How to set up automatic translation on Discord for free

1What is Discord auto translation?

Discord auto translation is a feature that automatically translates every message from one channel into the language of another channel, in real time. Instead of asking members to install translation extensions or to copy-paste messages into a translator, the bot does it for them, transparently.

When Orax is configured for translation, here's what happens:

• A member posts a message in the English channel.
• Orax detects the source language automatically (no need to configure it).
• For each destination channel, Orax translates the message into the channel's target language.
• Discord syntax (mentions, custom emojis, URLs, code blocks) is preserved untouched.
• The translated message is posted in each linked channel — usually in under a second.

2Why use Orax for Discord auto translation?

There are other translation bots out there, but Orax combines translation with interserver message sync, which makes it a much better fit for multilingual communities:

• Translate across multiple Discord servers from one group — perfect for international network servers.
• Auto-detect the source language — no need to declare it per channel.
• Protect Discord syntax — mentions, emojis, URLs and code blocks are never broken.
• Pick a target language per channel, so each community reads messages in its preferred language.
• Free to unlock through Top.gg votes — about a minute of voting per week.

3Step 1 — Invite Orax to your server

First, add Orax to the Discord server you want to set up. You need the Manage Server permission to do this.

Open the Orax invite page and pick the server you want to add the bot to.

On the authorization screen, Discord will list the permissions Orax needs. To enable translation, make sure the bot can read and send messages in the channels where you want translations to happen.

4Step 2 — Create an interserver group

Auto Translate works on top of Orax's interserver groups, which are the bundles of channels that get synced together across servers (or inside a single server, for language-based channels).

To create a group:

1. Open the Orax dashboard and sign in with Discord.
2. Pick the server where you just added Orax.
3. Click "Create group", give it a name (e.g. "Main — multilingual") and confirm.

A group is just a container. The actual translation happens at the channel level, which is the next step.

5Step 3 — Link your channels

Inside the group, you now need to add the channels that will receive translated messages. The most common setup is one channel per language:

• #general-en — English channel
• #general-fr — French channel
• #general-es — Spanish channel

You can either create all of them inside the same Discord server, or place them in separate servers if you run a network. To add a channel to your group:

1. In the dashboard, open your group, click "Add channel", and pick one from the list.

Repeat for every language channel you want. Free Orax accounts get up to 5 channels per group, which is enough for most multilingual setups.

6Step 4 — Unlock Orax Plus for free on Top.gg

Auto Translate is an Orax Plus feature. You don't need to pay anything to use it, though — Orax Plus can be unlocked for free by voting for the bot on Top.gg. Each vote grants about one week of Orax Plus on your server, and you can re-vote whenever you want to extend it.

Here's how to do it:

1. Vote for Orax on Top.gg. Go to Orax's Top.gg page.
2. Sign in with your Discord account.
3. Click the vote button. That's it — no payment, no subscription.
4. Go back to the Orax dashboard. Within a minute or two, your server should display the "Orax Plus" badge.

7Step 5 — Enable Auto Translate

Now that your server has Orax Plus, you can enable translation:

1. Open the Orax dashboard and select your server and group.
2. In the group settings, toggle "Translation" on.
3. Wait a few seconds — Orax saves the setting and the group becomes translation-ready.

You can also enable Auto Translate from Discord directly by running the /manage-group command and toggling translation from there.

8Step 6 — Set the target language per channel

Auto Translate is enabled at the group level, but the target language is configured per channel. This is what lets each community read the messages in its own language.

To set a language:

1. In the dashboard, open your group and click on a linked channel.
2. Open the channel settings.
3. Under "Translation language", pick the language for this channel.
4. Save — the change applies instantly.

Repeat for every channel in the group. Orax supports English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese and many more. If you don't set a language on a channel, it inherits the group's default language.

Send a test message in one channel and check that it shows up translated in the others. If it does, your multilingual Discord server is ready.

9What gets protected during translation

Translation can be destructive if the bot mishandles Discord-specific syntax. Orax protects the following elements and restores them verbatim after translation:

• User and role mentions (@username, @role) — preserved exactly.
• Custom emojis (<:emoji_name:123>) — preserved exactly.
• URLs (https://…) — preserved exactly.
• Code blocks and inline code — preserved exactly.

In other words, your message keeps its Discord formatting, mentions and links — only the natural-language part is translated.

10Tips for a smooth multilingual server

A few small habits go a long way when running a multilingual community:

• Pin a quick note in each language channel explaining that messages are auto-translated, so newcomers know what to expect.
• Avoid slang and very idiomatic expressions — they translate less reliably than plain, neutral language.
• Encourage members to write in clear, complete sentences when possible — short fragments translate fine but context-heavy jokes often lose meaning.
• Set the language per channel rather than per member — it's easier to manage and aligns the whole channel around one locale.
• Re-vote on Top.gg every week so Auto Translate never gets disabled on your server.