BabelChat

Break the language barrier in World of Warcraft
Real-time chat translation with a smart overlay — companion app + WoW addon

Русская версия | Versión en español

 

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The Problem

You join a PUG raid. The tank explains tactics — in Spanish. The healer asks something — in German. You speak English (or Russian, or French). Nobody understands each other. The pull happens, people die, and someone types "gg noob" — the only phrase everyone knows.

This happens constantly in WoW's cross-realm and cross-region groups. Language barriers ruin coordination, cause wipes, and make the game less fun.

The Solution

BabelChat translates WoW chat in real time. A tiny addon captures messages directly from the game; a companion app translates them via DeepL and shows results in a sleek overlay on top of WoW.

You see the original message instantly. The translation appears 0.5–2 seconds later.

Common phrases like "gg", "ty", "ready?", "pull" translate instantly from a built-in phrasebook — no API call, no delay. Full sentences go through DeepL and arrive within 1–2 seconds. The same message is never translated twice (cached).

When is BabelChat useful?

• Cross-realm PUGs — understand the Spanish tank's tactics, the German healer's callouts
• International guilds — follow guild chat in your language without asking "english pls"
• Playing on foreign servers — joined a French or Korean realm? Chat is now readable
• Raid leading — give commands in your language, players see them in theirs (via outgoing translator)
• Whispers from strangers — understand that random whisper in Portuguese

Key Features

• Streaming translation — original appears instantly, translation follows 0.5–2s later
• Auto language detection — offline, ~1ms per message (lingua-py)
• 22 target languages — EN, RU, DE, FR, ES, IT, PT, PL, NL, SV, DA, FI, CS, RO, HU, BG, EL, TR, UK, JA, KO, ZH
• Smart overlay — WoW-themed dark UI, proper channel colors, click-through, draggable
• Bidirectional — translate incoming chat AND compose outgoing messages in any language
• Built-in phrasebook — 45 phrases + 30 gaming abbreviations translated instantly without API
• WoW glossary — 314 gaming terms (lfm, wts, dps, tank, etc.) in 14 languages
• Channel filters — Party, Raid, Guild, Say/Yell, Whisper, Instance
• DeepL Free API — 500,000 characters/month free (~10K messages)
• Translation cache — thread-safe SQLite + LRU, same text never translated twice
• Global hotkeys — toggle translation without leaving the game
• One-click addon install — setup wizard handles everything

Why Does Translation Take 0.5–2 Seconds?

BabelChat uses progressive rendering (streaming):

1. You see the original message immediately (0ms delay)
2. Translation appears below it when DeepL responds (0.5–2s)

The delay comes from the DeepL API round-trip — your text travels to DeepL's servers, gets translated by a neural network, and comes back. This is the same latency as Google Translate or any cloud translation service.

What's instant (no delay):

• Gaming abbreviations: gg, ty, brb, afk, wp, lol — translated from built-in phrasebook
• Common phrases: "hello", "thanks", "ready?", "good game" — phrasebook
• Repeated messages — served from cache
• Messages in your own language — shown without translation

What takes 0.5–2s:

• Full sentences in foreign languages — DeepL API call required
• First occurrence of any phrase — subsequent ones are cached

How It Works

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  World of Warcraft                                       │
│                                                          │
│  BabelChat addon                                         │
│  ├── Hooks CHAT_MSG_* events via standard WoW API        │
│  ├── Ring buffer (50 messages)                           │
│  └── Writes to BabelChatDB.wctbuf (Lua SavedVariable)   │
└──────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
           │  ReadProcessMemory (every 250ms)
           ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Companion App (Python, runs as admin)                   │
│                                                          │
│  Memory Reader ──→ Parser ──→ Language Detector          │
│       │                           │                      │
│       │    Phrasebook (instant) ──┤                      │
│       │    Cache (instant)  ──────┤                      │
│       │    DeepL API (0.5-2s) ────┤                      │
│       │                           ▼                      │
│       └───────────────→ Smart Overlay (PyQt6)            │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Why a companion app (not just an addon)?

WoW's Lua sandbox cannot make HTTP requests. The addon can capture chat and show UI, but cannot call DeepL or any translation API. The companion app bridges this gap by reading the addon's memory buffer from outside the game.

BabelChat only reads memory — it never writes, injects, or automates anything. Warden (WoW's anti-cheat) does not flag read-only access.

