time. I find the traditional characters easy to write, while the traditional characters can be good for reading, especially after a stretch of not reading any Chinese text for awhile. Simplified characters tend to simply remove major components of the traditional characters without regard to the meaning, while traditional characters are much easier to read once you've memorized all of the radicals. If you're thinking about ever studying abroad it's a great consideration also..in the west simplified characters haven't really made a big impression with Chinese communities outside of China, and traditional characters reign supreme. I'd recommend purchasing a PC-based dictionary called Wenlin...a bit pricy but very much worth it and something I use daily. If you want any more info just throw me a line...I'd be happy to help.
There are alot of Famicom games in Chinese. Like the Chinese 8 bit version of FF VII seek ye roms out
While many Chinese Famicom games are unauthorized ports of other companies IP's (Despite being Original. Ie. No hacking and all the work is done themselves), there is also an equal amount of completely original Chinese content which 100% legal with no gray area of IP infringement. In fact, I've been selling many of both kinds of games right as we speak. Just because a product is in Chinese and (you) might have trouble finding it in hardcopy, doesn’t mean its go-time for a pirate fest. Not all Chinese companies are pirates (>_<);
