Translate a Complete Product Guide Without Losing Its Meaning

To translate a product guide with a glossary, supply the whole source, the intended reader and the context in which each preferred term applies. Ask for the entire translated document. Then review it for meaning as well as terminology: who acts, what changes, what stays private, how many items are allowed, and what must happen before the next step.

A translation can use recognizable product terms while teaching the wrong behavior. “Save” becoming “send” is more serious than a slightly awkward sentence. So is turning a personal setting into a team-wide change. A glossary helps with names; the surrounding sentences still carry the instructions.

This tutorial contains a complete original English guide, its translation requirements, a complete deliberately wrong Chinese draft, a copyable repair request and a complete repaired Chinese draft. Harbor Notes is fictional. All product behavior and both translations were authored for this exercise. No model, translation service or application was tested.

Start with the reader's job

Here the reader is new to a desktop project notebook and needs to prepare, inspect and copy one note. They read Simplified Chinese and know ordinary computer terms. They should not need the English source beside them to understand which object a sentence refers to or whether a note has been sent.

That purpose sets useful boundaries. Translate the full guide rather than reducing it to a summary. Preserve its eight sections so the reader can follow the sequence. Use natural Chinese instructions; do not force every occurrence of an English word into the same grammatical shape. If a source term is undefined, ask about that term separately instead of inventing product behavior to make the paragraph feel finished.

A public discussion about using a custom glossary during a long translation project describes one author's wish to retain chosen terminology while translating naturally in context. That individual account informed this topic; it is not evidence of general demand or a test of a current model. Our short EN→Chinese guide is an editorial exercise, not a reproduction of the author's book project.

For a short guide, you can perform the same translation and comparison manually. A tool with glossary support is another option: Microsoft's document-translation glossary guidance, reviewed in the source research for this article, explains specified source-to-target mappings in its Microsoft 365 document-processing workflow. That mechanism is product-specific. It does not establish that a chat prompt will enforce a glossary or that any particular account has that service.

Give the glossary a scope

In this example, draft is a noun in “a saved draft” and a verb in “Draft a note.” The noun can consistently be 草稿 while the instruction becomes 用自己的话写一份笔记. The wording changes naturally without changing the task.

Pin and PIN need a different decision. One is a list action; the other is a sign-in code. A global replacement would erase that distinction. Likewise, the review queue contains notes awaiting the current user's check. Calling them approved notes would change the state of the work, even if “review” looked correctly translated in isolation.

The packet below gives these choices explicitly. It also identifies one genuine gap: “soft confirmation” has no supplied description or approved Chinese term. A translator cannot decide whether it is a message, a control or a timed interaction from the phrase alone.

Copy the whole repair request

The following request contains every input: the audience, glossary, unresolved author question, complete English guide and entire wrong translation. The repaired answer is outside it. It needs no previous chat or hidden attachment.

You can also open the source packet, wrong translation and complete repair request separately. The deliberately wrong translation is a teaching counterexample, not independent evidence about the product.

Repair the complete deliberately wrong Simplified Chinese translation below. Use only the complete source packet and original English guide included here. Return a complete replacement translation, not a summary or a list of edits.

The intended reader and glossary are in the packet. Preserve the title and all eight sections, the distinctions between workspace, note and card, every quantity, negation and action sequence, and the actor responsible for each action. Render the prose naturally for new Chinese-speaking desktop users. A glossary target applies in its stated context: the verb draft need not become the noun 草稿, and pin is not the sign-in PIN.

Do not import any claim from the wrong translation. In particular, do not invent access, team-wide list changes, approval, deletion, automatic sending or a confirmation timeout. Translate the illustrative action labels consistently with the product prose; do not claim that a real Chinese UI was inspected.

In section 7, preserve soft confirmation in English because its meaning and Chinese label have not been supplied. After the complete translation, ask the author a concrete question about what appears, what action is required, and the intended Chinese term. Keep that question and all other commentary outside the translated guide. No answer exists in a previous conversation or hidden attachment.

After the translation and author question, briefly explain the substantive repairs with references to the eight source sections. Treat the wrong draft and the repaired example as authored teaching material, not as recorded AI outputs. Prepare text only; do not open software, browse, upload real documents, send messages or publish anything.

=== BEGIN COMPLETE SOURCE PACKET ===
# Translation source packet: Harbor Notes

Original fictional teaching material. Harbor Notes, its beta and every behavior below are invented for this exercise. This is ordinary product prose, not documentation for a real service or a captured software test.

