Recommended Games for Chinese Learning

Who does not love entertainment along with education? From reading books to seeing television shows to browsing social media, absorbing Chinese media is a great source to brush up on your Chinese reading and listening skills.

While those are all great ‘lazy’ ways to learn Mandarin, they can get boring after a while. Where is the interaction? Enter the Chinese video game, which is a fun, interactive, and entertaining way to advance one’s Chinese.

But can playing Chinese language games substantially help one learn the language? You may be astonished at their effectiveness. 

How can video games help to learn Chinese?

Like with any Chinese media, reading, and listening, Chinese can help with fluency and listening skills. Learning Mandarin through classes and online courses is awesome, but you might find yourself stuck once you enter an actual conversation with a native Chinese speaker. This is due to fluency is much more than just learning vocabulary words and tones.

Also, it is about using your listening skills and knowing what the Chinese sounds like. Chinese video games with discussion can help with this.

Learning a language while having entertainment is more effective. As mentioned above, learning a language can get tedious. Practicing comprehension and listening skills through more entertaining means can help one get past the hump of seeing language education as a chore. Learning can be fun. 

Chinese video games can offer insight into Chinese technology and technology. Studying the language of a culture is not just about pronunciation, vocabulary, and eloquence. It is also about colloquialisms and slang about the culture that birthed the language as well. Chinese video games can offer insight into Chinese culture. 

They act as high reinforcement for any other method learning. Use games to find grammar concepts and new vocabulary, then reinforce your knowledge by using other study resources.

One excellent resource for learning Chinese alongside video games is FluentU. FluentU takes videos from real-world such as movie trailers, music videos, inspiring talks, and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. Create flashcards and vocabulary lists from the game you play, then watch the phrases and words in action by browsing many authentic videos available on FluentU.

Learn Mandarin with cool video games

1 Games Learn Chinese

Games learn Chinese is a game to play if you do not feel comfortable playing games and like using flashcards for learning. Some of the flashcard levels accessible are premium only, meaning you will have to pay a fee to access them. Most have demos or free versions, so you can incline your toes before you choose to purchase. The loveliness of this game is that you can choose your learning level from HSK1 to HSK 6, so from beginner to advanced learners can love this game. Simply you need to register for an account to play. All players will automatically get a free ten-day trial period as a premium user. Each game will present you with Pinyin, Chinese Romanization hanzi, Chinese characters, and quiz you on their English translations. 

2. Mindsnacks Chinese

If you are a fan of smartphone games, MindSnak’s Chinese app is an awesome game to try.

This game feature eight special mini-games and over 1000 different phrases and words to learn. This game is unique in the sense that it features Chinese lessons designed by Ivy League language professors, so you know you will get a decent education.

The gameplay is fairly simple throughout the difference in-app games. Most of them associate graphics and animation with specific translations. It is ideal for the beginner, particularly children who learn Chinese. This app is free with in-app purchases and available for iPad and iPhone. 

3. Influent Chinese

The interactive PC game takes Mandarin learning into the real world. In this game, you play a character living his life and learning new words all around him. Simply explore your character home and click on diverse objects around you.

A pop-up screen delivers the English and Chinese translation of each particular object. You can collect several vocabulary words and building your lists of new words with them. Learn words and test yourself with an airplane flying mini-game in which you are asked to find and to shoot an item written in Chinese.

This game is best for those who want to choose what they learn and not adhere to a strict curriculum. Also, it is an excellent starter game for learning the names of everyday objects.

4. If My Heart Had Wings (Zai Zhe Cang Qiong Zhan Chi)

A light novel is a Japanese style interactive game. There are fewer animations in light novels, but the gameplay comprises choosing dialogue and making selections to get dissimilar story endings.

If you are not a game lover, light novels are a good start for you. Just remember that many are designed for adults and may contain some mature content. ‘If My Heart Had Wings’ is a novel in which you can select either English or Chinese dialogue with subtitles.

Expect more casual teen-centered Chinese with lots of slang in this game. In this game, a coming of age tale is spun about the difficult and innocence aspects of being young.

A young man discovers himself torn between different girls whom he develops feelings for, all while trying to revive his school’s glider-flying club. It is a romantic comedy, so if that is not your thing, you may not find much entertainment value in this game. If you are a sucker for rom-coms, though, check this one out. 

