translation-review — Chinese-English Translation Review
Systematically compare a Chinese source document against its English translation,
identify issues across 6 dimensions, and produce a prioritized review report.
When to Use
- User provides a Chinese original + English translation pair for review
- User asks to check/proofread an English translation from Chinese
- User mentions "翻译检查", "审校", "translation review"
Workflow (MANDATORY)
You MUST follow these steps in order:
Step 1: Collect Input
Use to confirm before starting:
Ask the user:
- Document type — academic paper (SCI/EI), technical docs, business docs, general
- Domain — medicine, CS, law, finance, general (affects terminology checking)
- Focus areas — terminology accuracy, grammar, style, references, all (multi-select)
If the user has already provided context (e.g., "SCI 4区医学论文"), skip the obvious questions.
Step 2: Read Both Documents
Read the Chinese source and English translation. For
files:
bash
pandoc "<chinese_file>.docx" -t plain --wrap=none
pandoc "<english_file>.docx" -t plain --wrap=none
For
or
files, read directly.
If files are large, read in sections (offset/limit) to stay within context.
Step 3: Systematic Review
Compare the two documents across 6 dimensions, in this order:
D1: Mistranslation (meaning changed)
- Words/phrases translated to a different meaning
- Omissions (content in Chinese missing from English)
- Additions (content in English not in Chinese)
- Pay special attention to domain-specific terms that have been incorrectly generalized or specialized
D2: Terminology Accuracy
- Domain-specific terms: check against standard English terminology
- Abbreviation consistency: first occurrence should have full form + abbreviation
- Proper nouns: names, institutions, gene/protein names, drug names
- Units and measurements
D3: Grammar & Syntax
- Subject-verb agreement
- Tense consistency (especially in Methods vs Results)
- Article usage (a/an/the) — common error in Chinese-to-English
- Dangling modifiers, run-on sentences
- Passive voice overuse
D4: Consistency
- Same Chinese term translated differently in different places
- Formatting inconsistencies (capitalization, hyphenation, number style)
- Heading style consistency
D5: References & Citations (academic papers only)
- Citation numbers match between Chinese and English versions
- Reference format consistency (author names, journal abbreviations)
- Missing author information in reference entries
- In-text citation correctness
D6: Style & Register
- Academic register appropriate for target journal
- Overly verbose or literary phrasing
- Chinese-influenced sentence structure (e.g., "through...method" patterns)
- Paragraph length and structure
Step 4: Source Document Issues
While reviewing, also note issues in the Chinese source that the English faithfully translates but are themselves incorrect. Flag these separately.
Step 5: Generate Report
Output a structured review report with the following format:
markdown
# 翻译审校报告 / Translation Review Report
**Document**: [title]
**Reviewer**: 手工川 (AI-assisted)
**Date**: [YYYY-MM-DD]
**Domain**: [domain]
**Document type**: [type]
---
## Summary
[2-3 sentence overall assessment]
---
## A-Level Issues (Must Fix)
### A1. [Issue title]
**Location**: [section/paragraph]
**Original (CN)**: "..."
**Translation (EN)**: "..."
**Problem**: [explanation]
**Suggested fix**: → "..."
---
## B-Level Issues (Recommended)
### B1. [Issue title]
...
---
## Source Document Issues
### C1. [Issue title]
...
---
## Priority Summary
|----------|---|-------|--------|
| Must fix | A1 | ... | ... |
| ... | | | |
---
## Conclusion
[Overall quality assessment + recommended next steps]
Step 6: Save Report
Save the report to the same directory as the input files:
Filename:
手工川-translation-review-{YYYY-MM-DD}-v0.1.md
If a file with this name exists, increment the version.
Issue Severity Classification
| Level | Criteria | Examples |
|---|
| A (Must fix) | Meaning changed, factual error, or would cause rejection | Mistranslation, wrong terminology, reference number mismatch |
| B (Recommended) | Awkward but understandable, or non-standard usage | Verbose phrasing, minor grammar, style inconsistency |
| C (Source issue) | Error in Chinese original, faithfully translated | Wrong terminology in Chinese, factual inaccuracy |
Domain-Specific Checklists
Academic / SCI Papers
Medical / Biomedical
Technical Documentation