cuimao-translator

---
name: cuimao-translator
description: Translate English PDF books into natural Chinese with three quality modes. Preserves original meaning sentence-by-sentence while producing fluent Chinese prose. Use this skill whenever the user wants to translate a PDF book, convert English books to Chinese, localize English content into Chinese, or mentions "翻译", "汉化", "英译中", "PDF翻译", "精翻", "速译" in the context of PDF or document translation. Also triggers for "translate this book", "帮我翻译这本", "汉化这个PDF", or any task where English PDF content needs to become natural Chinese text.
---

# PDF Book Translator (English → Chinese)

Three-mode translation skill for turning English PDF books into natural, fluent Chinese. The core commitment is **sentence-by-sentence fidelity** — every sentence in the original must exist in the translation, with no meaning added or lost — while reading as if written by a skilled Chinese author.

## Modes

Choose the right depth for the task:

| Mode | Trigger | Steps | Best for |
|------|---------|-------|----------|
| **Quick** 速译 | "快翻", "quick", "速译" | Read → Translate | Quick look, short standalone pieces, checking what a passage says |
| **Normal** 标准 | default, "翻译", "汉化" | Analyze → Translate | Most book chapters, blog posts, general content |
| **Refined** 精翻 | "精翻", "refined", "精细翻译" | Analyze → Draft → Review → Revise → Polish | Publication-quality output, key chapters, final delivery |

### Auto-detection
- "快翻", "quick", "直接翻译", "快速翻译", "速译" → **Quick**
- "精翻", "refined", "精细翻译", "出版级", "深度翻译", "精译" → **Refined**
- Everything else → **Normal** (default)

### Mode upgrade
After Normal mode completes, ask:
> 翻译已保存。如需进一步审校润色，回复 **"继续润色"** 或 **"refine"**。

If user agrees, proceed with Review → Revise → Polish (same as Refined mode Steps 4-6) on the existing output.

## Style Presets

Control the voice and tone of the Chinese output:

| Style | When to use | Characteristics |
|-------|-------------|-----------------|
| `literal` 逐句忠实 | Technical manuals, legal docs, when precision is paramount | Closest to English sentence structure, minimal restructuring |
| `storytelling` 叙事流畅 | Novels, memoirs, narrative non-fiction | Smooth transitions, vivid phrasing, natural Chinese rhythm |
| `elegant` 文采典雅 | Literary fiction, poetry, refined essays | Polished prose, four-character phrases, rhythmic beauty |
| `academic` 学术严谨 | Scholarly works, textbooks, research | Formal register, precise terminology, citation-aware |
| `conversational` 口语自然 | Dialogue-heavy books, informal memoirs, self-help | Casual, approachable, as if speaking to the reader |

If no style is specified, detect from the book's content and tone. For most books, `storytelling` is a safe default. `literal` is recommended for technical reference material.

## Core Translation Philosophy

### 信 Faithfulness — The anchor
- Every English sentence must have a corresponding Chinese sentence
- Facts, numbers, logic, and proper names must match exactly
- Never summarize, skip, or embellish
- Every paragraph break, emphasis, and structural choice from the original must be preserved

### 达 Fluency — The craft  
- The Chinese must read naturally, **not like translated text**
- Reorder clauses into natural Chinese topic-comment structure
- Drop unnecessary English connectives (and, but, that, which)
- Break long English sentences into natural Chinese breath groups (意群), 7-15 characters each
- Use proper Chinese rhythm: alternate long and short sentences
- **Active voice over passive**: Chinese uses 被 far less than English uses passive. Prefer 由/受/让 or restructure into topic-comment
- **Verb complements over adverbs**: "walked slowly" → "走得很慢", not "慢慢地走"

### 雅 Cultural Adaptation — The art
- When English idioms, slang, cultural references, or metaphors cannot be directly translated, find Chinese equivalents that convey the same meaning and emotional impact
- Think about what a Chinese reader would understand, not what the English words literally say
- For cultural references unknown to Chinese readers, add brief inline explanation: **（译注：...）**
- For puns/wordplay that cannot be translated, translate the meaning and note the wordplay in translator's note

## Native Chinese Quality Checklist

After translating, especially in Normal and Refined modes, self-review for these common "translation-ese" problems:

### Europeanized Chinese (欧化中文) — The 6 Red Flags

1. **过度使用"被"字句**: "He was praised" → "他受到了表扬" (not "他被表扬了")
2. **不必要的连接词堆砌**: "因为...所以...", "虽然...但是...", "当...的时候" — Chinese often omits these when context is clear
3. **定语堆叠过长**: English long pre-modifiers → Split into multiple short clauses in Chinese
4. **"之一"泛滥**: "one of the most..." → "极其..." / "...得很", not always "...之一"
5. **"的"字密度过高**: If three or more 的 appear in one sentence, restructure
6. **名词化泛滥**: "the implementation of..." → "实施..." (verb), not "...的实施" (noun phrase)

### Rhythm & Breath

- Read the Chinese aloud in your mind. Does it breathe naturally?
- Alternate sentence lengths. Three long sentences in a row → break one up
- Use four-character phrases (四字格) sparingly for rhythm, not ornamentation
- Chinese prose values 留白 (suggested space) — don't over-explain what the original leaves implied

## Output Format

Chinese-only translation. Do NOT include the English original. The reader wants a clean Chinese reading experience.

### Full book structure

```
# [Book Title] — 中文翻译

## 翻译说明
- 原文：[Book Title] by [Author]
- 翻译方式：逐句翻译（[模式]模式，[风格]风格）
- 翻译原则：信（忠实原文）、达（中文流畅）、雅（文化适配）

---

## Chapter N: [Chapter Title]

### [Section heading if any]

中文翻译段落内容。

中文翻译段落内容。

---

*— 第 N 章完 —*
```

- Preserve all chapter and section structure from the original PDF
- Skip PDF page numbers and running headers
- Output Chinese only, no English original
- Add `---` between chapters, `*— 第 N 章完 —*` at chapter end

## Workflow

### Step 0: Choose Mode & Style

If the user hasn't specified, auto-detect from their phrasing. For books, Normal mode is the default starting point. If the user's quality expectation is unclear, ask briefly: "用标准模式还是精翻模式？精翻模式会逐章审校润色，质量更高但耗时更长。"

### Step 1: Pre-Translation Analysis

**Quick mode**: Skip analysis, translate directly.

**Normal & Refined modes**: Before translating, do a lightweight content analysis. Save as `[book-title]-analysis.md`:

```
## 内容概要
- 主题领域、核心论点
- 作者背景和写作立场
- 目标读者

## 术语提取
| 英文 | 中文 | 备注 |
|------|------|------|
| term | 翻译 | context |

## 语气与风格
- 正式/口语化？幽默/严肃？
- 叙事视角（第一人称/第三人称/全知？）
- 建议的翻译风格：[style preset]

## 翻译难点预警
- [具体段落/表达] → 难点类型（隐喻/文化梗/长难句/双关）→ 建议处理方式
```

For books, this analysis is done once for the entire book (scan first 10-20 pages + table of contents). The analysis informs all subsequent chunk translations, ensuring consistency.

### Step 2: Read & Translate

**Quick mode**: Read PDF pages → Translate directly → Write to `[filename]-chinese.md`.

**Normal mode**: Read chunk → Translate paragraph-by-paragraph, informed by analysis → Append to output.

**Refined mode**: Full five-step pipeline per chapter (see Refined Workflow below).

### Step 3: Chunking Strategy for Books

Books are translated chapter by chapter, with chapters further split if they exceed ~3000 English words.

For each chunk:
1. Read the PDF pages using the Read tool
2. Translate paragraph by paragraph, applying:
   - The terminology table from Step 1 analysis (be consistent across all chunks)
   - The chosen style preset
   - All translation principles from this skill
3. Self-check: Did every English sentence get translated? Does the Chinese read naturally?
4. Write to the output file (Write for first chunk, Edit to append subsequent chunks)
5. Report progress: "已翻译 第N章 (Px-Py)，共约 Z 页"

**Terminology consistency across chunks**: Before translating each new chunk, review the terminology table from the analysis. When encountering a term already in the table, use the established translation. When encountering a new term, add it to the table.

### Resuming interrupted work
1. Read the existing outpu