## Reader and purpose

Translate the complete English guide into Simplified Chinese for people opening a desktop project notebook for the first time. They know everyday computer terms but not this product's organization or sharing behavior. The document should help them prepare, inspect and copy one project note. Use direct, natural Chinese instructions and preserve all eight sections. Do not shorten it into a summary or add a sales pitch.

The English action labels are illustrative labels in this fictional guide. Translate their meaning consistently in the Chinese prose. No real Chinese interface or localized application has been inspected. There are no resource keys, formatter arguments or executable commands to preserve.

## Short glossary and contextual rules

| Source term | Target choice and scope |
| --- | --- |
| Harbor Notes | Keep the product name Harbor Notes. |
| workspace | 工作区: a container for one project's notes. |
| note / card | 笔记 / 卡片: the card leads to a note; these are not two names for the workspace. |
| draft | 草稿 when it is the noun. For the verb, use natural wording such as 起草 or 写; do not insert the noun mechanically. |
| pin / PIN | 置顶 for the list action; PIN 码 for the six-digit sign-in code. Capitalization and context distinguish them. |
| review queue | 待检查列表: notes waiting for the current user's check, not notes already approved by a teammate. |
| archive / restore | 归档 / 恢复: archiving retains the note; it is not deletion. |
| handoff | 交接: preparing a copy is separate from sending it. |

## Author question that has not been answered

The source uses “soft confirmation” in section 7 without defining the interaction. There is no approved Chinese equivalent and no description of what users see or must do. Leave those English words in the Chinese draft and raise a specific question outside the translation. Do not assume an automatic dismissal, an approval, a button, a delay or a required click. No author reply is supplied elsewhere.

## Complete English source

# Prepare a project note in Harbor Notes

## 1. Start in the right workspace

A workspace keeps notes for one project together. It is a place to organize your work, not a shared inbox. Adding a teammate's name to a note does not give that person access to the workspace.

## 2. Draft before you share

Draft a note in your own words. You can leave the editor and return to it later. A saved draft is still your working copy; saving it does not send it to anyone.

## 3. Find the note through its card

Each note has a card in the sidebar. Open the card to return to that note. Renaming the card changes that note's title; it does not rename the workspace.

## 4. Keep useful cards near the top

You may pin up to 3 cards to the top of your list. Pinning is a personal view setting, so your teammates' lists stay unchanged. If the beta asks for a six-digit PIN at sign-in, enter the sign-in code; it is unrelated to pinned cards.

## 5. Check the review queue

The review queue contains up to 12 notes waiting for your own check. Only notes you add with Add to review enter this queue. Seeing a note there does not mean a teammate has reviewed or approved it.

## 6. Put an old note away

Archive an old note to remove its card from the active list while keeping the note in the workspace. Archived notes do not count toward the 12-note review limit. You can restore an archived note when you need it again.

## 7. Prepare a handoff copy

Preparing a handoff creates a copy for you to inspect. It does not send the original or the copy. After you choose Prepare handoff, review the soft confirmation before continuing. Then check the copy's title and project details.

## 8. Copy, read and send

When you are ready, use Copy text to place the prepared copy on the clipboard. Paste it into the destination you choose and read it once more before sending. Harbor Notes does not send it for you. Close the preview only after checking that you copied the intended note.

=== END COMPLETE SOURCE PACKET ===

=== BEGIN COMPLETE WRONG TRANSLATION ===
Original fictional teaching material. Deliberately wrong translation; do not follow these instructions.

