diff --git a/beet/contrib/babelbox.py b/beet/contrib/babelbox.py
index 6778f14f..4a6af866 100644
--- a/beet/contrib/babelbox.py
+++ b/beet/contrib/babelbox.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ class BabelboxOptions(PluginOptions):
     dialect: Optional[str] = None
     namespace: str = "minecraft"
     filename_prefix: bool = False
+    unicode_escape: bool = False
 
 
 def beet_default(ctx: Context):
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ def babelbox(ctx: Context, opts: BabelboxOptions):
                     path=path,
                     dialect=opts.dialect,
                     prefix=Path(path).stem + "." if opts.filename_prefix else "",
+                    unicode_escape=opts.unicode_escape,
                 )
             )
 
@@ -65,6 +67,7 @@ def load_languages(
     path: FileSystemPath,
     dialect: Optional[DialectLike] = None,
     prefix: str = "",
+    unicode_escape: bool = False,
 ) -> Dict[str, Language]:
     """Return a dictionnary mapping each column to a language file."""
     with open(path, encoding="utf-8", newline="") as csv_file:
@@ -85,6 +88,8 @@ def load_languages(
 
             for code in language_codes:
                 if value := row[code]:
+                    if unicode_escape:
+                        value = value.encode("utf-8").decode("unicode_escape")
                     languages[code].data[identifier] = value
                 else:
                     logger.warning(
diff --git a/examples/load_babelbox/beet.json b/examples/load_babelbox/beet.json
index ef533377..b76ec0da 100644
--- a/examples/load_babelbox/beet.json
+++ b/examples/load_babelbox/beet.json
@@ -25,6 +25,15 @@
           "namespace": "demo"
         }
       }
+    },
+    {
+      "pipeline": ["beet.contrib.babelbox"],
+      "meta": {
+        "babelbox": {
+          "load": ["unicode_escape.csv"],
+          "unicode_escape": true
+        }
+      }
     }
   ]
 }
diff --git a/examples/load_babelbox/unicode_escape.csv b/examples/load_babelbox/unicode_escape.csv
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f9840802
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/load_babelbox/unicode_escape.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+id,en_us
+entity.gm4.congealed_shard,"Congealed Soul Shard\u00A7"
+entity.gm4.fire_sprite,"Fire Sprite ""named bob"""
diff --git a/tests/snapshots/examples__build_load_babelbox__1.resource_pack/assets/minecraft/lang/en_us.json b/tests/snapshots/examples__build_load_babelbox__1.resource_pack/assets/minecraft/lang/en_us.json
index 4a0f28a1..83753f90 100644
--- a/tests/snapshots/examples__build_load_babelbox__1.resource_pack/assets/minecraft/lang/en_us.json
+++ b/tests/snapshots/examples__build_load_babelbox__1.resource_pack/assets/minecraft/lang/en_us.json
@@ -5,5 +5,7 @@
   "other.prefix.bar": "u1",
   "other.prefix.baz": "v1",
   "foo.hello": "1",
-  "foo.world": "4"
+  "foo.world": "4",
+  "entity.gm4.congealed_shard": "Congealed Soul Shard\u00a7",
+  "entity.gm4.fire_sprite": "Fire Sprite \"named bob\""
 }