Discord translator bot troubleshooting
Find your problem and fix it. Short checks for missing translations, bridges, voice chat translation, permissions, and limits.
Something does not work as you expect? Find your problem below and follow the steps. Most fixes take a minute.
✅ Check these first
These five checks fix most problems:
- Translations are on. Open DashboardOverview and look at the Translations card.
- A target language is set. Open DashboardTranslationTarget languages and choose at least one language.
- The channel is allowed. Open DashboardTranslationAutomatic translation and turn on the channel type. Then open DashboardTranslationChannel rules and use Preview a channel to make sure no rule turns translation off.
- The server has translations left. Open DashboardSettingsBilling and check how many AI translations are left.
- BabelBot has permission. DashboardOverview shows a warning when BabelBot cannot post in a channel.
🔎 Find your problem
No translation appears
Translation appears twice
Wrong language
Partial translation notice
Bridge copies are missing
Edits do not update
Voice chat translation stops
Out of translations
Missing permissions
🔇 No translation appears
First, make sure BabelBot did not skip the message on purpose. BabelBot posts nothing when:
- The message is already in your target language.
- The message is in a language on Skip languages.
- The message has no text to translate, for example only emoji, mentions, or a link.
- The author is a bot or is on Ignored users.
- The message has only attachments, and media translation is off or not on your plan.
- The channel is in a bridge that shows Paused in the dashboard. See Billing and limits.
A skipped message does not count toward your translations.
Yes, it starts at 9!
If the message should translate:
- Do the five checks above.
- Make sure the author is not on DashboardSettingsFiltersIgnored users.
- Send a short test message in a language that is not a target language.
- If nothing appears, contact support.
👯 Translation appears twice
BabelBot translates each message once. If you see more than you expect, check these causes:
- Another translation bot is in the channel. Remove it from the channel, or turn off its automatic translation.
- A member reacted with a flag. A flag asks for one more translation, even when an automatic translation is already there. To stop this, turn off the Flag reactions switch in DashboardSettingsFeaturesFlag reactions, or use a channel rule.
- Replace the original kept the original. BabelBot keeps the original when it cannot confirm that the replacement is safe. Give BabelBot Manage Messages in that channel.
Too many replies in a busy channel? Remove target languages you do not need, or turn on Conversation mode. In slower channels, such as announcements, a channel rule can use Thread per message.
🌐 Translation is in the wrong language
- Open DashboardTranslationTarget languages and check the list.
- Open DashboardTranslationChannel rules and use Preview a channel. A rule can use different target languages in some channels.
- In a bridge, BabelBot treats each message as the language of its channel. Check each channel's language in DashboardBridges.
- For Translate Text, BabelBot uses your Discord language. Run
/set-context-languageto choose a different language. - If a name or game word translates the wrong way, add it in DashboardSettingsFeaturesCustom words.
⚠️ Partial translation or Translation failed
BabelBot tried to translate the message, but one or more languages or attachments did not work.
- Select Retry on the notice. BabelBot tries only the missing languages again.
- If BabelBot asks you to wait, wait a moment and select Retry again.
- The button stops working after about 1 minute. After that, send the message again if you still need the translation.
🌉 Bridge copies are missing
- Open DashboardBridges. Make sure the bridge links the channels and each channel has the right language.
- In every linked channel, give BabelBot View Channel, Send Messages, and Manage Webhooks.
- Send a short test message in each direction.
If the bridge shows Paused, the server has more bridges than its plan includes. Remove other bridges or upgrade. See Billing and limits.
Bridges do not copy typed bot commands, such as !rank.
When BabelBot cannot translate a message for a linked channel, it posts the original there instead. When BabelBot cannot post in any linked channel, it replies in the source channel and names the channels to fix. See Bridges.
✏️ A translation did not update after an edit
When a member edits a message, BabelBot updates its reply and thread translations for 30 days after it posted them. It updates only the languages it posted first. Make sure BabelBot can still view the channel and read message history.
🎙️ Voice chat translation does not start or stops
If /voice start does not work:
- Make sure the server is on Ultra or Founder Access.
- Make sure that Translations is on in Overview.
- Turn on the Voice chat switch in DashboardVoice chat.
- Set at least one target language.
- Join a voice channel, then run
/voice start. - Give BabelBot View Channel, Connect, and Send Messages in that voice channel. Clean speaker messages also needs Manage Webhooks.
Only one voice chat translation can run in a server at a time. If the only target language is the language a person speaks, BabelBot posts nothing for that speech.
A session stops on its own when everyone leaves, when no transcript is posted for 30 minutes, after 4 hours, when someone moves BabelBot to another voice channel, or when BabelBot restarts. Run /voice start again to continue. See Voice chat translation.
📉 Out of translations
When the server uses all its AI translations, automatic, bridge, and flag reaction translations pause. BabelBot posts one notice.
To start translating again:
- On Free, ask any member to select Vote to reset on the notice, or use the vote card on DashboardOverview. When top.gg confirms the vote, the server gets all 100 translations back.
- Or upgrade. On Free, open DashboardSettingsBilling, or run
/upgradefor a link. On a paid plan, the plan owner changes the plan on DashboardAccountBilling. - Or wait. On Free, the allowance resets at 00:00 UTC on the 1st of each month. On Pro and Ultra, it resets when the plan renews.
Translate Text does not count toward the allowance, so it keeps working. See Billing and limits.
🔐 Missing permissions
- Open DashboardOverview. A warning lists each channel and the permissions BabelBot needs there.
- In Discord, give BabelBot those permissions in that channel.
- Send a short test message in the channel. The warning clears after BabelBot delivers a translation.
| Feature | Permissions BabelBot needs |
|---|---|
| Replies | View Channel, Send Messages, Embed Links, Read Message History |
| Thread per message | Create Public Threads, Send Messages in Threads |
| Bridges and cross-server connections | View Channel, Send Messages, Manage Webhooks |
| Replace the original | View Channel, Read Message History, Manage Webhooks, Manage Messages |
| Voice chat translation | View Channel, Connect, Send Messages |
| Thread cleanup | View Channel, Manage Threads |
🧭 Dashboard problems
💬 Contact support
Contact us when your settings match these docs but BabelBot does something different. Send:
- Your server ID
- The channel ID and message link, if a message is involved
- The time it happened
- A screenshot of Billing, if the problem is about your translation limit
Join the support Discord. We answer in many languages.