Translate

Iron Law

Never start a translation without specifying the style mode (literal/natural/creative).

Red Flags

• "I'll translate it word by word to be safe" → STOP, because literal translation is only appropriate in --style literal mode — the default is natural, which restructures for fluency.
• "Korean doesn't have an equivalent for this idiom, I'll keep it in English" → STOP, because creative mode adapts cultural references and natural mode finds idiomatic equivalents — only literal mode preserves source idioms.
• "I'll just pick a style as I go" → STOP, because the Iron Law requires specifying the style mode (literal/natural/creative) before starting — never begin without it.
• "The code block has comments, I should translate those too" → STOP, because code inside fences and backticks is never translated — only surrounding prose and comments outside code blocks may be translated in creative mode.
• "존댓말 and 반말 both work here" → STOP, because mixing speech levels within a single translation is forbidden — pick one level (default 해요체) and maintain it throughout.

Translate

Translate content between English and Korean (EN↔KO) while preserving formatting, voice, and technical accuracy.

When to Use

• The user asks to translate text, a document, or content between English and Korean
• Another skill needs bilingual output
• Any prompt like "번역해줘", "translate this", "영어로", "한국어로"

Workflow

1. Detect source and target languages from the prompt. If ambiguous, ask: "What is the target language — English or Korean?"
2. If .data/soul/SOUL.md exists, read ## Tone Rules to align translation voice with user preferences.
3. Load glossary if available: read references/glossary.md for technical term mappings. If the file doesn't exist, proceed without it.
4. Dispatch Smeargle (writer/opus) to produce the translation draft, passing source text, target language, style, format mode, glossary terms, and soul tone rules as context.
5. Dispatch Ditto (editor/opus) for QA review: verify accuracy, formatting preservation, natural phrasing, and glossary compliance.
6. Address all Critical and Major QA findings. Minor findings may be deferred.
7. Auto-save the result.

Options

Flag	Values	Default
--style	literal|natural|creative	natural
--format	preserve|adapt	preserve
--source	en|ko	auto-detect
--target	en|ko	opposite of source
--glossary	file path	references/glossary.md
--skip-qa	flag	off
--input	file path	none

Style Modes

Style	Behavior
literal	Closest possible 1:1 translation. Preserves sentence structure and word order where grammatically valid. Suitable for legal, contractual, or specification documents.
natural	Fluent, idiomatic translation that reads as if originally written in the target language. Restructures sentences for natural flow. Default for most content.
creative	Adapts meaning, idioms, and cultural references for the target audience. May restructure paragraphs. Suitable for marketing copy, newsletters, and social content.

Format Modes

Mode	Behavior
preserve	Keep the original document structure intact: headings, bullet order, table layout, code block positions. Translate only the natural-language content.
adapt	Localize the document structure for the target culture. Korean→English may flatten nested honorific structures. English→Korean may add contextual headers. Reorder sections if culturally appropriate.

Soul-Aware Voice Resolution

Voice is resolved in this priority order:

1. --style flag (explicit override — always wins)
2. ## Tone Rules in .data/soul/SOUL.md (personal preferences — merge with style)
3. Target language conventions as baseline

If .data/soul/SOUL.md exists, read its ## Tone Rules section and treat those rules as non-negotiable constraints on top of the selected style. Soul tone rules override language defaults but never override an explicit --style flag.

Formatting Preservation Rules

These elements MUST be preserved exactly in all modes:

• Markdown headings: #, ##, ### hierarchy maintained
• Code blocks: Never translate content inside ``` fences. Translate only surrounding comments if --style creative.
• Inline code: Never translate content inside backticks
• Tables: Preserve column count and alignment. Translate cell content only.
• Links: Preserve URLs. Translate link text only.
• HTML tags: Preserve tags. Translate inner text only.
• YAML frontmatter: Preserve keys. Translate values only when they are human-readable strings.
• Bullet/numbered lists: Preserve nesting depth and numbering scheme.
• Emphasis: Preserve **bold**, *italic*, ~~strikethrough~~ markers around translated text.

Glossary Support

The glossary file maps technical terms bidirectionally:

| EN | KO | Notes |
|----|-----|-------|
| agent | 에이전트 | Do not translate as 대리인 in tech context |
| skill | 스킬 | Use 스킬 not 기술 for this project |
| hook | 훅 | Keep as 훅 in dev context |
| pipeline | 파이프라인 | |
| prompt | 프롬프트 | |

When a glossary entry exists, the mapped term MUST be used. When no glossary entry exists, use the most contextually appropriate translation.

If --glossary points to a custom file, load that instead of the default.

Language-Specific Rules

English → Korean

• Default speech level: 해요체 (polite informal). Override with soul tone rules if they specify a different level.
• Preserve technical terms in their original English when no established Korean equivalent exists (e.g., "CI/CD" stays "CI/CD").
• Numbers and units: keep Arabic numerals. Convert units only if --format adapt.

Korean → English

• Drop honorific markers unless --style literal.
• Convert Korean-specific cultural references to English equivalents in creative mode.
• Preserve Korean proper nouns in Revised Romanization unless a common English name exists.

Auto-Save

After QA (or after translation if --skip-qa), save the final content:

• Path: .captures/translate-{source}-to-{target}-{slug}-{YYYY-MM-DD}.md
• {slug} = topic lowercased, spaces to hyphens, max 40 chars
• Write the full content using the Write tool. Do NOT skip this step.
• Tell the user the saved path.

Gotchas

• Do not translate content inside code blocks or inline code.
• Do not guess the target language — detect from context or ask.
• Do not ignore glossary mappings when they exist.
• Do not skip QA unless --skip-qa is explicitly set.
• Do not flatten markdown structure in preserve mode.
• Do not mix speech levels (존댓말/반말) within a single translation.
• Do not translate proper nouns unless a glossary mapping exists.

Subagents

writer: { model: opus, constraint: "follow style mode, format mode, glossary, and soul tone rules" }
editor: { model: opus, constraint: "verify accuracy, formatting preservation, glossary compliance, and natural phrasing" }