Baldur's Gate 3 : A Language learning guide

In this guide, I will show you how to improve your English or another language of your choice by playing Baldur's Gate 3. I have tested this method on myself and I can assure you that once you apply my method, you will be able to play any game in English and enjoy it.

This guide is for:

• Students who want to pass an exam, show off their vocabulary to their friends, or go abroad (or all of the above).
  
• Escapists and procrastinators who don't want to feel guilty about playing video games when they should be doing something useful.

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Disclaimer

I have tested this method for English. But I'm sure it should work for other languages too. In this guide I will focus on English, but you can replace it with any language you want to learn and into which BG3 is translated: Russian, English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, Simplified Chinese, Turkish, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Latin American Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Ukrainian, Korean.

Also, this guide will not teach you how to learn a language from scratch, you need at least a basic knowledge.

Introduction. Who I am and how this guide was made

I am Aleksei, a programmer. Last year 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.

Step 1: Change the game language to English

In the Steam library right-click on Baldur's Gate 3 - Properties.
Change the language to English as shown in the screenshot.

Step 2: Download Lookupper

Lookupper 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]

Step 3: Select the right dictionaries

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.

Windows

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

On Windows you also need to put the game in Borderless Window mode, otherwise lookup window will not be visible.

Mac

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.

Step 4: Play the way you want to play using Lookupper

Every time you come across an unfamiliar word or expression in the game, point at the word and press the key combination to look it up. In this way, you will learn the meaning of the word. Then spin the word and the meaning of the whole sentence in your head and try to understand it.

Yes, it will hurt at first. And you'll even want to change the game back to your native language. But that pain is the pain of forming new neural connections in your brain. I assure you, by the second act the pain will be gone, and you will understand almost everything on automatic, and look up only occasionally.

Very important! Do not try to understand every sentence. Don't torture yourself for nothing. Especially if you are a perfectionist and want to understand every line of dialogue. So you can get stuck for 20 minutes on the dialogue with each character, trying to understand every idiom in his 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 never doubt your decision to play BG3 in a foreign language.

Tips

Is it possible to translate the whole text at once rather than word by word?

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 BG3. 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.

I missed the dialogue and didn't have time to look it up. What should I do?

Actually, you don't need to try to understand everything. It is OK to miss something, to misunderstand something. It'll get easier with time. But if you really want to know what one of the characters said, there is a button in the game to open the dialogue history, where you can calmly reread and look up places where you didn't understand.

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Please share your feedback in the comments. I will also be happy to answer your questions.

[Janitor]

This is an invaluable guideline, my friend, kudos to you.

[creator]

Rodolfo Hermans, on Linux, you could try Proton. I didn’t test it myself, but users say it works fine

[Rodolfo Hermans]

Any solutions for Linux or Steam-OS?

[LowCozy]

Could you please add an English-Vietnamese dictionary? thank you!

[禁欲系老干部]

非常棒的插件！令人振奋！妈妈问我在做什么，我说“学英语！”

[creator]

The guide has been updated and now corresponds to the latest version of Lookupper in the Microsoft Store, which includes the Lookupper Dictionary.

[SweetBoy]

❤️

[Furin]

Holy ..., it worked. I am only halfway through Act1 and I can speak Mandarin fluently!

In all seriousness though, that's great advice. Just do the things you enjoy doing in a language that you want to learn. I got all my English skills from books, movies, talking to people and games. I had it in school, but was never good at it, because the curriculum was way too focused on stuff that makes you supposedly useful and way too little on what is fun. Granted, that's hard to pull off for 30 pupils at the same time, so it's up to you to make it work.

[lucatiel33]

can you add oxford dictionary or cambrigde dictionary?
this app is so useful but i can't like Merriam dictionary

[Severed Infinity]

Installed the Lookupper extension for the Ukrainian-English dictionary. A few notes:

1. The lookup window persists, requiring an extra click to close it, potentially causing issues in-game and preventing the option to select other words hidden behind the window.

2. Lookupper defaults to Safari, Google, or YouTube, often failing to find words in installed dictionaries, necessitating leaving the game and using translation tools.

3. Suggest adding an option (if possible) to add missing words inline.

4. The saved words feature lacks clear instructions; an in-depth guide within the app and on platforms would be helpful.

5. The audio option requires two clicks, and only allows one audio playback.

With support from Duolingo and Lookupper, I aim to enhance my language learning while exploring BG3. I have only started playing BG3 and I will see if this works for me.