Why not just read WoWChatLog.txt? We tried. WoW buffers the chat log file with a ~4KB write buffer and flushes unpredictably — delays range from 1 to 5+ minutes. Messages arrive in random-order bursts, not in real time. For a translator, that's useless. Our addon writes to a Lua string in memory, and the companion reads it via ReadProcessMemory every 250ms — giving us sub-second latency.

For comparison: WeakAuras Companion reads SavedVariables files from disk (minutes of delay, needs /reload). WarcraftLogs tails the combat log file (fast for combat events, but not available for chat). No existing companion app achieves real-time chat reading — BabelChat's memory-reading approach is unique in the ecosystem.

Upgrading from ChatTranslatorHelper

If you used our previous addon (ChatTranslatorHelper, TWW era), BabelChat automatically migrates your settings. Just install BabelChat and delete the old ChatTranslatorHelper folder from Interface/AddOns/.

Installation

Quick Start

1. Download BabelChat.zip from Releases
2. Extract and run BabelChat.exe as Administrator
3. Follow the setup wizard (get a free DeepL API key, set WoW path, install addon)
4. Launch WoW, join a group — translations appear automatically

From Source

git clone https://github.com/Yumash/BabelChat.git
cd BabelChat
pip install -r requirements.txt
python -m app.main  # run as Administrator

WoW Addon (Manual)

Copy addon/BabelChat/ to World of Warcraft/_retail_/Interface/AddOns/BabelChat/

WoW Glossary

BabelChat includes a dictionary of 314 gaming terms in 14 languages, organized by category:

Category	Examples	Count
Social	ty, thx, np, gj, lol, gg, brb, omw	71
Classes & Specs	warrior, dk, ret, bm, disc, resto	59
Raid & Dungeon	trash, wipe, nerf, ninja, boe, cd	54
Combat	aggro, aoe, cc, dps, heal, tank, dot	33
Groups	lfm, lf1m, lf2m, premade	29
Stats	hp, mana, crit, haste, mastery	19
Professions	jc, bs, enchant, herb, alch, tailor	17
Status	afk, oom, brb, omw	11
Trade	wtb, wts, wtt, cod, mats, bis	8
Roles	tank, healer, dps	7
Guild	gm, officer, recruit, gbank	5

Dictionary terms are shown as clean annotations below the original message — the chat stays readable.

Contributing terms

Adding a new term is simple. Edit the relevant addon/BabelChat/Data/*.lua file:

["newterm"] = {
    enUS = "English translation",
    esES = "Traducción española",
    ruRU = "Русский перевод",
    deDE = "Deutsche Übersetzung",
    frFR = "Traduction française",
    -- ... (14 languages total)
},

Blizzard ToS Compliance

Aspect	Status
Memory reading	Read-only. No writing, no injection. Warden does not flag read-only access
Overlay	Allowed. Same as Discord Overlay
Addon API	Standard CHAT_MSG_* hooks. Used by every chat addon
No injection	No DLL injection, no hooking, no writing to WoW memory
No automation	No automated actions. Outgoing translation via manual clipboard paste

Limitations

• Windows only — ReadProcessMemory is a Windows API
• Requires Administrator — memory reading needs elevated privileges
• DeepL Free limit — 500K chars/month (~10K messages). Paid plans available
• Outgoing messages — copy → paste in WoW chat (by design, ToS compliance)

Tech Stack

Component	Technology
App	Python 3.12, PyQt6
Memory Reader	pymem (ReadProcessMemory)
Language Detection	lingua-py (offline)
Translation	DeepL API
Cache	SQLite + LRU
Build	PyInstaller → single .exe
Addon	Lua 5.1, WoW API
Tests	133 tests (pytest)

Development

python -m app.main    # Run
pytest                # Test (133 tests)
ruff check app/       # Lint
pyinstaller build.spec  # Build .exe

Support the Project

This project is a collaboration between two authors:

Component	Author	Support
WoW Glossary — 314 terms in 14 languages, in-game dictionary idea	Pirson	Buy Me a Coffee
Companion App — overlay, DeepL translation, memory reader, streaming	Andrey Yumashev	Donate

Documentation

• User Guide — quick start, configuration, FAQ
• Technical Docs — architecture, memory reader, pipeline, addon internals

Acknowledgements

• WoW Translator by Pirson (MIT License) — WoW term glossary in 14 languages. BabelChat's dictionary is based on this addon's data.

Authors

• Andrey Yumashev — @Yumash — companion app, overlay, memory reader
• Pirson — CurseForge — WoW dictionary engine and data
• Claude (Anthropic) — AI co-author

License

MIT License