| name | language |
| description | Verify non-English phrases in your manuscript. Checks grammar, period accuracy, dialect, and translations. |
| argument-hint | [chapter] [language-name] |
Run the language-checker agent to verify all foreign language phrases in your manuscript.
What This Does
- Scans all chapters for non-English text
- Identifies the language of each phrase
- Verifies grammatical correctness
- Checks period/historical appropriateness
- Validates dialect and register (formality level)
- Confirms translation accuracy where translations are provided
- Resolves author markers (
**check**, [verify], etc.)
Usage
/fiction:language # Check all chapters
/fiction:language 5 # Check chapter 5 only
/fiction:language swedish # Focus on Swedish phrases only
/fiction:language 3-7 # Check chapters 3 through 7
If arguments provided: $ARGUMENTS
What It Catches
- Grammatical errors — Spelling, agreement, conjugation, case endings
- Anachronisms — Modern phrases in historical settings
- Dialect mismatches — Stockholm Swedish used where Gotland dialect expected
- Register errors — Wrong formality level (du/ni, tu/vous, du/Sie)
- Translation issues — English translations that miss nuance
- Diacritical marks — Missing or incorrect accents (o, u, e, etc.)
Languages Supported
The agent can verify phrases in any language by using web research to cross-reference grammar rules, dictionaries, and native speaker resources. Common languages in fiction:
- Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
- German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
- Russian, Polish, Ukrainian
- Yiddish, Hebrew
- Japanese (romanized or characters)
- Any language with online resources
Parallel Processing
When checking a full manuscript, chapters are processed in parallel:
- Spawn reader agents to extract all foreign phrases from each chapter
- Aggregate findings
- Verify each unique phrase (avoids duplicate research)
- Generate comprehensive report
Output
A report with:
- Summary statistics
- Issues found with suggested corrections
- Verified phrases (confirmation they're correct)
- Author markers resolved
- Phrases needing native speaker review
When to Use
- After completing draft (catches errors before readers see them)
- Before sending to native speaker beta readers (reduces their workload)
- During revision when adding foreign dialogue
- After
/fiction:edit for complete polish
Example Issues Found
### Issue 1: Anachronistic Phrase
**Location:** Chapter 12, line 87
**Original:** `"Det ar cool"`
**Language:** Swedish
**Problem:** "Cool" is a modern English loanword. Wouldn't be used in 1943 Swedish.
**Suggested fix:** `"Det ar fint"` or `"Det ar bra"`
**Severity:** Moderate
### Issue 2: Register Mismatch
**Location:** Chapter 4, line 156
**Original:** `"Hur mar du?"`
**Language:** Swedish
**Problem:** Informal "du" form used in formal context. 1943 Swedish would use "ni" when addressing strangers.
**Suggested fix:** `"Hur mar ni?"`
**Severity:** Moderate
Style Guide Awareness
The language-checker respects the project's declared style guide (in craft/tone.md) for formatting non-English phrases — italicisation conventions, punctuation around translations, and quote style all follow the active guide (Chicago Manual of Style or New Oxford Style Manual).
Related Commands
/fiction:edit — Line-level English editing (includes style guide compliance)
/fiction:review — Story and craft feedback
/fiction:continuity — Cross-chapter consistency (run separately)