# 在 Harbor Notes 中准备项目笔记

## 1. 进入工作空间

工作空间会集中存放一个项目的笔记，也是团队的共享收件箱。把同事的名字写进笔记后，对方就能访问这个工作空间。

## 2. 分享前先保存草稿

用自己的话写下笔记。你可以离开编辑器，以后再回来。保存草稿后，系统就会把这份工作副本发送给同事。

## 3. 从卡片返回笔记

每份笔记在侧栏中都有一张卡片。打开卡片即可回到相应笔记。给卡片重命名，也会同步更改工作空间的名称。

## 4. 把常用卡片放在顶部

你最多可以置顶 3 张卡片。置顶会统一调整整个团队的列表顺序。测试版登录时可能要求输入六位置顶码，用来找回置顶卡片。

## 5. 查看审核队列

审核队列最多存放 12 份已经由同事审核通过的笔记。所有保存的笔记都会自动进入队列，不必再点击“加入审核”。队列中的笔记都已获批准。

## 6. 清理旧笔记

归档旧笔记会从工作空间中永久删除笔记及其卡片。归档后仍会占用 12 份笔记的审核额度。如需找回，请重新创建一份笔记。

## 7. 准备交接副本

准备交接会创建一份供你检查的副本，同时把原文发送给同事。选择“准备交接”后，柔性确认弹窗会在三秒后自动关闭，无需任何操作。然后检查副本的标题和项目详情。

## 8. 复制并发送

准备好后，使用“复制文本”，Harbor Notes 就会把副本粘贴到目标位置并直接发送。你可以先关闭预览，再确认复制的是哪份笔记。

=== END COMPLETE WRONG TRANSLATION ===

Read the complete repaired translation

This is a complete replacement draft for review. The English words soft confirmation remain deliberately unresolved; the question after the guide is for the author, not part of the reader's instructions. The draft is not ready for final publication until that point is answered and the affected sentence reviewed.

在 Harbor Notes 中准备项目笔记

1. 先选对工作区

工作区把同一个项目的笔记集中在一起，方便你整理工作；它不是共享收件箱。在笔记中写下同事的名字，并不会让对方获得这个工作区的访问权限。

2. 先起草，再分享

用自己的话写一份笔记。你可以离开编辑器，之后再回来继续写。保存下来的草稿仍是你的工作副本；保存并不会把它发送给任何人。

3. 通过卡片找到笔记

每份笔记在侧栏中都有一张卡片。打开卡片，就能回到对应的笔记。给卡片重命名，只会更改对应笔记的标题，不会更改工作区的名称。

4. 把常用卡片放在顶部

你最多可以把 3 张卡片置顶。置顶只影响你自己的列表显示，同事的列表保持不变。如果测试版在登录时要求输入六位 PIN 码，请输入登录码；它与卡片置顶没有关系。

5. 查看待检查列表

待检查列表最多容纳 12 份等待你亲自检查的笔记。只有通过“加入待检查列表”添加的笔记才会进入这里。笔记出现在列表中，并不表示同事已经检查或批准了它。

6. 暂时收起旧笔记

将旧笔记归档后，它的卡片会从当前使用的列表中移除，笔记仍保留在工作区里。已归档的笔记不计入待检查列表的 12 份上限。以后需要时，你可以恢复已归档的笔记。

7. 准备交接副本

准备交接会创建一份副本，供你检查；这一步不会发送原文，也不会发送副本。选择“准备交接”后，请先查看 soft confirmation，再继续操作。随后检查副本的标题和项目详情。

8. 复制、重读，再发送

准备好后，使用“复制文本”，将已准备的副本放到剪贴板上。把它粘贴到你选择的位置，发送前再读一遍。Harbor Notes 不会替你发送。确认复制的是你想要的那份笔记后，再关闭预览。

Translator's question, outside the guide: Author question — section 7: What exactly does “soft confirmation” show, and what action, if any, must the user take before continuing? What Chinese term should name it? The draft retains the English words until that is answered. No click, timeout or approval behavior has been inferred.

The standalone Chinese draft includes that same complete guide and the separate author question.

Check the changed meaning, section by section

Check the draft against the complete source, not just this table. A table can highlight repairs while still overlooking a sentence that disappeared. In this case, also verify the return-to-editor instruction, the copy's title and project details, and the final close-preview condition. Those details are easy to omit when a request asks only to “fix terminology.”

Numbers deserve their own pass: 3 pinned cards, a six-digit sign-in code, and the 12-note queue limit. Negations deserve another: no access grant, no sending at save or handoff preparation, no teammate approval implied, and no deletion on archive. Count checks do not establish translation quality, but they help you find specific meaning changes.

Read it once as the target reader

A final Chinese read should work without mentally translating the English back. In section 3, 对应笔记的标题 identifies the object rather than making the reader guess what “it” refers to. Section 8 separates the user's actions into a natural sequence. Neither decision adds a feature; both make the supplied instructions easier to follow.

There can be several good phrasings. Another translator might choose a different section heading or sentence rhythm. Accept those differences when the chosen terms, actors, limits and conditions still hold. Reject fluent wording that changes what the user is told will happen.

Keep author questions separate from the guide. For this example, the next useful step is a specific answer about “soft confirmation,” followed by a revision of section 7. Repeating a generic request to be more accurate cannot supply that missing meaning. No answer is invented here.

For your own document, keep the source and translated versions beside each other, confirm that every section is present, and ask a fluent target-language reviewer to read for both meaning and usability. If the document later has to match an actual localized interface, check its labels there as a separate step. This text exercise has not established those labels, measured translation accuracy or shown a time-saving result.