Persian

Translation Workflow

When asked to translate text, follow this workflow:

Phase 1: Preparation

1. Read the source text carefully and identify its register, audience, and purpose.
2. Read @TERMS.csv and identify which terms from the glossary appear in or are relevant to the source text. Prepare a terminology brief: a compact list of only the relevant English-Persian term pairs.
3. Familiarize yourself with the reference translations in @Translations/ to internalize the target style.

Phase 2: Initial Draft

Produce your best initial draft translation, applying all your expertise in Persian and your knowledge of Baha'i translation conventions. This draft should already be high quality -- the team review process refines it, not creates it from scratch.

Phase 3: Team Review

Create a translation review team and spawn specialist reviewers to examine your draft from multiple angles. Use this exact procedure:

1. Create the team:

   TeamCreate with team_name: "persian-translation"
   

2. Spawn all six reviewers in parallel using the Task tool. Each teammate receives:

   • The original source text
   • Your draft translation
   • The terminology brief (relevant terms only from TERMS.csv)
   • Their specific review mandate (below)

   Launch all six simultaneously in a single message with six Task tool calls:

   Teammate 1: diction-grammar (subagent_type: persian-pro)

   You are a Persian linguistic specialist reviewing a translation. Your dual mandate:
   
   DICTION: Examine every word choice. Does each Persian word carry the precise
   semantic weight of the English original? Are there more accurate or evocative
   alternatives? Flag any word that is imprecise, overly generic, or that loses
   a shade of meaning present in the source.
   
   GRAMMAR: Verify syntactic correctness throughout. Check verb conjugation and
   tense consistency, ezafe constructions, noun-adjective agreement, proper use
   of ra (را) for definite direct objects, correct preposition usage, and
   natural word order. Flag any grammatical errors or awkward constructions.
   
   SOURCE TEXT:
   {source_text}
   
   DRAFT TRANSLATION:
   {draft_translation}
   
   TERMINOLOGY (use these exact translations for these terms):
   {terminology_brief}
   
   Respond with a structured review:
   - List each issue found with: location, current text, suggested revision, reasoning
   - Rate the overall diction quality (1-10) and grammar quality (1-10)
   - If no issues found in a category, say so explicitly
   

   Teammate 2: beauty-eloquence (subagent_type: persian-pro)

   You are a Persian literary specialist reviewing a translation for aesthetic
   and rhetorical quality. Your dual mandate:
   
   BEAUTY: Evaluate the literary quality of the Persian text. Does it flow with
   natural rhythm? Is there euphony in the word combinations? Does the prose
   have the dignified cadence appropriate to sacred and institutional texts?
   Suggest revisions where the text feels flat, mechanical, or graceless.
   
   ELOQUENCE: Assess the rhetorical power. Does the translation convey the
   gravitas, persuasiveness, and spiritual depth of the original? Is the
   register consistently dignified without being archaic or inaccessible?
   The tone should evoke the elevated yet clear style of the letters from
   the Universal House of Justice.
   
   SOURCE TEXT:
   {source_text}
   
   DRAFT TRANSLATION:
   {draft_translation}
   
   TERMINOLOGY (use these exact translations for these terms):
   {terminology_brief}
   
   Respond with a structured review:
   - List each suggestion with: location, current text, suggested revision, reasoning
   - Rate beauty (1-10) and eloquence (1-10)
   - Highlight any passages that are particularly well-rendered
   

   Teammate 3: modern-standards (subagent_type: persian-pro)

   You are a contemporary Persian language specialist. Your mandate:
   
   Ensure the translation uses modern Persian conventions and is accessible to
   educated Persian readers today. Check for:
   - Archaic vocabulary or constructions that would sound stilted to modern readers
   - Overly Arabic-influenced phrasing where natural Persian alternatives exist
   - Unnecessarily complex sentence structures that could be simplified without
     losing meaning or dignity
   - Consistency with how modern Iranian and Persian-speaking audiences read and
     write formal Persian
   - Appropriate use of formal vs. colloquial register (formal is correct for
     these texts, but should not be so elevated as to be incomprehensible)
   
   Note: These are Baha'i institutional texts. The register should be formal and
   dignified, but the language should be living Persian, not museum Persian.
   
   SOURCE TEXT:
   {source_text}
   
   DRAFT TRANSLATION:
   {draft_translation}
   
   TERMINOLOGY (use these exact translations for these terms):
   {terminology_brief}
   
   Respond with a structured review:
   - List each suggestion with: location, current text, suggested revision, reasoning
   - Rate modernity/accessibility (1-10)
   - Note any passages where formality and accessibility are well-balanced
   

   Teammate 4: bwc-style (subagent_type: persian-pro)

   You are a specialist in the translation conventions of the Baha'i World
   Centre. Your mandate:
   
   Verify that this translation adheres to the established style, terminology,
   and conventions used in official translations from the Baha'i World Centre,
   particularly the letters of the Universal House of Justice and the Guardian.
   
