Translation QA: five checks

Unsure whether anything was missed.

Prompt

First decide what the text does: inform, persuade or process. The same sentence translates differently. You translate function, not words.

Task: Unsure whether anything was missed.

[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
   - source and target
   - purpose
   - glossary
   - time
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.

[Go through each of these]
- check omissions and additions paragraph by paragraph
- verify numbers, dates, names, units
- check terminology consistency
- check grammar and punctuation in the target language

[Process]
1. Confirm purpose, audience, venue
2. Fix terminology and proper nouns
3. Restructure per target-language habit
4. Flag what cannot be translated literally and needs the author
5. Check numbers, units, names

[Output]
Translation, glossary, list of uncertainties.

[Do not]
- No word-for-word rendering
- Never smooth away facts or qualifiers
- No inconsistent invented terminology
- Never present guesses as fact

What to state before it starts

Leave these unsaid and the model fills them with an assumption. Most 'wrong answers' start here.

source and target
purpose
glossary
time

Go through each of these

Where this kind of work most often goes wrong. Already in the prompt, so you do not have to remember it.

check omissions and additions paragraph by paragraph
verify numbers, dates, names, units
check terminology consistency
check grammar and punctuation in the target language

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