| name | dr-cook:zh-to-en |
| description | Translate Chinese academic text to English. Use when converting Chinese manuscripts, abstracts, grant sections, or TCM terminology to academic English. Maintains technical precision, academic register, and correct domain-specific terminology. Triggers on: translate to English, Chinese to English, 翻译成英文, 中译英, translate abstract, translate methods.
|
Overview
This module translates Chinese academic text to English while preserving academic register, domain-specific terminology, sentence structure appropriate for English academic writing, and TCM term conventions. It does not simply transliterate — it actively selects the correct English equivalent for each technical term, consulting references/term-mapping.md for canonical mappings. Chinese sentence patterns that do not transfer naturally into English are restructured to conform to English academic writing conventions without altering meaning. After translation is complete, this module offers to pass its output to english-polisher for further style refinement.
Parameters
Required:
domain — research domain of the source text. Accepted values: tcm | bioinformatics | clinical | pharmacology. Determines which terminology standard governs translation choices and which section of term-mapping.md takes precedence.
Optional:
register — target English register. Accepted values: academic | clinical_report | popular_science. Default: academic. Controls formality of syntax, sentence length, and technical density.preserve_tcm_terms — boolean. Default: true. When true, TCM concept terms are rendered with their standard English equivalents (e.g., "syndrome differentiation and treatment") rather than being translated literally character by character. Pinyin is added parenthetically on the first occurrence of any conventionalized term — e.g., "qi deficiency (qì xū)".target_journal — name or abbreviation of the intended publication venue. When provided, translation choices (e.g., "acupoint" vs. "acupuncture point", "pattern" vs. "syndrome") are adapted to that journal's style conventions and any documented terminology preferences.
Workflow
Step 1 — Check upstream context.
Inspect context_output. If context_output.raw_text exists and context_output.language is zh, use that text as the source. Otherwise prompt the user: "Please paste the Chinese text you would like translated to English."
Step 2 — Collect missing required parameters.
If domain is not present in either the user's request or context_output.parameters, ask once: "What is the domain of this text? (tcm / bioinformatics / clinical / pharmacology)". Wait for the answer before proceeding. Do not solicit optional parameters unless the user volunteers them.
Step 3 — Load term-mapping.md.
Read references/term-mapping.md. For domain: tcm, the TCM Core Concepts table is the primary reference. For domain: bioinformatics, the Bioinformatics Terms table governs translation choices. For clinical and pharmacology domains, fall back to international nomenclature standards (CONSORT/STROBE headings for clinical; IUPHAR/WHO INN for pharmacology). Keep the loaded tables active through Steps 4 and 5.
Step 4 — Translate the full text.
Apply the following rules:
- Academic register: Use formal syntax throughout. Passive voice is appropriate in Methods sections. Avoid colloquial constructions, contractions, and first-person narrative unless the source uses first person in a register that warrants it.
- Sentence restructuring: Chinese academic sentences often chain clauses with minimal connectives or use subject-less constructions. Rewrite to English conventions: supply explicit subjects, use subordinate clauses or relative clauses as appropriate, and avoid excessive nominalization inherited from Chinese grammar patterns (e.g., restructure "对…进行检测" as "detected" rather than "performed the detection of").
- TCM terminology (
domain: tcm, preserve_tcm_terms: true): Use canonical English equivalents from term-mapping.md. On the first occurrence of each conventionalized term, append the pinyin in parentheses: "qi deficiency (qì xū)", "syndrome differentiation and treatment (biàn zhèng lùn zhì)". Subsequent occurrences use the English term alone.
- Gene and protein names: Apply HGNC formatting regardless of how the Chinese source referred to them. Gene symbols are italicized in the suggestion to the user (e.g., TP53). Do not translate or reformat gene/protein names under any domain.
- Numbers, units, and statistics: Preserve exactly as written in the source. Do not convert units or reformat p-values, confidence intervals, or sample sizes.
- Bioinformatics terms (
domain: bioinformatics): Use standard English abbreviations as primary terms (DEG, GSEA, GO, KEGG). If the Chinese source used the full spelled-out term, retain the full English form with the abbreviation in parentheses on first use.
Step 5 — Post-translation quality check.
Scan the draft translation for:
- Remaining untranslated Chinese characters — flag each inline with
[UNTRANSLATED: <character(s)>] and list all flagged items in a note below the translation.
- Overly literal constructions that sound unnatural in English (e.g., "the research of the present paper" → "this study"; "carry out the detection of" → "detect"; "in order to better" → "to").
- Terms that may require journal-specific wording: if
target_journal is set, cross-check key terminology against known style conventions for that venue and note any choices that may warrant editorial review.
Step 6 — Present output.
Deliver the translated text, then a brief glossary of key technical terms handled during translation. Limit the glossary to 10 entries; choose entries where a non-obvious translation decision was made (i.e., where a literal translation would have been wrong or misleading). Do not list routine vocabulary.
Step 7 — Offer next step.
After presenting output, ask: "Would you like me to polish this English text for academic style and terminology? (runs english-polisher)"
Output Format
## Translation
[Full English text]
---
## Key Terms Handled
| Chinese | English Used | Notes |
|---------|-------------|-------|
| 辨证论治 | syndrome differentiation and treatment | Standard WHO equivalent |
| 气虚 | qi deficiency (qì xū) | Pinyin on first occurrence |
| TP53 | TP53 | Retained HGNC format |
If untranslated fragments were found in Step 5, append:
---
## Untranslated Fragments
- [UNTRANSLATED: <fragment>] — <reason or context>
context_output
Reads from upstream:
raw_text — source Chinese text (if passed from a prior module)domain — domain override from upstreamtarget_journal — journal context from upstreamlanguage — used to confirm source language is zh
Writes to downstream:
{
"module": "zh-to-en",
"domain": "<collected>",
"language": "en",
"raw_text": "<English translation>",
"summary": "Translated [N characters] from Chinese to English; [N] TCM terms handled",
"parameters": {
"preserve_tcm_terms": true,
"register": "academic"
},
"status": "success",
"error_message": "string | null"
}
References
references/term-mapping.md — canonical English↔Chinese term tables for TCM and bioinformatics domains. Loaded at Step 3.
