translation-files/skills/translation/SKILL.md

name, description, inputs, outputs

name	description	inputs	outputs
translation	Translate Chinese↔English Buddhist/Dharma content — register guidance from Mindfulness Bell corpus, tone, voice, cultural bridging technique.	source.dj (Chinese djot), or .docx via docx2dj.fish	target.dj (English djot), bilingual.dj, edit-suggestions.dj

Translation

Core translation technique for Buddhist/Dharma content. Conventions (djot format, terms DB query, workflows, output format) are in AGENTS.md.

Source context

Before translating, understand the source's format and delivery context. Is it a transcript of an oral talk, a book excerpt, a guided meditation script, a Q&A, a written article, or another genre? The register shapes the translation. If the context is not clear from the file path or source content, ask the user before proceeding.

Mindfulness Bell Corpus

English Buddhist prose — register/style reference for translation.

• PDFs + index: ~/meta/www.files/public/The Mindfulness Bell/ — 6 issues (MB92–MB97, 2023–2026), index.yaml lists all articles by author/title/page
• Articles: ~/documents/jingxin-lessons/Mindfulness Bell/MB{92..97}/*.md — per-issue markdown files. Read with read_file.

Four registers, useful as style targets:

Register	Example	Key features
Dharma talk	Thầy (MB94 "Roses and Garbage", MB97 "Go as a River")	Short sentences, concrete images, coined terms ("interbeing"), oral address, Sanskrit with narrative explanation
Teaching lineage	Sister Đoan Nghiêm (MB93 "Our Patriarch Liễu Quán")	"We" voice, terms explained, cultural bridging ("like Jesus"), dates in narrative
Personal narrative	Mick McEvoy (MB94 "Touching the True Nature")	First-person, confessional, borrowed Dharma vocabulary, vernacular
Editorial	Brother Pháp Lưu (MB94 welcome letter)	Polished but warm, conceptual framing, "we" address

Quick-find in index: Thầy talks → "Thích Nhất Hạnh" + page ≤ 10; teachings → "Sister" or "Brother"; narratives → first-page articles by non-monastics; lineage → "Patriarch" or "ancestor".

Translation Principles

1. Terms: Either keep Sanskrit w/ narrative explanation (bodhisattva, Māra) OR coin new English (interbeing, inter-are). Avoid clunky calques.
2. Cultural bridging: Add bridges for Western readers. A Chinese text mentioning 孔子 can stay; explain the function. Đoan Nghiêm's "like Jesus" is the pattern.
3. Tone: Chinese Dharma texts are typically more formal than English equivalents. Decide consciously: keep formality or warm up (Thầy style).
4. Voice: Direct address ("you"), concrete images, and oral rhythm make Dharma land in English. Abstract noun chains (common in Chinese→English translationese) kill it.
5. Sutra quotes: Use standard English Buddhist idiom. Check terse-idiom conventions (e.g., Diamond Sutra "lives" not "bodies").

Pitfalls

Pre-flight accuracy check

Before delivering a translation, run through the structured accuracy/readability taxonomy in ../self-review/references/common-issues-taxonomy.md. Catching these before review saves iteration cycles:

• Omission, over-literal renderings, over-free renderings, subject confusion, overtranslation, terminology errors
• Long/nested sentences, passive voice clustering, nominalization, top-heavy structure, obscure word choices, weak transitions

1:1 line mapping

Each physical source line maps to exactly one physical target line. Never merge continuation lines (lines ending with soft breaks) into a single translation entry. The bilingual format preserves the original line structure — breaking this destroys alignment.

Blank lines in bilingual

When creating an initial bilingual template from source only: blank source lines pass through as-is. Only non-blank lines get an empty target placeholder. Treating blank lines as content lines (adding target+separator) creates excessive blank clusters. See references/bilingual-format.md.

Soft break markers

Trailing (two spaces) on source lines indicate soft line breaks (paragraph continuations). Preserve these markers on both source and target lines.

Practice element lists: use noun forms

When translating lists of Buddhist practice elements — especially the five essentials (皈依、发心、戒律、正见、止观) or similar enumerated components — render each as a noun phrase, not a gerund. "Refuge, aspiration, precepts, right view, śamatha-vipaśyanā" — not "taking refuge, arousing aspiration." These are named components of a system, not actions being described. The same applies to any catalog-style listing (三学, 八正道 components, etc.).