5. Chinese Paladin: Sword and Fairy (Xin Xian Jian Qi Xia Chuan)

This game is one of the most beloved RPG games in China.

This game is only for PC, and you can explore an alternate ancient China rife with gods, demons, and humans with supernatural abilities. If you are not a huge gamer, you can lower the game complexity. This game use advances Chinese dialogue and mostly formal Chinese. Besides, it is available only in Chinese with no English subtitles, making it a great choice for advanced learners. 

6. Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi (Nobunaga no Yabo: Taishi)

It is not possible to purchase any Chinese game and expect it to work on an American computer. Most of the time, regional restrictions apply.

However, this game works on all types of PC and PS4 consoles worldwide. This version of the Japanese classic is a historical imitation turn-based strategy game. If you are a fan of puzzles and strategy challenges, ‘Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi’ is a great choice.

There are not so many dialogues in the game, but the Chinese spoken is very formal to match the historically accurate content. Advanced and intermediate learners would benefit the most from this game, as there are no English subtitles. 

7. Sword art online: Hollow Realization 

This is another Mandarin version of an awesome Japanese game.

You can experience the amazingly creative fantasy world of ‘Sword Art Online’ based on the hit anime by the same name. Explore the game within a game with your beautiful companions, reinforce your relationships as your level goes up, and uncover the secrets of the game this gorgeous J-RPG.

This game features only Mandarin dialogue and traditional Chinese subtitles. Advanced learners can improve their reading and listening skills by playing this game. There is a bit of modern slang, plenty of conversational, and friendly dialogue between characters for real-world language learning. 

8. Bullet Girls Phantasia 

PlayStation Vita owners can enjoy a Mandarin language action game as well ‘Bullet Girls Phantasia.’ In this game style of art is awesome, and there are many problems if you find yourself getting stuck.

The game emphasizes on attacking hordes of enemies as they come your way. Be aware of the incredibly expressive content in the form of ‘interrogations’- this is not one for kids. This game is multi-language so that you can select English or Chinese subtitles. 

All levels of learners can adore this fun action-packed game, however, the use of teen slang may toss off beginners a bit. This is a great game to try if you want a challenge. 

9. MindSnacks Chinese

Probably the best put together a mobile game application for language learning, MindSnacks is just plain entertaining. It has game levels and a linear progression. It builds from easy vocabulary to complex sentences, and it is all around just a great game to play. I cannot say much about its function or ability to teach conversation, but it is an excellent alternative to flashcards.

Where this game fails is that there are not many native reviews of previous concepts without you having to prompt it. It is entertaining, almost fun enough just to be a stand-alone game, regardless of the Chinese learning content, which sets enough native review of previous concepts without you having to prompt it. It is enjoyable, almost fun enough just to be a stand-alone game, irrespective of the Chinese learning content, which sets it separately from similar applications like HelloChinese and ChineseSkill. 

10. Xenoblade 2 (Nintendo Switch)

This is a popular game, so of course, we had to include a switch game. Xenoblade 2 is an adventure RPG of heroic proportions in which the player can discover mystical new worlds and engage in a fight against giants and creatures.

This game has Chinese subtitles and Japanese audio, which may throw off some learners. If you want to focus on Chinese reading, though, ‘Xenoblade 2’ may be the challenge you are looking for. The language includes some made-up fantasy and names, but it also has a healthy dose of action words as the characters discover and learn more about the world and each other. 

11. Sir Eatsalot 

This is a Multilanguage game release that includes traditional Chinese. In this game, it is your duty to travel the kingdom of Gluttington and save its inhabitants from the evil witch Hysteria.

This is a puzzle game that will prove to be a challenge. However, minimal discussion makes it excellent for beginners. In this one, there is no voice-acting, but the conversation is presented in speech while information on the world around you and monsters is kept in a book-like menu, so you will need to hone your Chinese reading skills to make sense of this one. 

Now that you have made a list of Chinese video games to play, you can work on advancing your Mandarin fluency. We suggest having a pen and notebook so that you can write down phrases and words you encounter that you are unfamiliar with for further study. Video games are entertaining, but you still need to do a little work when it comes to playing them for language education.