Seeing people organizing this kinda stuff on the fediverse makes me so happy, this is what the internet is so special for ❤️
I hope you have a lovely day op
this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2025
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Japanese Language
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Yes please.
The only way I think this could work would be kinda point n click or adventure game, but I'm willingly to be surprised.
I highly commend the idea! As someone who has taught English in Japan (kinda sorta, DM me if you want the whole story), TA'd Japanese in the US, and has tried to tie video games with teaching foreign language, I'd like to offer a few bits of advice.
Netcode is Important
Smash is great but the netcode is AWFUL. Instead of more advanced algorithms, it just slows or outright freezes the game if anything is out of sync even a little. I could barely tolerate it playing with folks outside of my general region in the US (and often even within it). I can only imagine it to be unplayable between Japan and anywhere else.
If you wanna stick to platform fighters, I would highly recommend Rivals of Aether 2 (PC). It plays a LOT like Smash but uses rollback netcode, which makes for a MUCH better online experience.
I don't think I could ever win a tournament for either game, but I might be able to teach you a thing or two :)
The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
I don't know your planned teaching strategy, so forgive me if you've already taken this into account.
Smash Bros is a pretty intense game that requires a lot of focus, even when playing casually. I can barely speak English when battling, let alone a language for which I'm not a native speaker.
It's a lot of pressure that I suspect would actively hinder language learning. You want to keep your learners in the ZPD, where they're not bored and not overwhelmed, to maximize their acquisition and retention.
I would recommend finding games where there's a lot of relaxed time between bouts of action or a game that's generally relaxed throughout that encourages conversation and banter.
Party games might be good options here. Mario Party (if it has a remote play option, I honestly don't recall) has all the board sections where there's plenty of time to converse (and commiserate lol). Something like Jackbox games might also work, especially ones that are more focused on creative input and not overly reliant on preprogrammed English text (there might be Japanese versions of this sort of thing, maybe?). Heck, you could even do Tabletop Simulator and play all sorts of games that make for a great learning atmosphere.
Turn-based co-op games are also interesting options. Sunderfolk might be a good option there, or even a co-op campaign of Baldur's Gate 3. The gameplay mechanics might make for difficult on-ramping for the language learning piece, but you'd certainly have plenty of content to discuss!
Willingness to play and learn
I think this is a really neat idea and would like to see you succeed. My ability to join is pretty limited though. Between a full time job and family obligations, I'm reliably available only between 9:30pm and 12:00am US Eastern Time (UTC-5:00 for now, UTC-4:00 during Daylight Savings Time), Tuesday-Sunday.
Best of luck!
Thank you so much for the valuable input! I watch people play Smash who can talk at the same time, and I've read scripts while playing and it wasn't too bad. Though, I have to admit that going off script was incredibly difficult and I don't think I could teach grammar concepts if someone asked me... I don't think Smash is a great game now that you mention it.
I just remembered that I had an American client of mine I was interpreting for join my friend's home party and he and my friends played Ultimate Chicken Horse and my friends were doing their best to communicate with him using what little English they used. So your suggestion of party games like Mario Party is spot on!
I think our timezones might actually work out depending on the day of the week. Would it be cool if we kept in touch??
Hell yeah! Message away!
That sounds awesome!
Thanks! Any suggestions for games? I don't have a fancy gaming PC but I think I can run non-graphically intensive coop games like unrailed, overcooked, broforce, xeno crisis, ultimate chicken horse, don't starve, etc.
I just remembered, I played Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes with my ESL students and they loved it.
I haven't played a multiplayer game with anyone besides myself since Tribes 2 so I'm really not the best person to ask.
I think this approach to TJASL is a winning strategy. Realtime and immersive with solid memorable references to draw parallels to/in.
I think for beginner entry level to the language it would be important to use really basic games to introduce basic concepts such as door, open, table, chair, water, drink and so fourth. Maybe entry of something like stardew valley minecraft or similar.
As the student grows in vocabulary more advanced games can be tried. Maybe games like Arc Survival. Although that might not be the best option for your PC specs. Doesn't have to be Ark Survival just an example as it's cooperative, has world building and adventure with some danger involved. My thinking here is that students get the chance to use what they have learned from the easier games in a more complex and demanding setting. From open the door to oh shit a raptor is trying to break down the door and eat me.
Mostly I see this as a fun take to learning with a memorable reference people can return to when you are not available. You could even make a lesson plan with your favorite games with a PDF for student vocabulary references.
Another advantage to multiplayer games with greater than 2 people is students can practice what the have learned with each other together, with you and alone.
I have learned through teaching a bit myself that students commit things to memory better when they have to think about how to explain what they have learned to others. Being a student teacher. Learning in this type of setting students get the opportunity to share what they individually remember, learn and grow together from interacting with each other. Ultimately to be corrected when needed by Sensei.
Ultimately it will have to be something you and the students enjoy. It will have to be able to fit your budget. If I had the $ this is definitely something I would pay for. This would help you and your students as people also learn better when it costs them something. And its not like they aren't getting something of value in return. Might be able to justify upgrading your PC and make some side cash.
Start cheap. Maybe stick with the switch 2 to start.
Might be fun. I've been going through a few of my old unlocalized favorites (Puyo Puyo, Panel de Pon) for some immersion practice, but at my level I'm only picking out bits and pieces.
I think that's a great start. My childhood friend learned a fair bit of Japanese by beating some obscure SNES JRPGs that he imported back in the 90s!
I do think it's a neat idea. Personally, there's no way I'd process anything while playing a game. If you want to design a game which itself teaches you Japanese, I'd be game.
I guess something less intense and more cooperative might be better like Unrailed or even Stardew Valley.
It wouldn't make a difference. It could be online Connect Four and I'd have no idea what you said.
That does sound like fun! Though I don't know if I have time to commit to it right now sadly...
Not to derail things... but this might be a cool idea for a Discord/Stoat server, so people can just jump into a Japanese voice chat room to try to play a game whenever they have some time. And there could even be English rooms for Japanese people who want to try playing games and communicating in English.
That's a fantastic idea! In fact, I don't know why I never set that up for my students that I teach English to. I'll get started on this after the holidays!
Edit: Is Stoat any good? I'd rather use an open-source alternative over Discord.
Honestly I haven't used Stoat enough to really evaluate it. It seems to be a pretty good copy of Discord, but I haven't tried the voice chat features, so I don't really know if they would be adequate or not. It's worth checking out as a self-hostable (but not federated) open source Discord clone, for sure. And they only recently changed the name from Revolt to Stoat, so that adds to the confusion of trying it right now.
Discord would probably be the safer bet overall, though. If only because people are generally familiar with it and you benefit from the network effects.
I'm in the US so it maybe wouldn't work out, between timezones and latency. But if you want to try and play some Melee (Slippi) or Rivals (PC) anyway sometime, let me know. (Edit: Rivals of Aethers, not the Marvel game. I forget the latter exists now.)
Sounds really fun, I hope you find some good students!
Yeah, I was a big dummy and didn't consider the latency when it comes to Melee. I've played coop games like Unrailed with my brother who lives in Canada, so I think something like that might work better! May I ask what timezone you're in?
I'm in Eastern timezone. Maybe I could catch you in certain windows. Lag might be manageable-ish with rollback, hard to say. I'll DM you and maybe we can try to work something out.