Stage 6a translation generator — produce structure-preserving verse-aligned English from Greek, adversarially reviewed against PD witnesses. Skipped when a versification-candidate witness is successfully versified via the Stage 6 fast path.
Generate a structure-preserving English translation aligned 1:1 with the Greek reference system.
This skill is the Stage 6a owner — the first half of Stage 6.
Stage 6a is conditional. Before this skill runs, the orchestrator attempts the witness versification fast path (/versify try-witness). If a versification-candidate witness is successfully versified (100% coverage, 1:1 mapping), that witness becomes the versified edition and Stage 6a is skipped entirely.
Stage 6a runs when:
No witness is classified as versification-candidate
structural validation and DB import (Stage 6b — versify)
interlinear/gloss generation (Stage 8)
final ship promotion (Stage 10)
Witness Versification (Fast Path)
Before Stage 6a generation runs, the orchestrator invokes /versify try-witness [work] to attempt the fast path. This is documented here for context — the actual logic lives in the versify skill.
When the fast path succeeds
A versification-candidate witness was found in the witness catalog
Its references map 1:1 to Greek segments
Coverage is 100%
The witness is imported as the versified edition
Stage 6a is skipped — no translation is generated
The witness still gets a validation pass (checked for empty segments, reference integrity, completeness) via /versify try-witness
When the fast path fails
No versification-candidate exists, OR
All candidates fail automated versification
Stage 6a runs normally — generate a fresh translation with adversarial review
Then Stage 6b validates and imports the generated translation
What this means for this skill
This skill's run command is only invoked when the fast path has already failed
All generation requirements, adversarial review, and quality standards still apply
The fast path does not change how generation works — it only determines whether generation happens at all
Generation Requirements
The generated translation MUST be:
Structure-preserving: exactly one English segment per Greek segment (verse, sentence, or unit)
Faithful: accurate to the Greek meaning, segment-by-segment — no paraphrasing across boundaries
Learner-readable: clear, natural English that helps learners understand what the text says
Consistent: recurring Greek terms get consistent English equivalents where reasonable
Labeled: output includes model name, timestamp, and witness translator used for comparison
The generated translation MUST NOT:
Rearrange clauses across segment boundaries
Merge or split segments
Add explanatory content not in the Greek
Be presented as a historical/literary translation
Adversarial Review
Every generated translation batch is reviewed against PD witness translations.
Review checks
MISTRANSLATION: meaning that differs from the Greek
HALLUCINATION: content added that is not in the Greek
OMISSION: Greek content that was dropped
CLAUSE REARRANGEMENT: significant reordering away from Greek structure
TERM INCONSISTENCY: same Greek word translated differently without reason
Re-run adversarial review on existing generated translations.
Useful when:
New/better PD witnesses have been gathered
Review prompts have been improved
Issues from initial review need re-examination
Steps
Load existing chapter files from versification/
Load current PD witness(es)
Re-run review prompts
Update review sections in chapter files
Report aggregate pass/fail/issue counts
/translation-synthesis status
Summarize current state.
Report includes
Chapters generated vs total expected
Review verdicts (pass/fail counts)
Issue breakdown by type
Outstanding high-severity issues
Readiness for Stage 6b (versify)
SQL helpers
-- Count Greek segments by chapter
SELECT
CAST(SUBSTR(reference, 1, INSTR(reference, '.') - 1) AS INTEGER) as chapter,
COUNT(*) as segments
FROM segments
WHERE edition_id = <greek_edition_id>
GROUP BY chapter;
-- Count generated segments
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM segments WHERE edition_id = <generated_edition_id>;
Important Rules
Generation is skipped only via the fast path
Do NOT skip translation synthesis for ad-hoc reasons like:
"The existing Perrin/Murray/Long translation is good enough"
"This text already has verse numbers"
"It's biblical so we can use KJV/ASV"
The only legitimate way to skip Stage 6a is via the witness versification fast path (/versify try-witness), which requires:
A witness explicitly classified as versification-candidate in the Stage 5 catalog
Automated versification succeeding with 100% coverage and 1:1 mapping
The orchestrator confirming the fast path result before skipping generation
If the fast path was not attempted or did not succeed, generation MUST run.
Per-chapter isolation
Process one chapter at a time
Never mix segments from different chapters in a batch
Save after each chapter to enable resume
Labeling
All output must be clearly labeled as generated:
generated_at timestamp
model name
witness used for comparison
URN includes "generated" marker (e.g., ...generated-eng1)
Rate limiting
When using API mode, include delays between batches to avoid rate limits.
Lessons Learned
Why generation is the default (and the fast path is an exception)
Pope's Iliad cannot be forced into line-level 1:1 alignment — too literary, wrong structure
Townsend's Aesop is too loose for reliable verse alignment
Murray's Homer requires range-based fallback with imperfect coverage
Long's Meditations required elaborate DP mapping with hand-verified tables
Even "verse-aligned" biblical texts have numbering variations
Generating a structure-preserving translation eliminates all alignment-mode classification effort for the majority of texts.
When the fast path works (and why it exists)
Some texts have PD translations that are already naturally 1:1 with the Greek:
NT witnesses (ASV, KJV) share the same verse numbering as the Greek — despite occasional variations, automated versification can handle these when the match rate is high enough
Scholarly literal translations of segmented texts (e.g., Perrin's Plutarch with section markers) may already align structurally
The fast path exists to avoid expensive LLM generation when a perfectly good literal PD translation already has the right structure
The key insight: the old problems (Pope, Townsend, Murray, Long) were caused by trying to force-align unsuitable witnesses. The fast path only attempts versification on witnesses that Stage 5 has explicitly classified as versification-candidate — witnesses that are literal, reference-aligned, and structurally compatible.
What makes a good witness for comparison
Literal scholarly translations catch more errors
Multiple witnesses increase confidence
Literary/idiomatic translations may miss structural issues
Witness doesn't need to be aligned — just readable for comparison
Verification Contract
This skill follows the Stage 6a contract.
Verify
Generated translation has one segment per Greek segment
Adversarial review was performed against at least one PD witness
No cross-chapter contamination
Model/timestamp metadata is present
Issues are documented (even if verdict is "pass")
Minimum evidence
Chapter files under versification/
Each chapter file has segments and reviews
generated_at, model, and witness fields present
Pass criteria
100% structural coverage: every Greek segment has a generated translation
Adversarial review completed for all chapters
No unresolved critical mistranslations blocking Stage 6b
Output is labeled as generated
Failure examples
Generated translation hallucinates content not in the Greek
Adversarial review was skipped
Segments are merged or split relative to Greek structure
Chapter files missing review data
Next steps after pass
Proceed to /versify run <work> for structural validation and DB import
Verification
After completing this stage, run the automated verification script:
bash scripts/verify_stage_6a.sh "${SLUG}"
Exit codes: 0=PASS (advance), 1=FAIL (block), 2=WARN (advance with notes).
The orchestrator runs this automatically; when executing manually, check the output for [FAIL] or [WARN] lines.