cuimao-translator

萃猫翻译 · Cuimao Translator

Skill by ara.so — Daily 2026 Skills collection.

A Claude Code skill that translates English PDF books into idiomatic, natural-sounding Chinese. Designed for book-length texts, it avoids "translation smell" through mode selection, style presets, and automated Europeanized-Chinese detection.

---

Installation

git clone https://github.com/Cuimao777/cuimao-translator.git ~/.claude/skills/cuimao-translator

Restart Claude Code. The skill auto-activates when you say phrases like "翻译这个PDF" or "translate this PDF".

---

File Structure

cuimao-translator/
├── SKILL.md                      # Main skill file (auto-loaded by Claude Code)
├── README.md
└── references/
    ├── glossary-en-zh.md         # 100+ English-Chinese term pairs
    ├── translation-guide.md      # Sentence patterns, diagnostics, register guides
    └── refined-workflow.md       # 5-step refined translation pipeline

---

Three Translation Modes

Mode	Trigger Words	Pipeline	Best For
⚡ Quick	快翻 速译 quick	Read → Translate	Skimming, short snippets
📖 Normal	翻译 (default)	Analyze → Translate	Most books, articles
💎 Refined	精翻 精细翻译 出版级	Analyze → Draft → Review → Revise → Polish	Publication-quality output

You can upgrade after Normal completes: reply 继续润色 or refine to enter the Refined pipeline.

---

Five Style Presets

Style Key	Use Case	Characteristics
storytelling	Novels, biography, narrative non-fiction	Natural transitions, Chinese rhythm
academic	Textbooks, research papers	Formal register, precise terminology
literal	Manuals, legal docs, contracts	Close to source structure, minimal rewrite
elegant	Literary fiction, poetry, essays	Four-character idioms, musicality
conversational	Self-help, memoirs, dialogue-heavy	Relaxed, reader-friendly tone

If not specified, the skill auto-detects from content. storytelling is the safe default for most books.

---

How to Use

Basic Usage

Just say it naturally in Claude Code chat:

翻译这个 PDF

translate this PDF book to Chinese

帮我把这本书汉化，用 storytelling 风格

Specify Mode + Style

精翻这个PDF，academic 风格

快翻这几页，conversational 风格

出版级翻译，elegant 风格

Upgrade After Normal Translation

继续润色

refine

---

Translation Philosophy: 信 → 达 → 雅

信 (Faithful)

• Every English sentence has a corresponding Chinese sentence
• Facts, numbers, logic, proper nouns are preserved exactly
• No summarizing, skipping, or embellishment

达 (Fluent)

• Output reads as if written by a native Chinese author
• Topic-comment sentence structure (Chinese-native order)
• Split long sentences into 7–15 character natural chunks
• Active voice preferred; complement clauses over adverbial chains

雅 (Culturally Adapted)

• English idioms/slang → find Chinese equivalent expressions
• Untranslatable wordplay → translate meaning + add note
• Unknown cultural references → brief translator's note

---

Europeanized Chinese Auto-Detection (六重检测)

After every translation, the skill self-checks for six common "translation smell" patterns:

#	Problem	Bad Example	Fix
1	被字句泛滥	他被表扬了	他受到了表扬
2	连接词堆砌	因为…所以…虽然…但是…	Remove redundant connectors
3	定语过长	那个在昨天下午三点去买东西的人	Split into multiple short sentences
4	之一滥用	最重要的问题之一	极其重要的问题
5	的的的	≥3 的 in one sentence	Restructure the sentence
6	名词化过度	政策的实施	实施政策

---

Real Example

English Input:

The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him.
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream
and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.

Chinese Output (storytelling style):

老头儿教过那孩子打鱼，孩子也爱他。
他是个独自在湾流里的一只小船上打鱼的老头儿，
如今已经接连八十四天一条鱼也没打着了。

---

Working with the References

Glossary (references/glossary-en-zh.md)

Contains 100+ curated English→Chinese term mappings. The skill applies these automatically for consistency across an entire book. When translating a new domain-specific text, you can extend it:

<!-- Add domain terms at the bottom of glossary-en-zh.md -->
| machine learning | 机器学习 |
| gradient descent | 梯度下降 |
| overfitting | 过拟合 |
| hyperparameter | 超参数 |

Translation Guide (references/translation-guide.md)

Covers:

• Sentence transformation patterns (passive → active, noun phrase → verb phrase)
• Register-specific vocabulary lists
• How to handle culturally-specific content per genre

Refined Workflow (references/refined-workflow.md)

Documents the 5-step Refined pipeline in detail:

1. Analyze — genre, register, key terms, author voice
2. Draft — first-pass translation
3. Review — check against 六重检测
4. Revise — fix flagged issues
5. Polish — rhythm, flow, final read-aloud check

---

Practical Patterns

Translate a Specific Chapter

翻译第三章，storytelling 风格

translate chapter 5 only, academic style

Batch Translation with Consistency

For multi-chapter books, mention the book title so the skill maintains term consistency:

这是《Thinking, Fast and Slow》的第二章，请继续保持之前的翻译风格和术语

Custom Glossary Injection

Paste a term list before the content:

请使用以下术语表翻译：
- neural network → 神经网络
- token → 词元
- prompt → 提示词

[paste content here]

Output Format Control

翻译后按段落对照输出（英文段落 + 中文段落交替）

只输出中文译文，不要对照

---

Trigger Reference

Trigger	Effect
翻译 / translate	Normal mode, auto-detect style
汉化 / 英译中	Normal mode
速译 / 快翻 / quick	Quick mode
精翻 / 精细翻译 / 出版级	Refined mode
继续润色 / refine	Upgrade current translation to Refined
storytelling / 叙事	Force storytelling style
academic / 学术	Force academic style
literal / 逐句	Force literal style
elegant / 文学	Force elegant style
conversational / 口语	Force conversational style

---

Troubleshooting

Skill not activating after install:

• Restart Claude Code completely
• Verify file is at ~/.claude/skills/cuimao-translator/SKILL.md
• Check file permissions: chmod -R 644 ~/.claude/skills/cuimao-translator/

Translation sounds too formal / too casual:

• Explicitly specify a style preset: 用 conversational 风格重译
• For mixed-register texts, specify per section

Terminology inconsistent across chapters:

• Start each session by referencing the book title
• Add domain terms to references/glossary-en-zh.md before translating

Output contains Europeanized Chinese patterns:

• Run: 检查译文中的翻译腔，按六重检测标准修正
• For Refined mode, this check runs automatically

PDF content not parsing correctly:

• Extract text from PDF first, then paste into chat
• For scanned PDFs, run OCR before translation

---

License

MIT — see LICENSE