Introducing... Simlish

Hi! The second part of my research involves simulation games. In this genre i will be focusing on two main games: Second Life and The Sims.

Firstly, an introduction. As nicely defined my wikipedia, "a simulation game attempts to replicate various activities in "real life" in the form of a game for various purposes: training, analysis, or prediction. Usually there are no strictly defined goals in the game, just running around, playing as a character." Hybrids of such games may arise, and one example is Second Life.

Second Life
Second Life marries simulation games with MMORPGS, allowing you to create an online version of yourself in a virtual world that mimics the real world. Where does language acquisition come in? In Second Life, players can literally enter a language classroom to learn language. Besides these online lessons, teachers have also used this as a platform to branch out into other modes of teaching (such as via Skype or Msn Messenger. The MMORPG platform also allows users to communicate with each other in the target language, as well as communicate with native speakers of the language! While this is a rather straightforward method of teaching, popular computer game The Sims provides a more indirect form of teaching.

One of the most popular computer games, The Sims is a simulation game where you create characters and basically 'play God'; that is, you control their lives. In Sims 3, EA games has even incorporated MMOG into the game, allowing you to share your Sims online. Here is a trailer:



One of the most fascinating things about The Sims is also the fact that the language they speak in the game is one that was invented by EA games. Simlish, the language used by the Sims, was created by experimenting with fractured Ukrainian, French, Latin, Finnish, English, Fijian and Tagalog. The purpose of this was to create 'gibberish words that couldn't be translated, so that its meaning would be left open to the imagination of the player.'

So far, this seems to be posing no problem in gameplay for the game's legions of fans.

So, how can this be used as a language learning tool?
In this paper, Ravi Purushotma outlines how he had set the game's instructions in the target language (german), then had a separate laptop by the side to translate lexical items he was not sure about. In addition, the gameplay would also provide clues as to what the instructions were. For instance, if one were unable to understand the meaning of the 'Energy' bar, the Sim would first yawn and draw attention to itself with a large red bubble containing a bed above him. Upon depletion of the energy bar, the Sim would simply fall asleep on the spot. Such extralinguistic clues would reinforce the learner's knowledge of the language, providing a graphical representation of the happenings in the game.

Based on the popularity of the game alone, (according to The Realtime Report, The Sims Social on Facebook has 4.6 million players daily), using The Sims as a platform for language learners to practice using a language is a highly advantageous situation. With some modification, this could morph into a very powerful language teaching tool indeed.