Hello! I’m wondering if changing the ingame language for video games like minecaft…etc would help with immersion or does it not help at all? If somebody has done this and it has helped you, let me know! It seems like a fun way to implement Japanese in your surrounding 
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If you are familiar with the interface – then changing it to Japanese would certainly help.
But if the game has very complex interface with lots of settings you find hard to understand even in your native language – then it might be best to familiarize yourself with the game first.
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You’re kinda boiling it down by asking if it helps or doesn’t help at all, so if I had to choose between those then I would say it “helps”. Its going to be better than nothing.
As for how much it helps, that’s going to be very dependent on your level, attitude towards unknown language, the games usage of language, and your usage of the language. Minecraft is just going to be a buncha vocabulary really, which already limits usefulness, but it will further be determined by your eagerness to actually look at the Japanese names for stuff, try to commit them to memory, and whether or not you actually talk about Minecraft with people in Japanese.
An intermediate learner who talks with Japanese people about Minecraft can have their conversations flow notably better just by having played Minecraft in Japanese for a few hours and seeing how stuff is referred to in game in Japanese. A beginner who can barely hold a conversation about their favorite food isn’t going to have meaningful language gains by seeing most of the words they would have the chance to learn, assuming they learn them in the first place. Maybe they’ll just walk out of it 10 hours later better at remembering the Kanji for dirt.
In summary, if you want to do it, do it. But don’t expect too much from games like Minecraft unless you’re interested in being able to talk about the game.
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As an absolute beginner, I can see value in putting Minecraft in Japanese in that it would get you to engage with the Japanese language outside the context of a learning environment. It probably won’t advance your Japanese skills per se, but it might help you be more comfortable with seeing the language casually.
I personally see it the same way as Drawabox’s 50% rule, in that you’re expected to spend at least half your time there drawing for the sake of drawing, without putting any focus on building up your actual drawing skills. The point is to make sure you are comfortable drawing outside a learning context, and more specifically, make you comfortable with making mistakes.
Either way, anything that gets you using Japanese for the sake of using Japanese early on can only help, imo.
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Another question:
How familiar are you with the Minecraft UI? If the answer is “very”, do you actually read the interface anymore? I know for stuff like Minecraft, FFXIV, or even Bunpro (which I’ve recently tried this Japanese interface language idea on), the answer is no for me. If you’re not reading it, they could replace the Japanese with hierogylphics and you’d probably still be able to navigate the UI.
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My thoughts exactly, in order for the language change to work you need to be fully engaged when reading it not relying on a UI you’re extremely familiar with.
The point of immersion is not something that runs in the background, if you don’t actively engage with you kinda kidding yourself you’re learning something.
I play ACNH and RFA in Japanese, and it really improved my reading speed, but I also transcribe everything from the screenshots in order to learn new kanji new words and new grammar points. I’m not saying you should do this (it’s a choice), and I have no clue about which skills you already acquired Japanese wise, so it’s hard to give you a specific advice.
In general if you engage in reading while gaming you’ll improve your reading skill and that’s already something.
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I’d say go for it.
With Minecraft specifically, it has built-in text to speech that supports Japanese, so it would read you all the interface labels, item names, recipes, on-screen messages, everything.
The slightly less cool thing about Minecraft though is when I tried playing it in Japanese, I’ve noticed I can spend very long intervals of time without getting any language input at all - such as when exploring, mining and stuff.
But overall I think if you spend a lot of time in Minecraft and familiar with it to the point where language becomes irrelevant, you’ll probably learn some new words and phrases through sheer repetition.
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Golden rule is to engage with materials, where you know 80% of content already and 20% is new. Be prepared to stop any time and look up things you don’t know. This way you keep learning new things. “New thing” may also refer to words you are not 100% sure about, to reinforce them.
The further you are from 80%, the less efficient it is. So if you read text where you know 99% of words, you barely have anything new to learn. Or if you know only 50%, you will struggle to understand and you will spend most of your time just looking up things. This also dictates length of your session, since you don’t want to be overwhelmed by new things to remember.
Make sure you know where is the button that switches back to english (just in case) and try changing language to see how much you understand.
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LOL the part for remembering dirt is pretty funny because that’s how I learnt the 土 kanji but you do have a point it’s not common to hold a day to day conversation about dirt or cobblestone outside of minecraft
I forgot that minecraft had a built in text to speech! It should be pretty useful for remembering vocabulary if it read out to you every single time you interact with the game, thank you!
this explains why it is easier learning languages the more you know of that language i never thought about it that way it! thats how I learnt the word for 丸石, wanikani already taught 丸 so I figured 石 was stone when I saw it ingame.
im pretty familiar with the UI but not familiar enough to change it back to english but I do try my best to read and transcribe what stuff says (when im playing alone since it takes time) i’ve found it interesting to translate from Japanese ever since I found “competitive play” in Overwatches official translation is “ライバル プライ”
I get where you’re coming from and I agree! Reading ingame has helped my Hiragana reading to the point where I know all hiragana and im getting faster at reading, my katakana is okay it just takes time to read. Im almost an absolute beginner in Japanese if you were wondering =D
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Not sure about Minecraft, but having a game like Fashion Dreamer all in Japanese was super helpful for me.
Minecraft has a setting for subtitles too. This can help when you’re out in the world to hear “footsteps” or “bees buzzing.” It also helped me specifically with the difference between 蜂蜜 honey and 蜜蜂 honeybee.
In general games can be helpful to be immersion you’re actually interested in. It all depends on the game and how attached you are to it. It’s definitely easier for me to play a game for 5 hours than to read a book for 5 hours.
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Yeah, those can be quite confusing 
What helped me – was to insert の between them.
何の蜜？-- 蜂の蜜 → 蜂蜜 
何の蜂？-- 蜜の蜂 → 蜜蜂 
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