Created On: Sun May 01 2022
General Game Info (Availability, Price) [9]
So… it’s time to talk about Skyrim.
Having been released around 10 years ago as of the recording of this video, I feel like there isn’t a single person who’s into video games that hasn’t at least heard of Skyrim. I myself have owned it on 4-5 different platforms, for some reason. Just in case anybody doesn’t know Skyrim is the 5th game in the Elder Scrolls series of RPGs, bringing an expansive world to explore, different combat styles, hundreds of quests and most importantly hundreds of fully voiced NPCs to interact with. These days it’s available on every console made within the last decade and depending on the platform, usually rather cheap! I do have a word of warning though, check the language options for the platform you wish to play on before buying - I found out the hard way that the Nintendo switch version only has Japanese language support if bought from the Japanese eShop (or.. You know, from a shop in Japan). For this video I have been playing on PC.
Not to jump to the conclusion but, I would argue that playing Skyrim in Japanese has been one of the most immersive language learning experiences of my journey so far, but let’s break it down and try to answer the question. Can you learn Japanese with The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.
Japanese Level [6]
Let's get this out of the way right now. Skyrim is not appropriate for absolute beginners of Japanese. Assuming you have played it before (and who hasn’t at this point…) the sheer amount of vocabulary and the lack of furigana makes following along with what is being said very difficult. Even those with some experience might struggle. At the time of this video I have somewhere between an N2 and N1 level Japanese and if I really focus on the dialogue I can understand most of what’s being said, and luckily any words I don’t know I can usually catch the meaning through context - both within the story and based on my many previous playthroughs of the game in English.
One of the main reasons it is challenging is during conversations with NPCs they will say 3 or more sentences with no option to pause and look up words, and no way to go back and re-listen to what was said - which is why you really must give it your full concentration. That being said, sometimes you can select the same dialogue choices over and over again - thus hopefully gaining the chance to at least hear the words you’re having trouble with and checking them in a dictionary. So if you manage to understand what someone said to you or asked of you, you can then take your time reading and choosing which dialogue option to reply with - this can really help build this real sense of immersion as mentioned earlier.
There is no furigana anywhere, and I have seen a fair share of some more obscure kanji. Also there are lots of place names, monster names, and mythical lore, which makes up a section of the games dialogue/content. BUT the remaining 90-95% is pretty common everyday Japanese.
Story Progression [8]
Making progress in Skyrim is relatively simple thanks to quest logs and markers. Which generally tell you where to go and what to do. But more often than what’s ideal they are a bit vague, meaning if you didn’t listen properly to the quest giver, or simply can’t understand the objective text - it’s very much possible to get a bit stuck. Occasionally in dungeons there are some light puzzles, which are for the most part not language based and just require a bit of exploration to solve - there’s also Youtube walkthroughs if you’re truly stuck!
Thankfully the main story is pretty linear, and what with all the different guilds and side quests there are hundreds more hours worth of content to see even if you do get stuck somewhere. Heck even just travelling to a new town and speaking to every NPC is so much more fun and interesting than in English when it can sometimes feel like busy work when you just want to get to the action. What I really like about playing on PC is that you can somewhat easily run some console commands to make the game easier for a casual playthrough. Something that I did almost instantly was to give myself unlimited stamina, as when travelling from town to town having to stop and catch your breath means there’s no new listening material! On all versions of the game however, you can adjust the difficulty at any time - meaning that if you get stuck in a combat sense, you can quickly overcome it without the need to grind away and waste time. Unless that adds to your enjoyment, that is.
(Gaming to Learning) Ratio [7]
This leads nicely to the gaming to learning ratio. As previously mentioned, talking to NPCs, reading quest logs and even the hundreds of in game books (each with pages and pages of text) make for some really high efficiency immersion. However, when venturing into dungeons or travelling to a remote location on foot. You can end up spending upwards of 10 minutes just walking with no language stimulation, if you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by a dialogue heavy quest this can be the perfect break - but if not it makes up a large portion of dead time. One way to make this better I would suggest is to travel via horse and carriage to all of the major cities in the game as soon as possible and then fast travel thereafter. You might miss out on the occasional random encounter but cutting down on travelling is far more beneficial in the long run.
To summarise this section, if you speak to every NPC, truly listen to what they have to say, read the quest objectives and truly comprehend what they are asking of you. The ratio is very high in favour of learning. The in-game books are there if you want reading practice, but I find the default font to be a little hard to read and very ugly so I find it best to get your reading practice from real books… but hey they’re there if you want them.
Fun Factor [8]
Do you like exploring new worlds, listening and understanding to real conversations and slaying dragons? If so then I feel like Skyrim is a lot of fun - some of the games systems and mechanics feel a bit outdated at this point, but it still holds up really well - there’s a reason it’s available on everything from xbox 360s to smart fridges.
You can choose to play with swords and shields, bows and arrows, magic or a mix of any of those styles, so I would say you can find a playstyle that you find fun. Personally I play the whole game with a bow and arrow in stealth mode, so I can one shot unsuspecting bandits and get back to the quest dialogues as soon as possible!
But if you prefer your Japanese learning games to be a bit more … Japanese. Then you may not enjoy skyrim as much, as it is very much an RPG as opposed to a JRPG. At the end of the day it is a game for a western audience which has been translated into Japanese - from time to time you can encounter some strange phrases, or the subtitles dont 100% match up with the audio - however these are very rare. And this doesn’t really impact the fun that this 100+ hour game can be. Most modern versions of the game come with all the DLC expansions too bringing new stories and regions - which I think makes it very worthwhile for the low price tag.
Verdict
So, Skyrim is a game with hundreds of hours of fully voiced dialogue, thousands of lines of Japanese text, hundreds of quests to take on and complete, and it’s available for just a couple of pounds, dollars, euros or a few hundred yen, available on nearly every platform under the sun.
So can you learn Japanese with TES5: Skyrim?
Yes of course.
But only if you have put in some ground work already to have a solid foundation of Japanese, if you can understand 50-70% of what is said I think it’s a fantastic resource to learn new and sometimes obscure words in context all while solidifying everything you’ve learnt before. However if this is your first or one of your first games in Japanese I might suggest going with a different game series for a while until you feel like you can take on this mighty challenge.