THE TRANSLATION CARD · meaning kept across languages
WAKES WHEN something is translated for customers, labels, contracts or safety notices
THE LOOP
segment <source> · numbered sentences
translate; then translate back, apart
back <source> <back> · OK or CHECK
terms --glossary · the agreed words
a person fluent in both signs off
NEVER
Pass a changed number or a lost negation
Let the same pass check its own translation
Skip the person for anything that binds
IT MAKES segment — id,source, one sentence a row; back — segment by segment: OK, or CHECK with the reason; terms — every glossary miss named.
THE STANDARD translate back, apart; numbers, names and negations first; meaning, by its words; the glossary binds; segments line up; a fluent person signs off.
PROOF SELFTEST 7/7 · witnessed in Claude 2026-10-10 · Edition 1.
THE SEAL 98 of 100 · LEGENDARY · WITNESSED · Trigger 5 · Machinery 5 · Law 5 · Portability 5 · Proof 5
IT CAN BE WRONG an AI reading a text file: it can be wrong and can invent a number, a rule, a name or a date; check what matters against your own records and the source; the risk is yours. THE-CLAUSES.md rides in the packet and is part of the licence.
THE PUNCH · SHA-256 OF SKILL.MD · 064FA1085AD16FD494730210
CITE THIS CARDTHE TRANSLATION CARD, Edition 1. Lund Studio LLC, Westminster, Colorado. https://lundr.tech/?view=translation-card. Punch 064FA1085AD16FD494730210. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
What it is.
Checks a translation by translating back: segment cuts a source into numbered sentences for the translator; back sets the source beside its back-translation — the translation turned back into the source language by a second pass — segment by segment, and names every segment where a number changed, a name was lost, a negation was lost or added, or most of the meaning went, and any sentence merged, split or dropped; terms holds a translation to the owner's glossary — every source term present must come out as its agreed target term, and the forbidden renderings must not appear. The card does not translate; the AI or a translator does, and the card checks the work.
It carries a machine that shows its working: segment — id,source, one sentence a row; back — segment by segment: OK, or CHECK with the reason; terms — every glossary miss named — 7 checks in its selftest, every command on the record. It will never pass a changed number or a lost negation; never let the same pass check its own translation; never skip the person for anything that binds.
Six laws, written into the card.
They are in the card itself, so the AI follows them.
TRANSLATE BACK, APARTThe back-translation is made by a separate pass that has not seen the source; the same pass checking itself proves nothing.
NUMBERS, NAMES AND NEGATIONS FIRSTA changed figure, a lost name, a lost or added not is named in its segment.
MEANING, BY ITS WORDSA segment that keeps less than four in ten of its content words is named for a reader.
THE GLOSSARY BINDSAgreed terms come out as agreed; forbidden renderings are named.
SEGMENTS LINE UPA sentence merged, split or dropped is named before the rest is read.
A FLUENT PERSON SIGNS OFFanything that binds — a contract, a label, a safety notice. The card is the check before them, not instead of them.
What rides in the card.
In the card’s own voice, with a machine that shows its working.
THE GUIDEreferences/THE-HORIZON.md
THE MACHINEbacktrans.py · three commandssegment — id,source, one sentence a row; back — segment by segment: OK, or CHECK with the reason; terms — every glossary miss named. Every command prints its working and refuses a bad input; 7 checks in its selftest, every command on the record.
What it does once your AI has it.
segment Id,source, one sentence a row
back Segment by segment: OK, or CHECK with the reason
terms Every glossary miss named
On the record The source cut into three numbered sentences; a faithful back-translation read OK in every segment; a careless one named the lost Friday, 120 become 210, the lost name and the lost never; the glossary named the agreed term missed and the forbidden rendering used.
What it will never do.
It will never pass a changed number or a lost negation; never let the same pass check its own translation; never skip the person for anything that binds.
Back-translation catches lost facts and flipped meanings; it does not catch a translation that is accurate but wrong in tone, register or culture, and a good back-translation can hide a clumsy translation. Names are found by capital letters and numbers by digits, as they are in English; scripts without capitals need the glossary to carry names. It is an AI reading a text file: it can be wrong, so check what matters against your own records and the source.
What’s in the buy.
