AI for Translators

Prompt Skills for Translators, Lesson by Lesson

1. The lessons

   1. First-Pass Draft Translation: Get a rough AI draft you can edit, so you start from a version instead of a blank page.
   2. Reading The Source Text: Untangle confusing source passages before you commit to a translation.
   3. Terminology And Glossaries: Research terms and build a consistent glossary for a project.
   4. Polishing And Self-Review: Catch accuracy and fluency problems in your own draft before delivery.
   5. Cultural Adaptation And Localization: Make content feel native to the target audience instead of translated.
   6. Interpreting And Meeting Prep: Prepare vocabulary and phrasing before a live interpreting assignment.
   7. Specialized Text Quality: Work through legal, medical, and technical wording with more control.
   8. Consistency And Peer Review: Keep long or shared projects consistent and review another translator's work.
   9. Client And Project Admin: Handle the client-facing writing that surrounds a translation job.
2. What the Course Covers

   The course follows the arc of a real translation job. It starts with reading the source and getting a first draft, then moves through terminology, polishing, and cultural adaptation.

   Later lessons cover interpreting prep, specialized texts, peer review, and the client emails that bookend a project.

3. How the Lessons Connect

   Each lesson builds on the one before it. The draft you make in lesson one becomes the text you polish in lesson four, and the glossary you build in lesson three keeps that draft consistent.

   You can also take them out of order if a job demands it. The prompts are written to stand alone.

4. How to Use the Prompts Well

   Treat every prompt as a starting conversation. Give the AI your source text, your target audience, and any style notes you would give a colleague.

   Then read the answer like a draft from a junior translator. Keep what is useful, rewrite what is not, and never send anything you have not checked.

5. Who This Course Is For

   This course is for working translators who want to work faster without lowering their standards. It suits legal, medical, technical, and literary translators alike.

   If you are new to AI, you will find plain instructions. If you already use it, you will find prompts that go deeper than a simple request.

6. Safety and Privacy for Translators

   Client documents can be confidential. Before you paste anything into an AI tool, check your contract and your client's rules about where text can go.

   The course shows you how to work with anonymized samples, keep sensitive names out of prompts, and use tools that fit your workplace policy.

7. Your Next Step

   Start with the first lesson and try the draft prompt on a short text you already know well. Compare the AI draft to your own version and note where it helped.

   From there, take one lesson a day and build the habits into your normal workflow.