Prompts for the AI translator

An AI translator will move the words anyway, so these prompts decide what happens to the tone. Pick the kind of text you have, put your own into the field and the instruction into the settings beside it. The target language stays your choice.

Documents and business mail

Document translation where a wrong word costs something: a contract that has to stay exact, a letter to an institution, a reply to a client, and a CV translated for a job abroad that an employer reads to the end.

Contract or agreement

A clause has to mean exactly the same thing in both languages.

Prompt

Translate this the way a lawyer would: literally and unambiguously. Keep every clause, number, date and defined term in place, keep the same paragraph numbering, and smooth out nothing. If a legal term has no equivalent, give the closest one and put the original beside it in brackets.

Before

El Prestador entregará la obra en un plazo de 30 (treinta) días naturales desde la fecha de firma.

After

The Contractor shall deliver the work within 30 (thirty) calendar days from the date of signature.

Letter to an institution

A bank, a tax office or a university reads the form as closely as the content.

Prompt

Translate this as an official letter: formal address and sign-off, full sentences, no contractions and no casual wording. Keep reference numbers, dates and the order of the paragraphs exactly as in the original, and do not add polite phrases the original never used.

Before

Wir bitten Sie um Übersendung der Bescheinigung bis zum 15. März 2026.

After

We kindly ask you to send us the certificate by 15 March 2026.

Email to a client

The news is unwelcome, and the wording decides how it lands.

Prompt

Translate this email so it reads as if it had been written in the target language, not converted into it: warm but businesslike, short sentences, greeting and sign-off in the form that language really uses. Dates, sums and the promise itself stay exactly as they are.

Before

Bonjour Marc, la livraison aura deux jours de retard. Nous en sommes sincèrement désolés.

After

Hello Marc, the delivery will be two days late. We are genuinely sorry about it.

CV and cover letter

The same career, written the way employers over there expect to read it.

Prompt

Translate this CV into the wording an employer in the target country expects: job titles by their local convention rather than word for word, achievements with every figure kept, no responsibilities invented along the way. Keep the bullet structure and roughly the original length.

Before

Responsable de un equipo de 8 desarrolladores; reduje el ciclo de publicación de 3 semanas a 4 días.

After

Led a team of 8 developers and cut the release cycle from 3 weeks to 4 days.

Marketing and product copy

Marketing copy rarely survives a literal crossing. Translate a product description for an online shop, adapt a slogan so the play on words still lands, and rewrite a post for a feed in another country.

Product description

A shop listing that has to sell in the second language too.

Prompt

Translate this product description for an online shop: every material, size and figure stays exact, but the sentences should sound like they were written for that market. Claim no quality the original does not claim, and keep the description about as long as it was.

Before

Lana merino 100%, 250 g/m², lavabile in lavatrice a 30 °C.

After

100% merino wool, 250 g/m², machine washable at 30 °C.

Slogan and ad copy

Word for word a slogan dies; the promise is what has to survive.

Prompt

Do not translate this literally. Find the wording that carries the same promise in the target language, keep it about as short as the original and keep its rhythm, even if the image behind it changes. Product names stay untouched, and nothing may be promised that the original does not.

Before

Mehr Schlaf. Weniger Sorgen.

After

Sleep more. Worry less.

Post for social media

Captions travel badly: the hook, the emoji and the tags all need a local version.

Prompt

Translate this caption as a native post: keep the hook on the first line, keep the short lines and the line breaks, leave emoji and @mentions where they stand, and swap the hashtags for the ones people in that market actually search for. Same length or shorter.

Before

Día 3 del reto 💪 sigo dolorida, sigo adelante. #fitnessencasa

After

Day 3 of the challenge 💪 still sore, still going. #homeworkout

Tech and IT

Technical translation with rules attached: interface strings that must stay inside the button, documentation that keeps one term per meaning, and code comments translated while the code itself comes back untouched.

Interface labels

Buttons have a width, and a translation twice as long breaks the layout.

Prompt

Translate these interface strings line by line and keep each one about as short as the original — a button has to stay a button. Variables and placeholders such as %s or %1$s stay exactly as they are, nothing inside them is translated, and the order of the lines never changes.

