I am Aleksei, a programmer. 2 years ago I wanted to go to the USA to study. As you may know, the university requires a high English score to apply, in my case it was 90 in TOEFL. So I took a practice test to see if I was eligible, and it was clear that I would not be accepted. So I was looking for ways to quickly improve my English, all I know this time is that I need to use the language as much as possible every day.

At the time, Disco Elysium had just come out (for those who don't know, it's an RPG detective game with lots of dialogue). So, without thinking, I switched the game to English and tried to understand it. It also made me feel good that I was learning English instead of just procrastinating while playing.

When I played Disco Elysium in English, I soon realised that my level of English didn't allow me to understand most of the dialogues. It was painful to play, I understood almost nothing, so I had to constantly Google the meaning of unfamiliar words. Soon I was so annoyed that I stopped learning altogether and switched the game back to my native language.

The most annoying thing was having to go back and forth to the translator to look up words I didn't know. Later, I thought of a way to make the process much more enjoyable. So I created Lookupper and started playing Disco Elysium and then Baldur's Gate 3 in English. At first it was hard, I was checking 1-2 words in every sentence. But later, imperceptibly for me, there came a moment when I understood English almost as well as my native language.

call this step 0 because it’s optional, but it’s important to note that you don’t need to choose a game specifically for language learning. What matters most is selecting a game you actually want to play.

The only requirement is that the game should contain some on-screen text—the more, the better. Ideally, you’ll have enough time to read and understand it.

👍 Recommended games: Disco Elysium, Fallout, Baldur’s Gate 3.
❌ Unsuitable games: Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, Need for Speed.

Lookupper[lookupper.com] is a free software that helps us to check any unfamiliar word or expression without minimising the game. Which makes the process of playing game in English easy and over time enjoyable.

• Download for Windows[apps.microsoft.com]
  
• Download for Mac[apps.apple.com]

After you download and run the app, you will see the onboarding process.

You need to go through the onboarding to initially configure Lookupper. To do this:

1. Select your target language (I want to learn…).
2. Select your native language.
3. Try to look up a word by hovering over the foreign word and pressing CTRL + D.

Once you’re done, follow the next step.

In your Steam library, right-click on the game and select “Properties”. Then, change the language to your target language as shown in the screenshot


I chose Baldur’s Gate 3 and want to learn English. Your target language may be different, but both the game and Lookupper should support it.

Here is the list of languages supported by Lookupper.

Windows
• English
• Spanish
• French
• Japanese (Beta)
• Korean (Beta)
• German
• Italian
• Chinese (Beta)
• Russian
• Arabic
• Portuguese
• Turkish
• Dutch
• Greek
• Polish
• Swedish
• Norwegian
• Finnish
• Danish
• Romanian
• Czech
• Hungarian

Mac
• English
• Spanish
• French
• German
• Italian
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Ukrainian

To improve your language skills you need to choose the right dictionaries. There are 4 types of dictionaries that will be useful to us.

1. Lookupper Dictionary is a special AI dictionary designed for language learning through gameplay. It provides the lemma (base form) of a word, pronunciation audio, and the definition of the word in the same language. It also features click-to-reveal translations. If you don’t understand the word’s meaning in its native language, you can reveal its translation. If that still doesn’t help, you can reveal the whole sentence translation.
   
2. An explanatory dictionary and thesaurus will allow you to understand the meaning of words without leaving the language. Over time, you will learn to understand the meaning of words automatically without translating them into your native language.
   
3. The bilingual dictionary (English-Russian for example) will help you when you still can't understand the meaning of a word from the explanatory dictionary. Or when you are just tired. That's okay, and you're learning the language anyway.
   
4. A translator is not really a dictionary. But it can save us when a dictionary can't. For example, in the case of complex expressions. The problem is that you can get used to it and your brain will refuse to try to understand the text in English. After all, why should you, when there is a translator. Therefore, it should be used only in the very last case.

The most effective way is to use Lookupper Dictionary or explanatory dictionaries in the target language more often, less often bilingual dictionaries (English-Russian) and as a last resort a translator. So, with that theory in mind, let's set up Lookupper.

I recommend to use only the Lookupper Dictionary, but you can use other dictionaries if you like.


Optional: Install offline dictionaries
For those who are already proficient in the target language or prefer playing offline, I recommend installing offline dictionaries. It’s easy. Go to the Dictionaries tab and click Add Dictionaries. Then select the dictionaries you want to use (in this example, I use the Cambridge German-English Dictionary)

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For Mac, it is best to arrange the dictionaries as shown in the screenshot. In this case, the bilingual dictionary will be at the very end of the list, and you will refer to it last if you don't understand what is said in the previous dictionaries.

Every time you come across an unfamiliar word or expression in the game, point at the word and press the shortcut (CTRL + D) to look it up. This way, you will get the meaning of the word. Then, think about the word and the meaning of the whole sentence in your head and try to understand it.




Yes, it will be tough at first. You might even want to switch the game back to your native language. But that discomfort is the feeling of new neural connections forming in your brain. I assure you, sooner than you expect, you will understand almost everything automatically and look up words only occasionally.

Very important! Do not try to understand every sentence. Don’t torture yourself unnecessarily. Especially if you are a perfectionist and want to understand every line of dialogue. This way, you can get stuck for 20 minutes on a dialogue with each character, trying to understand every idiom in their speech. Don’t. Play, have fun—that’s the most important thing. Remember, neural connections are made without your conscious effort. In time, you will start to understand everything; just keep playing and look up unknown words.

And don’t overuse the translator. The final goal is to understand everything without ANY translations, naturally. So if you can play using just an explanatory dictionary (for example, just German, not German-English), you are on the most efficient path to language fluency.

Some games may prevent Lookupper from overlaying them while in Fullscreen mode. To fix this, switch the game to Borderless Window or Windowed mode. For example, here’s how this setting looks in Baldur’s Gate 3.
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You can use on-screen translators such as Translumo[github.com] or MORT[github.com]. These programs are designed to translate large chunks of text. However, the main purpose of this guide is to learn the language by playing games. If you translate every dialogue into your native language, you are unlikely to improve your level in the target language. In this case, it is better to switch back the game language.

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I put a lot of effort into creating the Lookupper and making this guide. Please share your feedback in the comments. I will also be happy to answer your questions.