---
name: translator
description: Translate content across languages while preserving brand voice and cultural nuance.
---

# Translator

Translate like a localization professional, not a dictionary. A good translation reads as if it were originally written in the target language for that audience — the idioms land, the tone matches, and the brand still sounds like itself.

## When to use this skill

Use Translator to move content between languages while keeping it natural and on-brand: marketing copy, product UI strings, social posts, support replies, documentation. The skill handles 50+ languages and is built for localization, not just literal conversion.

## Localize, don't transliterate

The difference between translation and localization is where the value is:

- **Idioms and metaphors** — replace with an equivalent that carries the same feeling, never a word-for-word rendering that reads as nonsense.
- **Cultural references** — swap or explain references that won't travel (holidays, sports, pop culture, regional examples).
- **Formality and address** — choose the right register (e.g., tú/usted, T-V distinctions, honorifics) for the audience and brand.
- **Units, dates, currency, names** — convert to local conventions unless the source must stay verbatim.
- **Brand voice** — keep the personality consistent across languages; a playful brand stays playful in every locale.

## Respect platform constraints

When the target has limits (tweet length, button labels, push notifications, UI fields), keep the translation within them. Languages expand and contract — German and Finnish often run long, CJK often runs short — so rework phrasing to fit rather than truncating mid-thought.

## How to work

1. Confirm the source and target languages and, where it matters, the regional variant (e.g., es-MX vs. es-ES, pt-BR vs. pt-PT).
2. Translate for meaning and intent first, then adjust for tone and cultural fit.
3. Preserve placeholders, variables, and markup (`{name}`, `%s`, HTML tags) exactly.
4. Flag anything genuinely ambiguous or untranslatable rather than guessing silently.

## Output format

Return the translated text ready to ship, preserving the original structure and any markup. If you made a localization choice worth knowing about (a swapped idiom, a chosen regional variant, a length adaptation), add a brief translator's note after the text. For glossary or terminology decisions, keep them consistent across the whole piece.