---
name: dsh-translate-docs
description: Use when creating or updating the bilingual counterpart of a doc in this repo (English ↔ Chinese pairs) — orients the translator to the pairing contract, the terminology source of truth, the translation rules, and the consistency gate that verifies the result
---

# Translating DeepSeek-Harness docs

**This skill is guidance, not a translation memory.** It is the workflow map for keeping `foo.md ↔ foo.zh.md` pairs consistent and natural in both languages. Both languages carry equal authority — a change is authored in either one, and that side is the source for that update. You are the translator: the rules below say what must hold, not how to phrase any particular sentence — phrasing judgment is yours, terminology is not.

## Sources of truth (read, don't re-summarize)

These are authoritative; read them at the source so this skill never drifts out of sync.

- **[docs/i18n/README.md](../../../docs/i18n/README.md)** — the pairing contract: the three-file pair (`foo.md`, `foo.zh.md`, `foo.i18n.yaml`), the consistency record's both-side blob hashes, the language-switcher lines, scope/exclusions, and the rollout manifest.
- **[docs/i18n/translation-rules.md](../../../docs/i18n/translation-rules.md)** — how to translate: faithfulness, structure preservation, terminology discipline, typography (MUST/SHOULD levels).
- **[docs/i18n/terminology.md](../../../docs/i18n/terminology.md)** — the terminology table, binding in both directions. Load it BEFORE translating, not when a term feels uncertain; the terms you don't notice are the ones that drift.
- **[docs/i18n/translation-prompt.md](../../../docs/i18n/translation-prompt.md)** — the automated pipeline's machine-consumed template. Agents using this skill do not render it; the renderer injects `translation-rules.md` so rules have only one home.
- **[dsh-prose-standard](../dsh-prose-standard/SKILL.md)** — required prose coverage and editorial judgment. Apply it to both sides without adding or dropping source propositions.

## Find the work

- `pnpm run verify-translation-pairing --list` prints every in-scope document as missing / out-of-sync / ok — the work list for a translation batch.
- In a PR that edits paired docs, the work list is the diff itself: every changed side of a pair needs its counterpart updated and the pair re-recorded in the same PR, and the gate goes red if you forget.

## Triage by change type

Do not process every file the same way:

- **New pair** (no counterpart yet): whichever language exists — English or Chinese — translate the whole file into the other, section by section for long documents, keeping each section's structure locked to the source as you go rather than fixing structure at the end.
- **Update** (pair exists, one side edited): do NOT re-translate. The consistency record names the exact last-confirmed text of both sides — recover the edited side's previous state and diff:

  ```sh
  git cat-file -p <hash-from-i18n-yaml> > /tmp/last-confirmed.md
  git diff --no-index /tmp/last-confirmed.md docs/foo.md
  ```

  Apply the smallest counterpart edits that cover that diff. A minimal update preserves the reviewed phrasing of everything that didn't change; a re-translation throws that review away.
- **Deleted or renamed doc**: delete or rename the counterpart and the `.i18n.yaml` alongside it — the gate reports an incomplete pair otherwise.

## Translate

- **Pass 1 — write, don't transpose.** Read a semantic unit, then restate it as a native technical author in the nearest [style sample's](../../../docs/i18n/style-samples.md) register. Preserve the required frame without forcing sentence-by-sentence correspondence.
- **Pass 2 — verify against the source, clause by clause.** Fidelity is checked here, not written in: confirm nothing was added or dropped, every term follows the table, and each code span survived verbatim. Fix by rewriting the sentence natively, not by patching words into it.
- Write only the final text to the file, never drafts or notes.
- Every term in [terminology.md](../../../docs/i18n/terminology.md) renders exactly as specified. For a Chinese target, use the Chinese and first-occurrence columns; an unlisted term needs a citable Chinese OSS/vendor precedent or stays English under 「待定术语」. For an English target, use the English column and an established English technical term; preserve an ambiguous source term with a short gloss and list it as pending. Never invent a rendering inline.
- Code blocks are byte-identical across the pair, comments included. Relative links keep their `.md` targets; only the switcher line links `.zh.md`.
- The pairing gate checks heading depths, fenced blocks, table row and column counts, list kinds, ordered-list starts, list item counts, and link targets. In Pass 2, manually verify list and table order, noncanonical list numbering, inline code, emphasis, meaning, terminology, and tone.

## Finish the pair

1. Switcher: `[English](foo.md) | 中文` immediately after the Chinese file's H1, `English | [中文](foo.zh.md)` after the English file's H1 — add both if this is a new pair.
2. Record consistency: `pnpm run verify-translation-pairing --write` recomputes and records both sides' full blob hashes in `foo.i18n.yaml`. The yaml diff in your PR is the reviewable statement "I confirmed these two say the same thing" — only run it after you actually have.
3. New batch landed? Add the `.md` paths to `required` in [scripts/translation-pairing.manifest.json](../../../scripts/translation-pairing.manifest.json) so the gate ratchets forward.

## Verify the mechanical and human halves

Run `pnpm run verify-translation-pairing`, then the rest of the Markdown gates (`pnpm run verify-md-wrap && pnpm run verify-md-links`, or full `pnpm run doc-sync` before the PR). Fix what they report and manually verify the obligations listed in Pass 2 that the gates do not encode. Keep the PR reviewable: state which pairs are new versus minimally updated and list 「待定术语」 prominently.

## How to respond to translation review

Follow the [code-review reporting guidance](../dsh-code-review/SKILL.md#reporting-findings): evaluate each comment on its merits, and for terminology comments, remember the table is the contract — a reviewer's rendering decision gets applied to [terminology.md](../../../docs/i18n/terminology.md) so it binds every future translation, not just patched into one file.
