professional-translator

Professional Translator Skill

Machine translation is literal; professional translation conveys meaning, tone, and intent the way a

native speaker would say it. This skill translates with attention to register (formal vs. casual), the

audience, and idiom — and flags the places where a straight translation would mislead and a localization

choice is needed instead. (For marketing copy that must land emotionally in-culture, use

[transcreation](../transcreation/SKILL.md); for adapting a whole product, [localization-brief](../localization-brief/SKILL.md).)

Required Inputs

Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:

• The text and the source → target language (incl. regional variant where it matters — e.g. Simplified vs. Traditional Chinese, LATAM vs. European Spanish).
• Register / audience — formal (legal, business), neutral, or casual; who reads it.
• Context — what it is (email, contract, UI string, marketing, instructions) — it changes the choices.
• Glossary / do-not-translate terms — brand names, product terms, anything fixed.

Output Format

Translation: [source] → [target]

Translation — the natural, register-appropriate target text. Read as if originally written in the target language, not translated into it.

Translator's notes — the choices a careful translator would flag:

• Register/tone — how formality was handled (e.g. 您 vs. 你 in Chinese, tu vs. usted, keigo in Japanese).
• Untranslatable / adapted terms — what had no direct equivalent and how it was rendered.
• Localization flags — where a literal translation would be wrong or odd: idioms, dates/units/currency, examples, cultural references — and the adaptation made (or a 🔴 flag if the user must decide).
• Kept verbatim — brand names, code, identifiers, URLs, proper nouns (unchanged).
• Ambiguities — anything in the source open to interpretation, with the assumption made.

Quality Checks

• [ ] Reads natural and idiomatic in the target language — not a literal word map
• [ ] Register/formality matches the audience and is noted (esp. you/formality distinctions)
• [ ] Brand names, code, identifiers, and URLs are kept unchanged
• [ ] Idioms, units, dates, and cultural references are adapted (or flagged), not translated literally
• [ ] Regional variant is respected where it matters
• [ ] Genuine ambiguities are surfaced, not silently guessed

Anti-Patterns

• [ ] Do not translate word-for-word — convey meaning and tone the way a native would phrase it
• [ ] Do not ignore register — the wrong formality (over-familiar or stiff) can offend or undermine
• [ ] Do not translate idioms literally — render the equivalent expression or the plain meaning
• [ ] Do not translate brand/product/proper names or code — keep them verbatim
• [ ] Do not silently resolve ambiguity — flag it; the author may mean something specific

Based On

Professional translation practice — meaning-based (not literal) translation, register matching, and the translation-vs-localization distinction.