Setting up Ddict

Ddict is a browser extension. It lets you look words up right on the page you are reading — no new tab, no copying and pasting.

Of every tool I have used, this made the biggest difference to my reading.

Installation

1. Install the extension

Search for "Ddict" on the Chrome Web Store and install it like any other extension. Ddict also runs on Edge and other Chromium browsers.

Click the puzzle-piece icon in the top right of the browser and pin Ddict. You will be opening it often.

3. Choose the target language

Open Ddict's settings and set the translation language to Vietnamese if you are starting out.

Later, once you are steadier, switch it to English so you read definitions in English itself. I go into why in Monolingual dictionaries.

4. Choose how lookups are triggered

Ddict offers a few ways to bring the popup up: double-click a word, select a phrase, or right-click and pick from the menu.

I use double-click for single words and selection for whole sentences. Try all three and keep whichever feels least intrusive.

5. Turn on read-aloud

There is a pronunciation option in the settings. I keep it on, because hearing the word at the moment I look it up sticks far better than reading a phonetic transcription.

Menu names may differ slightly

Ddict updates fairly often, so menu labels can change between versions. If you don't see exactly what I described, look for anything containing Language, Translate or Speech — the meaning is the same.

Checking that it works

Open any English page and double-click a word. If a small box appears with a definition and a pronunciation button, you are done.

Nothing appears?

Three causes I run into:

The extension has no permission on that site. Click the Ddict icon and allow it to run there.
The page renders text as images, which some online book readers do. The extension cannot read text inside a picture.
The trigger you configured is not the one you are trying. Reopen the settings and check whether double-click or selection is enabled.

What else Ddict does

A few things I use on top:

Translate the whole page when I only need the gist, fast.
Translate PDFs — handy for documents.
Synonyms and example sentences right inside the popup. Example sentences are what I most often copy into Anki.

Ddict is usable for free, with some paid features. The free version is enough for my daily reading.

Don't lean on whole-page translation

There was a phase where I translated whole pages and read the Vietnamese to go faster. I understood everything, and my English did not improve at all — because my eyes never touched the English.

Now I only translate a whole page when I need information urgently, not when I am studying.