translate-book
by deusyutranslate-book is a book-translation skill for PDF, DOCX, and EPUB files. It converts input into Markdown chunks, translates with parallel sub-agents, validates chunk integrity, and rebuilds HTML, DOCX, EPUB, and PDF outputs. Use it for repeatable translate-book for Translation workflows on long-form content.
This skill scores 78/100, which means it is a solid listing candidate: directory users get a real, end-to-end book translation workflow they can trigger with a file path and execute with less guesswork than a generic prompt. It is useful to install if you want parallel chunked translation with validation and multi-format output, though it still needs some setup and clearer onboarding details.
- Explicit trigger and inputs: requires a file path plus target language, with defaults documented in SKILL.md.
- Concrete pipeline value: converts PDF/DOCX/EPUB to Markdown chunks, translates in parallel sub-agents, then merges to HTML/DOCX/EPUB/PDF.
- Operational safeguards: manifest-based hash tracking, resumable chunk workflow, and dedicated scripts/tests support real execution.
- Requires external tools and environment setup: python3, pandoc, and calibre/ebook-convert are mandatory.
- Onboarding is incomplete in the primary skill file: no install command in SKILL.md and some content is placeholder-truncated, so users may need to consult README/AGENTS for full procedure.
Overview of translate-book skill
What translate-book does
The translate-book skill is a book-translation pipeline for PDF, DOCX, and EPUB files. It breaks a source book into Markdown chunks, translates those chunks in parallel sub-agents, then rebuilds the result into HTML, DOCX, EPUB, and PDF. If you need translate-book for Translation work on long-form content, this is useful when a single prompt is too brittle or too short-lived for an entire book.
Who should install it
Install translate-book if you routinely translate books, manuals, or book-length documents and care about repeatable output, chunk-level resume, and format regeneration. It is a strong fit for users who want a guided workflow instead of writing a one-off translation prompt from scratch. It is less useful if you only need a short excerpt or a quick summary.
What makes it different
The key differentiator in the translate-book skill is the pipeline design: conversion, chunking, parallel translation, hash validation, and rebuild are all explicit steps. That structure reduces context loss and helps catch missing or stale chunks before final assembly. It also gives you a clearer install decision than a generic “translate this file” prompt because the repo is opinionated about toolchain and output artifacts.
How to Use translate-book skill
Install and check prerequisites
Use the install flow shown by the project, then confirm the external tools the pipeline expects are available: python3, pandoc, and Calibre’s ebook-convert or calibre. If ebook-convert is missing, the translate-book install step may succeed but the workflow will fail at conversion time, so verify the runtime first.
Start from a complete input prompt
The skill works best when you give it a file path, target language, and any style constraints in one request. A strong prompt looks like: Translate /path/to/book.epub into Japanese, keep technical terms consistent, preserve chapter structure, and use a formal tone. That gives translate-book usage enough context to select parameters and avoid back-and-forth. If you omit the file path, the skill should stop and ask for it.
Read the right files first
For installation-oriented confidence, read SKILL.md first, then README.md, AGENTS.md, and CLAUDE.md if you want implementation and testing notes. In this repo, the scripts matter more than a skim of the README: scripts/convert.py, scripts/manifest.py, scripts/glossary.py, and scripts/merge_and_build.py explain how chunks are created, tracked, made consistent, and rebuilt. That is the fastest way to understand whether translate-book matches your workflow.
Use a chunk-aware workflow
Do not think of this as one translation call. The intended flow is input file → Markdown chunks → translated chunk outputs → merged book. When prompting, mention anything that affects chunk quality: whether footnotes, tables, or code blocks must survive; whether names should stay untranslated; and whether you need glossary consistency across the whole book. Those details help the sub-agents make fewer local choices that later conflict.
translate-book skill FAQ
Is translate-book beginner-friendly?
Yes, if you can provide a file path and a target language. The skill hides the multi-step pipeline, but it still expects you to understand book-level constraints like formatting fidelity and terminology consistency. Beginners usually get better results by starting with a short EPUB or DOCX before attempting a large scanned PDF.
When should I not use translate-book?
Do not use it for short passages, casual chat translation, or cases where you only need a rough gist. It is also a weaker fit for heavily scanned PDFs with poor OCR, because source conversion quality will limit downstream translation quality. If the input file cannot be converted cleanly, no prompt can fully recover the structure.
How is it different from a normal translation prompt?
A normal prompt usually translates in one context window and is vulnerable to truncation, drift, and inconsistent terminology. translate-book is built around chunking, validation, and rebuild steps, so it is better for long documents where continuity matters. The tradeoff is more setup and more dependency checking.
Does translate-book work for any language pair?
The repo is designed for multiple target languages, but quality still depends on source complexity and terminology load. The best results come when you specify the target language code and provide glossary guidance for domain terms. For translation-heavy projects, that consistency guidance matters as much as the language choice itself.
How to Improve translate-book skill
Give better source constraints
The biggest quality gain comes from telling translate-book what must not change. Provide chapter titles to preserve, terms to keep in English, preferred transliterations, formatting rules for tables or code blocks, and any audience level such as academic or general-reader tone. For example: Keep API names unchanged, translate prose formally, and preserve Markdown headings exactly.
Reduce glossary drift early
Because the pipeline uses parallel sub-agents, terminology can drift if you do not define key terms up front. Before running a large book, prepare a small glossary of names, product terms, and repeated technical phrases. That is especially important for translate-book for Translation projects where one inconsistent term can spread across many chunks.
Watch for conversion and chunking failures
Common failure modes are broken OCR, malformed source formatting, and chunk boundaries that split tables or lists awkwardly. If the first output looks uneven, inspect the intermediate chunk files and the manifest before blaming translation quality. The most useful translate-book guide habit is to fix the source pipeline first, then re-run translation on clean chunks.
Iterate on the first output
After the first pass, review a few representative chunks rather than only the final merged book. Check chapter openings, glossary terms, headings, and any places where the source had dense formatting. If needed, rerun with tighter instructions instead of editing the whole book manually; that is the fastest way to improve the next translate-book skill run.