When I say playing games, I mean all games. Athletic sports are the first that come to mind for many people, but these are only a small portion of the kinds of games that are out there. Bar games, card games, video games, school yard games, board games, driving-in-a-car-and-bored games, you name it. These are all forms of entertainment that unquestionably fall under the umbrella term "games," and they are all fair game here at Playing With Chinese.
Here is a quick list of some of the games I will try to tackle in the coming months:
- Pool/Billiards
- Poker (Texas Hold'em and Five Card Stud)
- Mahjong
- Basketball
- Chinese Chess
- Soccer/Football
- Darts
- Ping Pong
- Badminton
- Tennis
- Tag
- Freeze Tag
- Hide and Seek
- Rock-Paper-Scissors
- Capture the Flag
- League of Legends
- First-person Shooters (e.g. CrossFire)
I am not a native speaker of Chinese and I cannot say I speak Chinese, but I am fortunate enough to be living in China at the moment. I'm also a gamer in every sense of the word. All of my life I have enjoyed games, and moving to a foreign country has not changed this base motivation of mine.
The best way to learn a language is to learn something that can be applied to real world situations and use it; this was the genesis of Playing With Chinese. Day after day, I find myself playing a game with a Chinese person who cannot speak English. Both of us, however, speak the language of the game. What better way to help bridge the language gap than to be able to chat about the game?
Just as this is a learning experience for me, I would like to pass on any knowledge to those interested. If you have recommendations for games, are fluent in Chinese and English, are interested in games or language acquisition, or just think this is a cool idea, please leave a comment!
Cheers,
Zach
