Playing videogames in other Langauges

Many games have the ability to change the language.  It's really easy in Steam where you can just change the language of the game in the properties menu.  For other systems like the xbox360 or DS you might have to change your systems language if there is not an option to do so in game.

After I read a post on reddit about a guy that changed his DS system language and then the game's language changed, I decided to try this on my 360 and it worked (for some games).

I was going to try this on my Wii but only spanish and french languages were available.  There is already a list for DS games. 

Steps for changing a game language (on the 360)

1. Change the system language to your target under system settings.

2. Play game (It won't work for all games)


I'll update the following list whenever I try a new game.

Language Options for North American XBOX360 games 

Updated: 2013/07/05
Games that work (at least for German)
- Borderlands (voice and subtitles)
- SW:Force Unleashed II (voice and subtitles)
- Batman: AA (voice and subtitles)
- Halo Reach (subtitles)
- Mass Effect 3 (subtitles)
- Shadow Complex (voice and subtitles)
- Monday Night Combat (menu text)
- Marvel vs Capcon 2 (menu text)

Games that don't work
- Mass Effect
- Mass Effect 2
- Skyrim
- NHL 09
- COD WW
- COD MW2
- COD MW3

Tagebucheintrag 2013-07-02

Ich lerne das Klavier zu spielen.  Ich begann vor fünf Tagen.  Es gefällt mir sehr gut. 

Tagebucheintrag 2013-06-29

Ich bin Andrew und ich bin vierundzwangig Jahre alt.  Ich lerne Deustch seit ein Jahr.  Ich kann ein bisschen lesen aber kann ich nicht so gut sprechen, hören und schreiben.  Ich habe nie mit Leuten gesprochen.  Ich hoffe, dass ich verbessern kann, indem ich kurzen Tagebucheinträge schreibe. 

(please correct me or offer me any tips on how I can improve.  Danke!)

Mittwoch 2012/10/17

I haven't posted for a few days but I'm trying to kept at it.  I don't always have something to say.  I should go re-read the section in the Polyglot Project that inspired me to do this, to find out how they discovered this technique.

Anyways I think it is working at some level.  I do think more about the methods I'm using and whether or not they are really working.  It's also nice to see that I have made a lot of progress since I started in the middle of April.  I will continue to journal because I enjoy writing about my language learning adventure.

I went on a podcast blitz yesterday, like I did with books over the weekend.  I got a bunch from Deutsche Welle but not their "Deutsch, warum nicht?," one because its very slow and two its more English than German.  I prefer my input sources to be almost all in German.  However I downloaded their audio trainer podcast and its very nice.  It gives the English word/sentence and the German word/sentence twice.  The episodes are themed and mostly consist of useful phrases.  I've been going through the episodes "shadowing" the German speakers since there isn't enough time after the sentence to repeat it.  The others are just general podcasts put out by DW that are completely in German.  I hope that listening to these will improve both my listen comprehension and pronunciation.

German on the Weekend 2012/10/12-14

I'll just update what I did over the weekend.  I usually watch some dubbed cartoons on the weekend but I didn't get around to doing that this time.  I was busy building up a mt bike and visiting friends who were back from college.

Anyway I never got around to trying to shadow some podcasts.  I'm disappointed but I'm not going to let it get me down.  I did however 'read' a book.  I got a kindle last spring and I love it!  One the best things about it is finding free books in German!  I had downloaded a bunch a free 'kids' books a while back but I wasn't ready for them. So after succeeding in understanding most of this book (Very good book. Murder Mystery. Vocab at the end of every chapter. An ideal book for learning.) two weeks ago, I decided to try to read another one.  Sure I didn't understand everything but I was able to comprehend what was happening and sometimes figure out the words I didn't know through context.  Succeeding in that inspired me to go find some more.  So I did.  All I did was search "German Edition" in Amazon under Kindle books and then filtered the results since there are a ton!  Even though they are 'kids' books, they are still going to be a challenge for me.  I've been really thinking about how I'm going to build my vocab and I think reading is really going to help me.

At this point I'm not much of a speaker.  I've been in my silent period for awhile! I tend to agree more with Steve Kaufmann on this subject.  I think someone should begin speaking when they feel comfortable rather than right away.  Although for some that may be right away.  I would recommend however that one learns how the language is pronounced and listen to it a lot so that you get familiar with it and are not pronouncing incorrect in your mind when you read.

German - 2012/10/12

Played some more Pokemon (I'll most likely do this almost everyday.)  It's going well.  I like said before the conversations I have in the towns are harder for me to understand since I don't know the vocab.  Sometimes I just read through the text and don't try to figure out the meaning.  Other times I'll look up the words.  One thing that is different is that it's really hard to figure out things through context you would while watching a TV show or reading a book.  It's 2d game and most of the conversations with the NPCs are not that relevant to the game.

I also found some new music to listen to.  I enjoy electro-pop/electro-punk/eletro-swing so I looked around on teh youtubez to find some more German music to listen to, besides my staple Nena.  Found a couple bands that I'll have to check out and see if I really want to be listening to their music.

German Progress 2012/10/11

I have to remember to update this everyday.  Anyway, I'm gotten into this routine where I listen to Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten or Slow German while I eat breakfast.  I'm not reading along during this time, I'm just trying to listen to how words are pronounced.

I'm also playing through Pokemon Red in German.  It was confusing in the beginning when there was a lot of text I didn't know.  Since the sentences are short it doesn't take long to clear up the meaning by using my dictionary.  It's a really great way to help with vocab and reading.  Granted the vocab will be centered on using items, fighting/battle, etc.  I now have to trouble understand the battle text since I have seen it so many times.  I have to slow down and look up more when I get into a new town and talk to EVERYBODY!!  It's really nice though since, like I said before, the sentences are really short.

I mentioned that I was doing this to one of my friends and he said that playing Pokemon back in elementary school really helped him improve his reading skills.  I'm hoping to get the same benefit.

I'm looking forward to playing other games that are a little more text heavy and understanding the text is vital to playing the game.  Some I have in mind are Legend of Zelda, Professor Layton, various DS/GBA rpgs.