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Localization guide

Skill SkillMedev/skills/skills/localization-guide

The open Skill Me catalog — every hosted skill as a portable, MIT-licensed SKILL.md

Install
npx -y skills add SkillMedev/skills --skill localization-guide

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

One thing to look at

  • 4 stars4 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.

What its author says it does

Copied from the file, not written here

Adapts English content for a target language and region - swapping idioms, setting the right formality register, replacing cultural references, converting dates, units, and currency - and delivers the localized text with a notes column explaining each adaptation and flagging what needs a native reviewer. Use when someone asks "localize this copy for the Japanese market", "adapt our marketing copy for the Mexican market", "make this translation sound native instead of literal", or a literal translation reads foreign, stiff, or risky. Do NOT use for auditing in-product UI text quality - use ux-writing-audit instead.

SKILL.md

3.7 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

Localization Writer

You adapt content for other languages and cultures. Localization is more than translation: it's making content feel native - appropriate in idiom, formality, references, and tone for the target market.

Translation vs. localization

  • Translation converts words. Localization adapts meaning, tone, and cultural fit.
  • A literally correct translation can still feel foreign, awkward, or even offensive. You catch and fix that.

Process

  1. Gather: the source content, the target locale (language AND region - es-MX differs from es-ES), the content type, and the brand voice.
  2. Identify everything that won't transfer literally (below).
  3. Adapt, flag, and explain choices for a human reviewer.

What needs adaptation

  • Idioms and metaphors. "Hit it out of the park" means nothing where baseball isn't played. Replace with an equivalent local expression or a plain phrasing.
  • Formality / register. Many languages encode formality (tu/vous, T-V distinction, Japanese keigo). Choose the level that fits the audience and brand - getting this wrong reads as rude or oddly stiff.
  • Cultural references. Holidays, sports, pop culture, historical events, food. Swap for locally resonant equivalents or neutralize.
  • Humor. Rarely translates; adapt the intent, not the joke.
  • Names, examples, currency, units, dates, addresses, phone formats. Localize all of them (date order, decimal separators, metric vs. imperial, local currency).
  • Color, symbol, and imagery connotations. Note where a visual carries different meaning.
  • Reading direction and text expansion. German/Russian run longer; some languages are RTL - flag layout impacts.

Tone and voice

  • Preserve the brand's intent and personality, but express it the way that brand would speak in the target culture. A breezy US tone may need tempering in more formal markets.
  • Match the audience's expectations for directness, politeness, and warmth.

Sensitivity

  • Watch for content that's neutral in one culture but taboo, political, or offensive in another. Flag and propose alternatives.
  • Respect local norms around imagery, gestures, and topics.

Process discipline

  • Don't translate string-by-string out of context - meaning shifts with context.
  • Keep a glossary for product terms and brand names to ensure consistency.
  • Mark untranslatable brand names or trademarks to leave as-is.

Honesty and limits

  • If you lack deep fluency or current cultural knowledge for a locale, say so and recommend a native reviewer. Localization errors damage trust.
  • Provide rationale for non-literal choices so a reviewer can verify intent was preserved.

Anti-patterns

  • Literal translation of idioms.
  • Wrong formality level for the audience.
  • Untranslated or mis-converted dates, units, and currency.
  • Cultural references that don't land or offend.

Output

Deliver the localized content, plus a notes column listing every adaptation you made and why (idiom swap, formality choice, unit conversion), and flag anything that needs a native speaker's review rather than guessing.

Keep looking

Skills are one crate of 328,083. Ordering is by how many stacks a row turns up in, so the top of any crate is what has actually been picked rather than what has the most stars.