“Italian for Gamers” hosts first gaming session at World Languages ​​and Digital Humanities Studio

“Italian for Gamers” (ITAL 1013-002) held its first gaming session for Assassin’s Creed II on February 28th at the World Languages ​​& Digital Humanities Studio (JBHT 207). “Italian for Gamers” has been launched as a new intensive course for beginners in Italian. The Italian language program of the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures will begin the second level of Beginner Italian (ITAL 1013), which began in fall 2023 for first semester instructors and continues this semester.

During the “Italian for Gamers” session, Claudia Dević’s students worked in small groups to play Assassin’s Creed II on the PlayStation 5 console. Students were given an Italian glossary to help with gameplay and basic operations, and spent half of their class time playing the game. Assassin’s Creed II was released by Ubisoft in his 2009, sequel to 2007’s Assassin’s Creed, and remastered in his 2016 as part of the Ezio Collection.

The game is set in Italy at the height of the Renaissance (1476-1499). This game tells the story of Ezio his Auditoreda d’His Florence journey as an assassin seeking revenge on those responsible for the death of his father and brother. This essential language learning game has been localized into Italian, with all dialogue and text throughout the gameplay experience in the target language, Italian. Although the plot is mostly fictional history, real world locations and events are centered throughout the game.

Students practiced imperatives (i.e., giving commands) in Italian while working through the game’s opening tutorial. We also followed conversations in Italian, identified gameplay hints (such as controls that trigger certain actions), and completed several missions as we progressed through the story. The 50-minute class began with an overview from Italian Program Director Ryan Calabretta-Sider, followed by instructors Claudia Devic and Valentina Morello, studio director Curtis Morgan, and studio researcher Michael Mr. Hall helped guide them. A group of students playing games.

“Italian for Gamers” plans to host additional gaming sessions later in the semester in the World Languages ​​& Digital Humanities Studio as the course progresses. The students were enthusiastic about continuing to perform and practice their Italian.