CARD.md — the whole card: who it is, its laws, when it says no, what it carries · SKILL.md — the door your AI reads first · START-HERE.md — the first five minutes, for you
THE-HORIZON.md — the guide in references/, in the card's own voice
scripts/backtrans.py — the machine: segment · back · terms, standard library only, selftest 7/7
WITNESS.md + SELFTEST.md — every command on the record, as it printed · MANIFEST.md, every file hashed · AUDIT.md, the twelve checks
MY-LEDGER.md — the card's memory, on your own machine · TIN.md · LICENSE-NOTE.md · THE-CLAUSES.md · HOSTS.md
card.svg + card-machine.svg + card.json · card.html, the card as one offline file · the doors for ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor, Claude Code and MCP hosts (rules/, system/, mcp/)
PROOF · SELFTEST 7/7 · 3 COMMANDS ON THE RECORD · WITNESSED IN CLAUDE 2026-10-10 · EDITION 1 · PUNCH 064FA1085AD16FD494730210
ON EVERY DOOR · A CARD FOR YOUR AI, A FILE FOR YOUR COMPUTER
In Claude: turn on code execution under Settings › Capabilities, then Customize › Skills › + › Create skill, and upload the zip as it is — START-HERE.md in the box walks you through it, and tells you how to keep the ledger. In ChatGPT, Gemini and the rest: a Project, a GPT or a Gem with the card’s files attached and the short door in the box pasted as its instructions. The words run anywhere an AI reads Markdown; the machines run wherever the host runs Python. Witnessed in Claude only. The host marks →
Take it.
Nº 1113 PROPOSED — LAUNCHING SOON
Sold as is under the term printed. A card instructs an AI you operate; results depend on your model, your files and your judgement. Not medical, legal, tax or financial advice, never the person’s boss, and not a licence to practise. The terms →
One payment. The file is yours to keep and keeps working at its edition; new editions issued in the year after you buy reach you by email as replacement files. Tax is added at checkout where it applies. Nothing auto-renews.
A TERM, NOT A SUBSCRIPTION: NOTHING RENEWS ITSELF AND NOBODY IS CHARGED AGAIN. WHEN A TERM ENDS THE FILES STAY ON YOUR COMPUTER AND STAY READABLE — FREEZE, NOT LOSS.
THE MACHINE · IN THE OPEN · FROM THE WITNESSED RUN OF 2026-10-10
backtrans.py, every command showing its working.
A small Python program, standard library only. Your AI runs it; you can too. Every block below is pasted from the card’s own WITNESS.md, as printed.
segment
id,source, one sentence a row
back
segment by segment: OK, or CHECK with the reason
terms
every glossary miss named
selftest
7 checks that prove the machine; it must print 7/7
(two back-translations, each made by a separate pass from a translation)
$ (two back-translations, each made by a separate pass from a translation)
back · SEGMENT BY SEGMENT: OK, OR CHECK WITH THE REASON
$ python3 scripts/backtrans.py back source.txt back-good.txt
OK S1 · Orders close at noon on Friday.
OK S2 · Rowan bakes 120 loaves before dawn.
OK S3 · We never use nuts in the rye.
3 segments · 0 to check
back · SEGMENT BY SEGMENT: OK, OR CHECK WITH THE REASON
$ python3 scripts/backtrans.py back source.txt back-bad.txt
CHECK S1 · names lost: Friday
CHECK S2 · numbers 120 → 210
CHECK S3 · a negation lost
3 segments · 3 to check
terms · EVERY GLOSSARY MISS NAMED
$ python3 scripts/backtrans.py terms source.txt translation.txt --glossary terms.csv
MISSING "rye" should come out as "Roggenbrot"
FORBIDDEN "roggen-laib" is not the agreed rendering of "rye"
2 glossary misses
THE NUMBERS, NAMES AND DATES IN THESE RUNS ARE THE STUDIO’S OWN EXAMPLES, INVENTED FOR THE RECORD; NO REAL COMPANY, PERSON OR PROPERTY IS NAMED.
QUESTIONS AT THE TABLE
Asked before the wire.
What does it need from me?
Segment <source> · numbered sentences. It asks first for the source, the translation, the back-translation made by a separate pass, and the glossary.
Does it send anything anywhere?
No. The machine is a standard-library Python program that runs on your own computer and sends nothing anywhere; the words run wherever an AI reads Markdown. No server, no account, no key.
What is on the record?
The self-test (7/7) and every command run on real example inputs, pasted into WITNESS.md as they printed; the punch on the face is the SHA-256 of SKILL.md, so a downloaded copy can be checked against this room.
Can it be wrong?
Yes — it is an AI reading a text file. Back-translation catches lost facts and flipped meanings; it does not catch a translation that is accurate but wrong in tone, register or culture, and a good back-translation can hide a clumsy translation. Names are found by capital letters and numbers by digits, as they are in English; scripts without capitals need the glossary to carry names.
What will it never do?
It will never pass a changed number or a lost negation; never let the same pass check its own translation; never skip the person for anything that binds.
