AI Message Translation
Better Messages can automatically translate incoming chat messages to each user's preferred language using AI — in real time, with no third-party API keys to manage. Each user picks their language from a list of 69 supported languages. Messages arrive translated. A toggle reveals the original. The bridge for multilingual communities, international marketplaces, and cross-border support chats.
AI message translation is a WebSocket-version feature and is powered by Better Messages Cloud AI. Translation API access is included with the WebSocket license — no separate OpenAI / Anthropic API keys needed for this specific feature.
What it adds#
- Real-time translation of incoming messages to the recipient's selected language
- Works in private conversations, group conversations and chat rooms — each surface has its own switch
- 69 supported languages spanning Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Africa
- Automatic source-language detection — no need for senders to specify their language
- HTML formatting (bold, italic, links) preserved in the translated output
- Translation toggle — users can switch between translated and original text
- Reliable delivery — failed translations retry in the background
- Admin-controllable language list (restrict to a curated subset if desired)
- Restrict translation to chosen WordPress roles
- Privacy-respectful — translations happen via HTTPS and content isn't stored
How it works#
- Admin enables Message Translation in the plugin settings and chooses where it is offered
- Each user selects their preferred language in the messenger settings panel
- Translation is then switched on per conversation, from the conversation info panel or its menu. If Conversations start translated is on, a member who has picked a language gets every eligible conversation translated until they switch one off
- When a message arrives, it is sent to Better Messages Cloud AI for translation into the reader's language
- The user sees the translated message with a toggle icon to switch to the original
| Action | Outcome |
|---|---|
| User in Spain sets language to Spanish | Reads messages in Spanish — in every eligible conversation if Conversations start translated is on, otherwise in the ones they switch on |
| Friend in Germany sets language to German | Same conversation, friend sees German |
| User toggles to show original | Sees the sender's original text |
| Sender edits a message | Translated version updates automatically |
| Translation API is slow / temporarily fails | Message arrives in original language. Retry runs in background |
Supported languages (69)#
| Region | Languages |
|---|---|
| Western Europe | Catalan, Danish, German, English, Spanish, Basque, Finnish, French, Irish, Galician, Icelandic, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish |
| Eastern Europe | Bulgarian, Bosnian, Czech, Welsh, Greek, Estonian, Croatian, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Macedonian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Serbian |
| CIS & Central Asia | Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Armenian, Georgian, Kazakh, Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek |
| Middle East & Africa | Afrikaans, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Swahili, Turkish |
| South Asia | Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, Sinhala, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu |
| East & Southeast Asia | Indonesian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Malay, Burmese, Thai, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Chinese |
Admins can restrict which languages are available to users in the settings — useful for sites targeting a specific region (e.g., only EU languages).
When AI translation matters most#
| Use case | Why it's transformative |
|---|---|
| International marketplace (Etsy-style) | Buyers and vendors communicate in their own language — purchase rates rise |
| Cross-border support chat | Customer asks in Vietnamese, support replies in English, both see their language |
| Multilingual community | Discussion threads include users from 5 countries naturally |
| Dating site | Match conversations across language barriers |
| LMS with international students | Course discussions in students' native languages |
How to enable#
Navigate to WP Admin → Better Messages → Settings → Translation.
- Turn on Enable Translation
- Under Where Translation Is Offered, pick the surfaces it applies to:
- Conversations start translated — when on, every eligible conversation is translated for a member who has picked a language, until they switch one off. When off, they switch each conversation on themselves
- Private conversations — one-to-one conversations
- Group conversations — three or more members, including groups and courses
- Chat rooms — note that a room's every message is translated once per language its members read
- Bot posts — translate what chat bots post in groups and rooms. A conversation with a bot is never translated
- Roles allowed to translate — leave every role unchecked to allow everyone. Administrators can always translate
- Optionally restrict the Available Languages to a curated set — the picker groups them by region, with Select all / Deselect all
- Users select their preferred language in the messenger settings panel inside the chat interface
Frequently asked questions#
Does the AI store my message content?#
No — Better Messages Cloud AI translates messages in real time over HTTPS and immediately discards the content. No retention, no training data, no logs of message bodies. See Privacy & GDPR for the full data-handling picture.
Will translation work in group chats?#
Yes. Group conversations and Chat rooms each have their own switch under Where Translation Is Offered, alongside Private conversations — every participant reads the thread in their own language regardless of who is speaking. Bot posts is a separate switch for what chat bots write in groups and rooms. A one-to-one conversation with a bot is never translated.
Chat rooms are the one place to think before switching it on: a room's every message is translated once per language its members read, so a busy room in a community with many languages does noticeably more translation work than a set of private threads.
How accurate is the translation?#
The plugin uses state-of-the-art neural translation models. Quality is comparable to Google Translate / DeepL for major languages. For technical or specialized content, the original is always one tap away via the toggle.
Does this work with the bad-words filter?#
Yes — the bad-words filter applies to the ORIGINAL sender's text (before translation). Translated views don't bypass moderation.
How much does this feature cost?#
It's included with the WebSocket-version license. No per-message charges, no separate translation API key needed.
See also#
- Translations — UI translations (the plugin chrome, not user messages)
- AI chat bots — multi-provider AI chat bot integration
- AI content moderation — AI moderation for safety
- Better Messages Cloud AI — full Cloud AI feature set
- AI message translation blog post — feature overview