How to Learn Spanish With Games
Do you want to know how to learn Spanish with games?
Studies have shown that by playing games, you can increase your learning motivation, and improve your listening and vocabulary.
Games are also fun and they get your mind to switch from study mode to application mode. When you get out of your head and just play, the information you’ve been learning becomes solidified in your mind.
Whether you’re learning solo or in a group, online or offline, keep reading to learn which games are great to help you learn Spanish.
Best Online Games for Learning Spanish
Games can help you learn Spanish faster. Online games can, too. Games for language learning can reduce anxiety and challenge you at the same time. That includes online games.
Digital Dialects
Digital Dialects is a website that has games to help you learn vocabulary, numbers, colors, phrases, and verbs.
The games are easy to play, but they’re challenging at the same time. The graphics are rudimentary, but once you get past that, the games are helpful in learning.
Verb Conjugation Game
Verb conjugation is often a sticking point for many Spanish learners. If you find this to be a sticking point for you, then play the Verb Conjugation Game.
You get to choose which tense you’d like to work on, choose between regular, irregular verbs or both. You also get to choose the verb ending (-ir, -er, -ar, or all), and the most common verbs or any verbs. That’s a great option for beginners or for advanced learners.
The Dialogue Game
This Flash-based game is from SpanishUno.com. It’s great for intermediate to advanced learners. You can choose if you want to focus on grammar, and what types of situations you need to improve.
You can work on the differences between ser and estar, or work on pronouns or present tense verbs.
The object of the game is pretty simple. Just click to complete the sentences in the conversation. You’ll start to understand how conversations flow and how verbs fit into sentence structure.
Best Games to Learn Spanish as a Group
Before we get into the games, let’s start with one question. Is it better to learn Spanish in a group or on your own?
Both have pros and cons. Learning in a group can improve your ability to learn and perform, than learning on your own. Not only that, but we are social creatures, and group learning does give us opportunities to meet new people.
Learning by yourself can be more efficient, but in a group dynamic, you tend to be more motivated to learn and do the work.
No matter what you choose, there are games to play to help you learn.
Let’s take a look at games to learn as a group.
Bananagrams
Bananagrams is very similar to Scrabble, but a lot faster. You use letter tiles to create words that intersect. The thing is, the letters don’t have point values. You play until the tiles in the community pile are used up.
That makes games go faster when you have more people. Bananagrams is great when you want to learn Spanish vocabulary. You should have a Spanish language dictionary on hand for this game, too.
There’s a Spanish version that takes into account Spanish letters like “Ñ.”
¡Digame!
This card game is great for 2-6 players and it gives you an immersion experience. There are cards for different levels, which makes this great for anyone no matter what their level is.
The game is designed to encourage conversations. The object of the game is to recognize a phrase that your teammate will demonstrate, kind of like Charades. The card hints will come from a smartphone app.
The team that gets their cards to the “Entiendo” pile (I understand) wins .
Bingo with Noah!
PBS is the resource for this game that’s perfect for beginners with little to no experience with Spanish. It’s also a great way to get your kids involved with learning Spanish.
You’ll learn basic vocabulary and numbers with this game. You’ll print out bingo and call out cards, and pull the cards out of a hat.
Best Games for Learning Spanish Solo
If you are learning Spanish by yourself, there are many ways to learn quickly. You can watch TV, play online with the games mentioned above, or get outside. Here are a couple of suggestions.
Wheel of Fortune
You can learn Spanish by playing Wheel of Fortune by yourself by watching TV. Spain’s Antena 3 airs La Ruleta de la Suerte every weekday afternoon.
You can play along and have fun listening to the audience chant during every spin.
Wheel of Fortune is a fun way to build up your vocabulary and get a sense of the country’s culture. You can follow along and guess the letters and complete the puzzle.
It does mean that you’ll talk to your TV, but that’s half the fun of watching TV by yourself.
You can get a list of all of the international versions of the show here.
Be Active and Learn Spanish
If it’s a beautiful day and you just want to go outside, use that as an opportunity to learn Spanish. You can turn your hike or run into a vocabulary game.
Look at every object and tell yourself what the object is in Spanish.
For example, on a run, you might come across trees, a stoplight, cars, dogs, and people.
You can then tell yourself what those words are in Spanish: árboles, semáforo, coches, perros, y gente.
That could make your run go a little faster and you’ll be able to tell what words you need to focus on for real-world application.
How to Learn Spanish with Games
Learning Spanish by playing games can be fun and can be played in almost any situation, whether you’re learning in a group or you’re by yourself.
Is there a game on this list that you can’t wait to play? Maybe you thought of other games that you love that would be fun to play in Spanish (No, there’s not a Spanish version of Cards Against Humanity.).
If you’re looking for other tips to learn Spanish, check out Speechling’s Spanish blog for creative ways to learn Spanish quickly.