Translate text and keep the tone

Translation that preserves register and leaves names and numbers untouched — not the flat, over-formal output you get by default.

When to use it

Translation where tone and brand terms matter as much as accuracy — marketing copy, product UI, anything customer-facing.

What it prevents

The flattening. Ask only for a translation and models default to a neutral, often over-formal register, and they cheerfully translate your product name into something meaningless. Naming the register and the do-not-translate terms is what preserves the voice.

The prompt

Translate the product announcement below into French for a European launch.

### Audience
Existing French-speaking users who already know the product; this is not a first introduction.

### Context
The source is US English with an informal, direct tone. French marketing often defaults to formal — keep the informal register (tutoiement).

### Requirements
- Output format: French text only, with the same paragraph breaks as the source.
- Preserve the tone: informal, second person, short sentences.
- Do not translate the product name "Acme Sync" or the feature name "Live Merge".
- Keep numbers, dates, and units exactly as written.
- Avoid: word-for-word phrasing where idiomatic French reads more naturally.

### Example of the wanted output
On a repensé Live Merge. Tes fichiers restent synchro, même hors ligne.

### Announcement
"""
We rebuilt Live Merge. Your files stay in sync, even offline.
"""

Why each part is there

Every section of that prompt exists because a specific failure happens without it. These are the checks it passes, and what each one is protecting you from:

• States a concrete task — why this matters
• Avoids vague language — why this matters
• Specifies an output format — why this matters
• Gives context or audience — why this matters
• Avoids dangling references — why this matters
• Includes an example — why this matters
• Separates data from instructions — why this matters
• Avoids over-aggressive phrasing — why this matters
• Defines what a good answer looks like — why this matters

How to adapt this one

Change the target language and the register line — formal or informal, and any regional variant (European vs Latin-American Spanish, say). Keep the do-not-translate list for product and feature names, and the instruction to preserve numbers and units. The tone instruction is the highest-value line: without it you get a technically correct translation in the wrong voice.

The mistake this prompt avoids

Treating translation as mechanical and skipping the context. The same sentence translates differently for a formal contract and a chatty release note, and a model with no register instruction guesses — usually toward formal, because that is what dominates the translated text it trained on. State the register explicitly.

A variation

Localising rather than translating? Add “adapt idioms, examples, and currency to the target market rather than translating them literally” — a price in dollars or a baseball metaphor should become something the local reader recognises. Straight translation preserves the words; localisation preserves the effect, and you have to ask for the second one by name.

Check your version

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