translation-distillation

Translation Workbench

English | 简体中文

See past the source-language barrier. Write with your own voice.

Translation Workbench is a set of Agent Skills for translation projects in Claude Code and Codex. The AI helps you understand the source, find supporting evidence, and draft a translation. What you learn from editing it can then guide later work.

Current version: 0.2.3

What's new in 0.2.3: If you explain your edits by voice, the AI can condense your words by removing fillers, repetitions, and mis-transcriptions. Once you confirm the condensed version, it counts as your own words, keeping finalization records compact for later distillation. See the changelog

Features

• See the evidence behind the source, not just a finished draft. The AI unpacks difficult sentences, checks dialect and idioms, and looks at surrounding context. That gives you something to judge the translation against.
• Turn your reasons for edits into reusable translator style. The separate distillation skill finds recurring patterns in your actual revisions and explanations, then updates style guidance and character profiles so later drafts have better references.
• Carry project memory across chapters and sessions. Terminology, character information, and confirmed choices stay in the project even when you move to another chapter or start a new conversation.
• Get feedback that knows its place. The source and confirmed terms are evidence; AI drafts and notes are working material. The AI can help you think through a choice without treating its earlier guesses as settled facts.

Built through actual translation work

These skills grew out of my ongoing Simplified Chinese translation of Franz Lohner's Chronicle. They are not a one-click translation button. Here is what they do:

In The Fate of Grungni's Whisper, the AI unpacked the dialect, phrasing, and evidence behind a line. I gave the final version its natural Chinese voice.

A term confirmed in Chapter 7, The Wolves of Winter, carried through to related terms in Chapter 11, The Eternal Flame, even after switching sessions and moving from Claude Code to Codex.

How to use the skills

Workflow at a glance

Start with a message

Give the AI your source text, a file path, or a link. State the source and target languages and the chapter or section where you want to begin. If you have a glossary, character notes, or previous translations, point it to those too. You can still start without them; the AI inspects what exists and asks only for material it needs.

For a new project, you might say:

Use translation-workbench. I want to translate [work title] from [source language] into [target language]. The source is at [file or link]. Please start with [chapter or section], inspect the material, and help me set up the project.

To continue an existing project, name its location, the translation unit, and the work you want done:

Use translation-workbench. Read the README and existing files in [project folder] for [translation unit], then continue source preparation / translation / finalization.

You can use the same pattern in a new session. The AI picks up from the saved project files instead of relying on the previous conversation.

Or invoke a skill directly

For example: $translation-workbench Work through chapter 4 with me and finalize the translation. Or: $translation-distillation Distill style guidance from the completed chapters I specify.

With the Claude plugin installation, the full commands are /translation-workbench:translation-workbench and /translation-workbench:translation-distillation.

In Codex, the distillation skill appears in the skill list as “沉淀 / Translation Distillation”.

Two working records

Drafting notes: The AI creates these while translating to record why it made particular choices and where it ran into problems. You do not have to read them in advance; during finalization, the AI brings up the relevant notes passage by passage.

Finalization record: Created during finalization to preserve your wording, any reasons you provide, the AI's analysis, and your confirmation of that analysis. A passage stays pending until you confirm the AI's understanding.

Getting more out of it

• Use your own writing voice: If a passage feels awkward, point out where it loses you and how you would say it. Understanding the source and writing well are different skills; the creative choices that give a translation its soul are yours.
• Confirm the reasoning behind your edits: When you revise the draft and the AI agrees, it explains what the draft got wrong and how your wording fixes it, for you to confirm or correct. You do not need to supply a separate explanation each time; any reasons you do provide are preserved in your own words, condensed for your confirmation when they run long.
• Distill across several completed units: A group of finalization records helps distinguish one-off wording from recurring problems. Terminology, facts, character voice, and general style go into their respective references, and existing entries can be revised or removed.
• Use a separate session for each stage: Keeping the stages in separate conversations gives the AI a clearer context and better performance.
• Keep asking the AI: If material is missing, terms are undecided, or a file might be overwritten, the skills explain what needs attention.

Installation

Ask Claude Code or Codex to install both skills:

Install both translation-workbench and translation-distillation from this repository for me, globally: https://github.com/Alexu0317-FATHER/translation-workbench

Globally means they are available across your projects. Replace it with “for this project only” to use them only in the current folder.