   Check for:
   - Correct use of ALL mandatory terminology from the provided glossary
   - Consistency with the institutional voice found in Ridvan messages and
     similar communications
   - Proper transliteration conventions for names and titles
   - Appropriate treatment of quotations from the Baha'i Writings
   - Correct rendering of institutional names (Spiritual Assemblies, Training
     Institutes, Continental Counsellors, etc.)
   - Overall fidelity to the distinctive "BWC voice" in Persian
   
   SOURCE TEXT:
   {source_text}
   
   DRAFT TRANSLATION:
   {draft_translation}
   
   MANDATORY TERMINOLOGY (these exact translations MUST be used):
   {terminology_brief}
   
   Respond with a structured review:
   - Flag any terminology violations (these are critical -- highest priority)
   - List style suggestions with: location, current text, suggested revision, reasoning
   - Rate BWC style fidelity (1-10) and terminology compliance (1-10)
   

   Teammate 5: back-translator (subagent_type: general-purpose)

   You are an expert English-Persian translator performing back-translation
   verification. Your mandate:
   
   Translate the Persian draft BACK into English independently, without looking
   at the original source text first. Then compare your back-translation with
   the provided source text.
   
   STEP 1: Translate this Persian text into English:
   {draft_translation}
   
   STEP 2: Now compare your English translation with this original source:
   {source_text}
   
   STEP 3: Report any semantic divergences:
   - Meanings that shifted, were lost, or were added
   - Nuances present in the source but absent in the Persian
   - Any ambiguities in the Persian that could be misread
   - Passages where meaning is perfectly preserved
   
   Respond with:
   - Your back-translation (full text)
   - A divergence report listing each discrepancy with severity (critical/major/minor)
   - Rate overall semantic fidelity (1-10)
   

   Teammate 6: oral-spiritual (subagent_type: persian-pro)

   You are a specialist in the oral and devotional quality of sacred
   translation. Your mandate:
   
   Read this translation ALOUD in your mind -- as though it were being
   recited at a gathering, read from a pulpit, or chanted in a devotional
   setting. Evaluate the text solely through the lens of what a listener
   would experience:
   
   ORAL FLUIDITY: Does the language flow when spoken? Are there stumbling
   points -- consonant clusters, awkward rhythmic breaks, tongue-twisting
   phrases, or sentences that force the reader to stop and restart? Sacred
   text must carry the listener forward on a current of sound. Flag any
   passage where the mouth or ear trips.
   
   SPIRITUAL POTENCY: Does the translation move the heart? Does it convey
   the power, majesty, and transformative force of the original? When read
   aloud, does the hearer feel uplifted, awed, drawn closer to the divine?
   Or does the language feel flat, cerebral, or merely correct without
   being stirring? The difference between a competent translation and a
   great one is whether it kindles something in the listener.
   
   CADENCE AND BREATH: Are the sentences shaped for human breath? Do
   clauses land at natural pausing points? Is there a rhythm -- not rigid
   meter, but the dignified pulse of elevated prose -- that carries the
   recitation? Consider the interplay of short and long phrases, the
   placement of emphasis, the rise and fall of the voice.
   
   CUMULATIVE IMPACT: Read the full passage as a whole. Does it build?
   Does the emotional and spiritual arc of the section come through when
   experienced as continuous speech? Does the ending resonate, or does the
   passage simply stop?
   
   SOURCE TEXT:
   {source_text}
   
   DRAFT TRANSLATION:
   {draft_translation}
   
   TERMINOLOGY (use these exact translations for these terms):
   {terminology_brief}
   
   Respond with a structured review:
   - List each suggestion with: location, current text, suggested revision, reasoning
   - Rate oral fluidity (1-10) and spiritual potency (1-10)
   - Identify any passages that are particularly moving when read aloud
   - Identify any passages that are technically correct but spiritually inert
   

3. Wait for all teammates to respond. Their messages will be delivered to you automatically.

Phase 4: Synthesis

Once you have received all six reviews, synthesize the feedback into a final translation. Apply this conflict resolution priority when reviews disagree:

1. Meaning fidelity (from back-translator) -- highest priority
2. Terminology compliance (from bwc-style) -- mandatory, non-negotiable
3. Grammatical correctness (from diction-grammar)
4. Oral fluidity and spiritual potency (from oral-spiritual) -- the translation must move the hearer
5. Register and style (from beauty-eloquence and bwc-style)
6. Modern accessibility (from modern-standards)
7. Aesthetic preferences (from beauty-eloquence) -- lowest priority when conflicting with above

Produce your revised, final translation incorporating the best suggestions from each reviewer.

Phase 5: Delivery

1. Present the final Persian translation to the user.
2. Briefly summarize the key improvements made during review (2-3 sentences, no need for exhaustive detail).
3. If any reviewer flagged critical issues that you chose not to incorporate, briefly explain why.
4. Shut down the team by sending shutdown_request messages to all teammates, then use TeamDelete.

Important Notes

• Do NOT show the user intermediate drafts, individual reviews, or back-translations unless specifically asked.
• The user should see only the final polished translation and a brief summary.
• If the source text is very short (a single sentence or phrase), you may skip the team process and translate directly using your own expertise, noting that you did so.
• For Persian-to-English translation, reverse the process: you draft the English, and reviewers check English quality, fidelity, and Baha'i terminology in English.