Learning Chinese by playing board games

Playing games is a powerful way of learning a language, and it’s something I’ve used extensively to learn Chinese. At university, I also teach a professional development course for language teachers focusing on how to use games in the language classroom.

I’ve written several articles about this already, including how to use computer games to learn Chinese (and a separate article about StarCraft), as well as an article about playing word games to improve oral fluency. I have also designed text adventure games for learning Chinese.

In this article, I’d like to discuss board games and how they can be used to learn Mandarin. While I have written about Mahjong 麻將 (ájiàng), “mahjong” before, in this article I will focus on playing board games for language learning in general, even if the games themselves are not specifically related to Chinese.

Why board games are great for language learning

Board games are great for language learning for several reasons. Naturally, not all of these apply to all games, but by choosing the game carefully, you can get the right mix of features you’re after:

Playing board games in Chinese encourages you to focus on meaning and real communication. Students spend much too much time studying vocabulary and grammar for its own sake, and when speaking and writing, teachers encourage them to practice the words they’ve learnt, but not to practice the language, not to use it to communicate. When playing games, you use Chinese to communicate, which is necessary for effective proficiency development.
Playing board games allows you to repeat words and phrases without being bored. The language used in most board games focuses on a small cross-section of vocabulary. If you play Settlers of Catan in Chinese (卡坦岛 (kǎtǎndǎo), “Catan Island”), you’ll repeat the resource types 羊毛 (yángmáo), “wool”, 煤矿 (méikuàng), “ore”, 木材 (mùcái), “lumber”, 砖头 (zhuāntou), “brick” and 小麦 (xiǎomài), “wheat” until these words become second nature. You will also get good at using words for trading and haggling. A game with money in it will require you to use related vocabulary frequently. There are also many phrases that are common to many games, such as 该你了 (gāi nǐ le), “it’s your turn”. See the end of this article for a list of general board game vocabulary.
Playing board games makes language a tool for fun and entertainment. When playing a game in Chinese, the goal isn’t primarily to learn the language, it’s to have fun, win the game, or both, depending on what kind of player you are. This doesn’t feel like studying at all; instead, you’re using the language to achieve something. You can use your passion for games to read up on the game, understand the rules (in Chinese), and so on. Remember, having fun is important and long-term motivation is essential for mastery.
Playing board games is social. Playing games is a good reason to meet other people (most board games do, of course, require more than one participant). While modern board games are not as popular in the Chinese-speaking world as they are in the West, there are still people who enjoy them. There are even cafés and clubs dedicated to board games (and I don’t mean only Chinese board games, I mean roughly the same games that are popular in the West). Find them! Relatedness is one of the basic psychological needs in one of the most well-researched frameworks for human motivation.
Playing board games allows you to teach and instruct others. Talking about games, or explaining the rules, is something that even beginners can do (depending on the game, of course). I remember explaining the rules of Carcassonne (卡卡頌 (kǎkǎsòng), “Carcassonne”) to fellow students in Chinese during my first semester of learning. I used a lot of gestures and pointing, yes, but it still worked. Explaining your favourite game successfully to a native speaker, or understanding how to play a new game someone has demonstrated in Chinese, is very satisfying! Teaching is a great way of learning Chinese.

Which board games to play to learn Chinese

Naturally, your experience will be different depending on what game you play. The most important factor as a second-language learner (apart from whether you think the game is fun, of course) is how important language itself is in the game.

Some games involve little or no language. For example, you can play a game of chess without saying anything apart from “check” (將軍, jiāngjūn).

In other games, language is a crucial part of the experience. The classic board game Diplomacy (外交 (wàijiāo), “diplomacy”) is a good example, as the whole game revolves around talking with other players, forging alliances and planning how to backstab your friends.

Naturally, this type of game requires advanced levels of Chinese, whereas chess can be played without knowing a single word. This isn’t meaningless if you like chess, there’s plenty to talk about; it’s just not a requirement to play the game.

For a much more in-depth discussion about games and learning (or teaching) Chinese, check this article: How and why to learn and teach Chinese through games.

How and why to learn and teach Chinese through games

You need a source of proper language to play

When you play a game in Chinese, you need a good source for vocabulary and sometimes grammar. This will differ from game to game, so it’s hard to compile a complete list of useful words, but I have tried to gather generally useful words at the end of this article.

If you have a native speaker around, that’s, of course, ideal, but even if you don’t, you can still play because the rulebook is an excellent source of vocabulary.

I suggest that you start with a game you already know how to play in your native language, then read the Chinese rules (it should be possible to find these online if it’s a relatively popular game, or you can buy something locally) and extract all the language you need from there. You will internalise the vocabulary, sentence patterns and so on by playing the game.

For popular games, you can also find instructions in Chinese online. For example, in my article about Mahjong 麻將 (májiàng), I have included videos about the game. I also included the vocabulary you need to play the game.

Learn Chinese by playing Mahjong (麻将, májiàng)

Here are the rules for Settlers of Catan:

Video about playing board games in Chinese

Skritter has produced an awesome video based on this article. You can check it out below. It also contains some language you might need!