Learning Japanese Through Skyrim: Exploring and Describing the World

こんにちは, everyone! Today, I had an exciting adventure in Skyrim, not just battling enemies and collecting loot, but learning Japanese through the world around me. This is the third “Session” – but they are all only about 20 minutes long. In future I want to do more, but for starting out I like the pace to not get overwhelmed. By playing the game in Japanese, I got to see how words and grammar naturally fit into real situations.

This time, we learned how to take items, describe the world, and even talk about fistfighting crabs! Let’s go over everything we learned today in a way that makes it easy to remember and use.

New Vocabulary

Action Words

English	Japanese	Reading	Example
To take / pick up	取る	とる (toru)	クマの爪を取る (くまのつめをとる) – Take the bear claw
To pick up	拾う	ひろう (hirou)	木を拾う (きをひろう) – Pick up firewood
To punch	殴る	なぐる (naguru)	カニを殴る (かにをなぐる) – Punch the crab

Environment & Locations

English	Japanese	Reading
Bridge	橋	はし (hashi)
Waterfall	滝	たき (taki)
River	川	かわ (kawa)
Lake	湖	みずうみ (mizuumi)
Mountain	山	やま (yama)

Creatures & Items

English	Japanese	Reading
Bear	クマ	くま (kuma)
Spider	クモ	くも (kumo)
Crab	カニ	かに (kani)
Tree/Firewood	木	き (ki)
Claw	爪	つめ (tsume)
Key	鍵	かぎ (kagi)
Salmon	サケ	さけ (sake)

Grammar and Sentence Structures We Encountered

1️⃣ Using 取る (toru) for Taking Items

In Skyrim, every time I picked up an item, I saw the word 取る (とる), meaning “to take.” This verb became easy to remember because I saw it over and over again.

Example sentences:

クマの爪を取る (くまのつめをとる, kuma no tsume o toru) → “Take the bear claw”
鍵を取る (かぎをとる, kagi o toru) → “Take the key”
サケを取る (さけをとる, sake o toru) → “Take the salmon”

💡 Grammar tip:

The を (o) particle marks the direct object of the verb.
取る (toru) is in its dictionary form. The polite form is 取ります (torimasu).

2️⃣ Using の (no) for Possession

We saw の (no) a lot when looking at item names. This small but powerful word connects two nouns to show possession, like “‘s” in English.

Examples:

クマの爪 (くまのつめ, kuma no tsume) → “Bear’s claw”
クモの卵 (くものたまご, kumo no tamago) → “Spider’s egg”
ヘルゲン砦の鍵 (へるげんとりでのかぎ, Herugen toride no kagi) → “Helgen Keep’s Key”

3️⃣ Describing Big and Small Things

While exploring, I saw mountains of different sizes and wanted to describe them. In Japanese, we use:

大きな (おおきな, ookina) + noun → “Big [thing]”
小さな (ちいさな, chiisana) + noun → “Small [thing]”

Examples:

大きな山 (おおきなやま, ookina yama) → “Big mountain”
小さな山 (ちいさなやま, chiisana yama) → “Small mountain”

4️⃣ Talking About Locations

When describing where things are, I learned that:

の前 (のまえ, no mae) means “in front of”
の上 (のうえ, no ue) means “on top of”
に (ni) is used to show where something exists

Examples:

滝の前に木があります (たきのまえにきがあります, Taki no mae ni ki ga arimasu) → “There is a tree in front of the waterfall.”
私は橋の上に立っています (わたしははしのうえにたっています, Watashi wa hashi no ue ni tatte imasu) → “I am standing on the bridge.”

Key Sentences from Today

Japanese	Reading	English Meaning
クマの爪を取る	くまのつめをとる	Take the bear claw
ヘルゲン砦の鍵を取る	へるげんとりでのかぎをとる	Take the Helgen Keep Key
クモの卵を取る	くものたまごをとる	Take the spider egg
私は橋の上に立っています	わたしははしのうえにたっています	I am standing on the bridge
滝の前に木があります	たきのまえにきがあります	There is a tree in front of the waterfall
カニを殴る	かにをなぐる	Punch the crab

What’s Next?

So far, we’ve learned how to take items, describe size, talk about locations, and even fight crabs. But our adventure isn’t over yet!

Next time, we’ll talk to merchants for the first time and learn useful phrases for buying and selling in Japanese. What kind of new words and challenges will we face? Let’s find out together!

また次回！(See you next time!) 🎮✨