Before

Enregistrer les modifications · Annuler · Les modifications non enregistrées seront perdues.

After

Save changes · Cancel · Unsaved changes will be lost.

Technical documentation

One term, one translation — all the way to the end of the manual.

Prompt

Translate this documentation precisely and consistently: a term keeps the same translation through the whole text. Commands, file names, flags, parameters and code stay exactly as written, numbered steps keep their numbers, and nothing gets explained that the original does not explain.

Before

Führen Sie npm install aus und setzen Sie anschließend die Variable PORT.

After

Run npm install, then set the PORT variable.

Comments inside code

Only the human-readable parts change; the code must come back untouched.

Prompt

Translate only the comments and the strings a user actually sees. The code itself, variable and function names, indentation and line breaks stay exactly as they are, and the whole fragment comes back — not just the lines that changed.

Before

// respaldo: conservar el valor anterior hasta que responda el servidor

After

// fallback: keep the previous value until the server answers

Everyday and personal

Everyday translation without the stiff textbook voice: a message to a friend that still sounds like you, an email to a host or a hotel abroad before a trip, and an appliance manual turned into plain English.

Message to a friend

A chat translated by the book instantly sounds like a stranger.

Prompt

Translate this as an ordinary spoken message: the way someone would really write it to a friend in that language, with the usual short forms and no officialese. Do not make it politer or more formal than the original, and keep it just as short.

Before

Stasera non ce la faccio, mi ero dimenticato di mia sorella. Domani?

After

Can't make it tonight, I completely forgot about my sister. Tomorrow?

Letter about a trip

A host, a hotel or a landlord abroad, and one clear request.

Prompt

Translate this as a short polite letter to a host, a hotel or a service abroad: one request per paragraph, no unnecessary apologies, dates and times written the way that country writes them, and booking numbers, names and addresses left exactly as they are.

Before

Notre vol atterrit à 23h40 : une arrivée tardive est-elle possible ?

After

Our flight lands at 23:40 — would a late check-in be possible?

A manual in plain words

Correctly translated and still unreadable — the usual outcome.

Prompt

Translate this instruction and put it in plain words: what to do first, what comes next, what must never be done. Keep every warning and every exact figure, drop nothing, replace the technical wording with everyday words, and lay the steps out as a short list.

Before

Das Basisgerät nicht in Wasser tauchen; nur mit einem feuchten Tuch abwischen.

After

Never put the base unit in water. Wipe it with a damp cloth only.

Names, terms and units

The places translations usually break. Brand names and job titles that should stay put, a surname transliterated the way the passport spells it, and units, dates and sums converted rather than copied across.

Keep the terms as they are

Half the words in a professional text should not be translated at all.

Prompt

Translate the text but leave product names, brands, job titles and established abbreviations in their original spelling. Where a term carries weight, translate it once and put the original beside it in brackets on first mention, then use that same pair everywhere below.

Before

El equipo de Customer Success revisa el churn cada semana.

After

The Customer Success team reviews churn every week.

Names and addresses

One person, three spellings — that is how parcels and contracts get lost.

Prompt

Transliterate personal names, surnames and place names by the rules of the target language and use the very same spelling everywhere in the text. Never translate a name. Keep the address in the order that country's post expects, and leave postcodes and house numbers untouched.

Before

Frau Katharina Wehrle, Rosenweg 12, 28195 Bremen

After

Ms Katharina Wehrle, Rosenweg 12, 28195 Bremen, Germany

Units, dates and sums

12 oz and 03/07 mean different things on the other side of the border.

Prompt

Convert measurements, dates and sums into what the target market reads without thinking: keep the original figure and add the converted one in brackets wherever precision matters, write dates in that country's format, name currencies by their code, and round nothing the original stated exactly.

Before

Expédition sous 5 jours ouvrés · 340 g · 19,99 € · 03/07/2026

After

Ships within 5 business days · 340 g (12 oz) · EUR 19.99 · 3 July 2026

Translator prompts: 16 ready-made instructions — iBro