Hello, Hola, Ciao, Bonjour, and здравствуйте!
Have you ever dreamed of becoming fluent in another language? Have you imagined whispering in Italian to your sweetheart, ordering your entrée in perfect French, or traveling to Latin America without a foreign language dictionary?
As an expat, I know the frustration that comes from not being able to communicate efficiently and effectively with speakers of other languages. I also know that after so many years in Panama, I only do so well with Spanish because I’ve been immersed in the language.
Here’s the exciting news!
I’ve been working on a side-project with my dear friend, Marina Latcko, and a group of scattered language enthusiasts. Marina is an English teacher in St. Petersburg, Russia. She’s a intelligent and passionate person, as well as a published author. (She’s been kind enough to help me with The Sculptor, developing my character and his history from a genuine Russian perspective.) She’s also a brand new mom!
Marina’s dream was to create a game that actually immerses you into the world of the language you want to learn. She developed the concept of a casual game that uses a story narrative, called The Identity Quest, that includes everyday situations enabling players to pick up a language in a more natural manner. Unlike Rosetta Stone or verb conjugation books, The Identity Quest teaches you the conversational skills you would need in everyday situations without you having to make an effort to do so.
This project needs funding to get off the ground so we’ve launched an Indiegogo campaign. Visit The Identity Quest Language Learning Game campaign page for all the details. You can also view the artwork and demos where you will hear me as the voice of Clarissa! Let me tell you, if anyone has the determination to pull this project off it’s Marina. She’s so focused on making this game a reality that she convinced me to record my voice! This is monumental because I HATE recording myself in any way. The demos are not nearly as sophisticated as the real game will be, but you can get an idea.
Click for full info.
The first languages to be released are English, Spanish, French, and Russian for speakers of each language respectively. More will come in the future if the project is funded. I’m voting for Mandarin. What language would you like to see next?
If you’ve always fantasized about speaking comfortably and confidently in a foreign language, please support the project by making a donation or sharing the campaign.
Thanks, Gracias, Grazie, Merci, and спасибо!!!