Baoyu Translate

Step 4: Translate & Refine

Translation principles (apply to all modes):

• Accuracy first: Facts, data, and logic must match the original exactly
• Meaning over words: Translate what the author means, not just what the words say. When a literal translation sounds unnatural or fails to convey the intended effect, restructure freely to express the same meaning in idiomatic target language
• Figurative language: Interpret metaphors, idioms, and figurative expressions by their intended meaning rather than translating them word-for-word. When a source-language image does not carry the same connotation in the target language, replace it with a natural expression that conveys the same idea and emotional effect
• Emotional fidelity: Preserve the emotional connotations of word choices, not just their dictionary meanings. Words that carry subjective feelings (e.g., "alarming", "haunting") should be rendered to evoke the same response in target-language readers
• Natural flow: Use idiomatic target language word order and sentence patterns; break or restructure sentences freely when the source structure doesn't work naturally in the target language
• Terminology: Use standard translations; annotate with original term in parentheses on first occurrence
• Preserve format: Keep all markdown formatting (headings, bold, italic, images, links, code blocks)
• Image-language awareness: Preserve image references exactly during translation, but after the translation is complete, review referenced images and check whether their likely main text language still matches the translated article language
• Frontmatter transformation: If the source has YAML frontmatter, preserve it in the translation with these changes: (1) Rename metadata fields that describe the source article — url→sourceUrl, title→sourceTitle, description→sourceDescription, author→sourceAuthor, date→sourceDate, and any similar origin-metadata fields — by adding a source prefix (camelCase). (2) Translate the values of text fields (title, description, etc.) and add them as new top-level fields. (3) Keep other fields (tags, categories, custom fields) as-is, translating their values where appropriate
• Respect original: Maintain original meaning and intent; do not add, remove, or editorialize — but sentence structure and imagery may be adapted freely to serve the meaning
• Translator's notes: For terms, concepts, or cultural references that target readers may not understand — due to jargon, cultural gaps, or domain-specific knowledge — add a concise explanatory note in parentheses immediately after the term. The note should explain what it means in plain language, not just provide the English original. Format: 译文（English original，通俗解释）. Calibrate annotation depth to the target audience: general readers need more notes than technical readers. For short texts (< 5 sentences), further reduce annotations — only annotate non-common terms that the target audience is unlikely to know; skip terms that are widely recognized or self-explanatory in context. Only add notes where genuinely needed; do not over-annotate obvious terms.

Quick Mode

Translate directly → save to translation.md. No analysis file, but still apply all translation principles above — especially: interpret figurative language by meaning (not word-for-word), preserve emotional connotations, and restructure sentences for natural target-language flow.

Normal Mode

1. Analyze → 01-analysis.md (domain, tone, audience, terminology, reader comprehension challenges, figurative language & metaphor mapping)
2. Assemble prompt → 02-prompt.md (translation instructions with inlined style preset, content background, glossary, and comprehension challenges)
3. Translate (following 02-prompt.md) → translation.md

After completion, prompt user: "Translation saved. To further review and polish, reply 继续润色 or refine."

If user continues, proceed with critical review → revision → polish (same as refined mode Steps 4-6 below), saving 03-draft.md (rename current translation.md), 04-critique.md, 05-revision.md, and updated translation.md.

Refined Mode

Full workflow for publication quality. See references/refined-workflow.md for detailed guidelines per step.

The subagent (if used in Step 3.1) only handles the initial draft. All subsequent steps (critical review, revision, polish) are handled by the main agent, which may delegate to subagents at its discretion.

Steps and saved files (all in output directory):

1. Analyze → 01-analysis.md (domain, tone, terminology, reader comprehension challenges, figurative language & metaphor mapping)
2. Assemble prompt → 02-prompt.md (translation instructions with inlined context)
3. Draft → 03-draft.md (initial translation with translator's notes; from subagent if chunked)
4. Critical review → 04-critique.md (diagnosis only: accuracy, Europeanized language, strategy execution, expression issues)
5. Revision → 05-revision.md (apply all critique findings to produce revised translation)
6. Polish → translation.md (final publication-quality translation)

Each step reads the previous step's file and builds on it.

Step 5: Output

Final translation is always at translation.md in the output directory.

After the final translation is written, do a lightweight image-language pass:

1. Collect image references from the translated article
2. Identify likely text-heavy images such as covers, screenshots, diagrams, charts, frameworks, and infographics
3. If any image likely contains a main text language that does not match the translated article language, proactively remind the user
4. The reminder must be a list only. Do not automatically localize those images unless the user asks

Reminder format (use whatever image syntax the article already uses — standard markdown or wikilink):

Possible image localization needed:
- ![example cover](attachments/example-cover.png): likely still contains source-language text while the article is now in target language
- ![example diagram](attachments/example-diagram.png): likely text-heavy framework graphic, check whether labels need translation

Display summary:

**Translation complete** ({mode} mode)

Source: {source-path}
Languages: {from} → {to}
Output dir: {output-dir}/
Final: {output-dir}/translation.md
Glossary terms applied: {count}

If mismatched image-language candidates were found, append a short note after the summary telling the user that some embedded images may still need image-text localization, followed by the candidate list.

Extension Support

Custom configurations via EXTEND.md. See Preferences section for paths and supported options.