Terminology decisions: user is the source of truth

When the user proposes a non-standard rendering (e.g. "人间佛教 should be 'Buddhism for daily lives'") or asks for your input ("although I don't know what X should be"), respond with a brief options table — strengths and weaknesses — and let them choose. Do NOT unilaterally commit to a rendering and start applying it across the file. The user often has a reason for their proposal (e.g. deliberate departure from terms DB convention) or a strong opinion they haven't voiced yet. Once they pick, then apply consistently and annotate in the inline {% %} comment WHY this rendering was chosen so future editors know it was deliberate, not a slip.

Polishing (润色)

After translating, do a deliberate readability pass before submitting for review. Read the English aloud — if a sentence can't be spoken in one breath, fix it.

These are common patterns (not an exhaustive list). For the full taxonomy with more categories and examples, read ../self-review/references/common-issues-taxonomy.md.

Examples of systematic adjustments:

1. Passive → active. Passive clusters (3+ per paragraph) are the top readability killer in CN→EN translation. If meat consumption were reduced → If people consume less meat.
2. Nominalization → verb. placed emphasis on cultivating → emphasized cultivating; the application of → applying.
3. Sentence splitting. If a sentence has 3+ clauses and runs past one breath, split it. The source's period is not a contract — English readers need shorter breath units than Chinese readers.
4. Academic → plain. constitute → make up; facilitate → help; endeavor to → try to; in order to → to. These texts are lectures and conversations, not journal articles.
5. Register match. Dharma talks and dialogues should sound spoken — contractions, direct address, concrete images. If the English reads like a paper abstract, warm it up. Check against the MB corpus registers for the target genre.
6. Review-specific calques. For 人生百问-style Q&A, check the pattern tables in ../self-review/references/translation-pitfalls.md for recurring stiff calques ("keen on," "more ultimate," "choice difficulty," etc.) and the Buddhist-term register notes in ../self-review/references/buddhist-terminology.md.

Do NOT apply these mechanically — each is a judgment call. A passive may be correct when the agent is unknown; a nominalization may be the right technical term. The goal is natural English that matches the source's register, not a formulaic rewrite.

Quality Gates (Before Declaring Done)

Run this self-check before you hand off a first-pass translation. The goal is to catch the most expensive errors while they are still cheap to fix. For the full post-translation review workflows, load self-review and other-review.

Accuracy

• Line parity: source and target line counts match exactly.
• No missing content: every Chinese paragraph, quote, poem, or rhetorical climax has a corresponding English rendering.
• No overtranslation: no parenthetical expansions or explanations not in the source.
• Terminology: key Buddhist terms checked against the MPI terms DB (terms-search skill). Consistent within the file.
• Source faithfulness: no concepts added, no details dropped.

Readability

• Active voice: abstract/subjectless passives converted to "we" or a concrete agent where possible.
• Noun → verb: the propagation of → spread; placed emphasis on → emphasized.
• Sentence length: no sentence that cannot be spoken in one breath; split at natural breaks.
• Plain vocabulary: constitute → is/make up; facilitate → help; endeavor to → try to.
• Register: match the genre — Dharma talks and dialogues should sound spoken, not like paper abstracts.
• Concrete over abstract: mode of existence → way of living; ideological content → ideas.

Final pass

Read the entire English target aloud. If anything stalls, rephrase it.

Meditation / Mindfulness Content

When translating guided meditation scripts, exercise guides, or posture instructions (rather than Dharma talks), use a lighter workflow. See references/meditation-translation.md.

Other Pitfalls

article-specific scripts

scripts/proofread-pdf.py is hardcoded for 佛教徒的人生态度 — body-start markers, header patterns, slug regex. Do NOT reuse for other articles. Create article-specific scripts per references/proofread-pdf-workflow.md.

References

• references/meditation-translation.md — lighter workflow for meditation/mindfulness content
• references/markdown-to-djot.md — converting .docx.md to .dj for translation prep
• references/bilingual-format.md — bilingual.dj layout: source/target adjacent, blank separator between pairs
• references/diacritics-convention.md — diacritics rules
• references/proofread-pdf-workflow.md — pattern for creating article-specific PDF-vs-DOCX comparison scripts
• ../self-review/references/common-issues-taxonomy.md (cross-skill) — structured accuracy/readability checklist for pre-flight review