Tutorial
How to translate a Steam game without official translation
The game is great and it has no translation for your language. You can still play it — as long as you know which of the two cases is yours.
Reviewed on August 11, 2026
How do you play a game that has no translation for your language?
Use a screen translation tool, which reads the pixels of the game window and returns the translation on top. It is not a mod, it does not alter game files, and it does not depend on the community having made a translation — it works on any game, including recent releases and small titles nobody has touched.
There are two cases, and the choice differs between them. If the text is static — menus, item descriptions, skill panels, cards — use an on-demand capture tool: you select the area and read the translation where the original text was. If the text is running dialogue that advances on its own, use a continuous overlay tool that re-reads the same region several times a second.
Before buying, check the Steam page for a community translation on the Workshop. When one exists it is always better: made by humans, aware of context, and free.
Step by step
1. Check for a community translation first
On the Steam page, look at the Workshop and the discussions tab. A fan translation, when it exists, beats any machine translation — it understands jokes, proper nouns and references.
2. Set the game to borderless windowed
In graphics options, switch from exclusive fullscreen to borderless windowed. This single setting decides more than anything else whether the overlay works; in exclusive fullscreen almost no tool can draw on top.
3. Raise the interface scale if you can
Many games have a separate UI scale. Bigger text is easier to recognize — this changes the outcome more than switching tools.
4. Set the shortcut before you start playing
Bind the capture shortcut to a key the game does not use. Discovering the conflict mid-fight is unpleasant.
5. Treat menus and dialogue differently
In menus and item screens, capture on demand and read at your own pace. In scenes with running dialogue, use continuous overlay or pause before capturing.
6. Keep what matters
Recipes, codes, puzzle passwords and map locations: capture them with the translation and annotate on top. Faster than a notebook, and you can find it again.
What will not work
Text drawn as part of the scenery art — signs, posters, graffiti — usually fails, because the font is stylized and the background is textured.
Subtitles that pass in under two seconds. There is no time to capture; continuous overlay is the only way out.
Games in exclusive fullscreen that offer no windowed mode. Some older titles only have that option.
Frequently asked questions
Can this get me banned?
The tool reads screen pixels without touching game memory or files — the same thing a capture program does. Even so, competitive games with aggressive anti-cheat can react badly to any overlay. In online games, check the rules first.
Does it work offline?
Text recognition, yes; translation, no. It depends on a cloud service in practically every tool on the market.
Does it hurt performance?
Capture happens only when you trigger it, so the impact is momentary. Continuous overlay costs more, because it re-reads the screen constantly.
Does it work on Steam Deck?
The tools mentioned here are Windows tools. On Steam Deck running SteamOS the route is different — Linux tools such as ScreenTranslator.
Keep reading
Test before buying the game
Install it, open any game you already own in another language, and see how it comes out. The free tier has daily limits and does not expire.
Download and try