Hello everyone! In today's post, I'm going to talk to you about a fun and interactive way of exercising your B language or retour skills.
Of course, there are multiple ways to activate your B language, but today I'm going to focus on some word games that can help you expand your vocabulary in such a painless way that playing them becomes part of your daily routine.
In my case, my B language is English, so most of these games can be found in the electronic versions of English and American newspapers. However, most of these games (or similar ones) are also available in other languages.
So without further ado here is the list of my five favourite games to activate vocabulary and learn new expressions in my B language:
BANANAGRAMS: This game is fun, but simple. The main objective is to create a network of connected words with all the letters you are given at the beginning of the round before your opponent does. Unlike Scrabble, in this game each player creates his/her network of words independently.
SCRABBLE: It is the word game par excellence! The objective is to create a network of connected words on a board where each square has a different score. Each player can use as many of their letters as they want to create new words, as long as these new words are connected to the ones on the board.
And now, let me share with you my all time favourites:
GUARDIAN CROSSWORD: This is one I play daily! You can do it on the online version of the newspaper, or –if you're more old school– in the printed version. I tend to do the Quick Crossword (and the Speedy one on Sundays), but if you want more of a challenge you can always try the Cryptic Crossword.
WORDLE: This is a family favourite! The aim of this game is to guess the mystery word of the day in six attempts. The word changes daily and has five letters. After inputting the first word, squares will turn green (if the mystery word has that letter in that exact position), yellow (if the mystery word has that letter but in another position) or grey (if the mystery word doesn't have that letter). If you have a competitive family like me, you'll be glad to know that you can share the results on WhatsApp and see who got it quickest. Game on!!!
SPELLING BEE: Like Wordle, this game is published daily in the New York Times. The objective of this game is to create the maximum number of words with the seven letters that you are given BUT always using the central letter. In addition, words have to be at least four letters long. Warning: it is more difficult than it sounds!
But how could these games help me boost my B language skills?
Well, most of all, these games will help you to:
expand your vocabulary by learning new words and expressions.
clarify the meaning of words with which you are familiar, but the meaning of which is not totally clear.
help you activate vocabulary. There are certain words that tend to come up again and again, which makes it easier to consolidate them and eventually incorporate them in your daily vocabulary.
recall to memory words that might be at the back of your head, and make them more accessible.
Obviously, there are many other ways to improve your B language skills. For example, as suggested by Sophie Llewellyn Smith in The Interpreting Coach, retourists can activate their B languages by shadowing, sight-translating, doing reformulation exercises, joining a debate society, etc. You can find a comprehensive list on her post: "What do you do to develop your retour?" (The Interpreting Coach, 2018).
Do you know any more word games to improve your retour? Or do you use any other techniques?
The truth is that regardless of whether you use word games to improve your language skills or only because they are fun, ALL WORD GAMES could potentially have a beneficial impact on your brain health. Neurologist and professor Douglas Scahrre, MD, explains in his short article published on the Ohio State University website that "puzzles and games, especially those involving novelty, can stimulate and challenge key parts of the brain, including reasoning, language, logic, visual perception, attention and problem-solving." (Douglas Scahrre, MD, 2022).
So there you go, there is no excuse not to try one, two or all of these games. I'm looking forward to knowing your next Wordle score, let's see if you can get it in one –I, for my part, am still trying.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Llewellyn Smith, S. (2018) "What do you do to develop your retour?", The Interpreting Coach, 23 July. Available at: https://www.theinterpretingcoach.com/develop-your-retour/ (Accessed: 5 April 2024).
Scahrre, D. (2022) "How games like Wordle can improve brain health", Ohio State health and Discovery, 9 February. Available at: https://health.osu.edu/health/brain-and-spine/how-games-like-wordle-can-improve-brain-health (Accessed: 5 April 2024).