Imported from behaviorengineering/blog (.cursor/skills/site-spanish-translation-content/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add behaviorengineering/blog --skill site-spanish-translation-content. Copyright stays with the author.

Spanish translation content (Hugo es)

When this applies

• The site is multilingual (en default, es under /es/). English posts live as content/<section>/<slug>/index.md or *.md without a language suffix.
• Spanish versions use the same bundle path with a language suffix: index.es.md next to index.md, or postname.es.md next to postname.md (see Hugo multilingual content).

Workflow

1. Locate the English source in content/<section>/.... Do not move the section; translation is a sibling file in the same folder.
2. Create index.es.md (or *.es.md) with the same type, date (identical string to English; site default date: 'YYYY-MM-DDT01:00:00+11:00' per .cursor/rules/site-content-markdown-writing.mdc → Publish date), slug (if set on EN), images paths, and structural front matter as the English file.
3. Set translationKey to the same stable string on both files (for example translationKey: "2026-04-07-yt-history-of-intelligence"). Use one identifier per logical article, not per language.
4. Adapt, do not gloss: From the English meaning (who does what, when, stakes), write Spanish a native editor would say. MUST rebuild clause order per Clause rebuild below. MUST NOT substitute Spanish words into the English sentence (same relatives, thus/making, You hear it when). Keep proper nouns, paper titles, and product names as in the source unless a standard Spanish name exists.
5. Apply the right type skill for structure and field roles (Claim vs Grounding, video description, sayings tldr/fluff, etc.): .cursor/skills/site-claims-content/SKILL.md, video-content, cognitive-memetics-content—and for Markdown **bold** density in any translated field, .cursor/skills/site-revise-emphasis/SKILL.md—but Spanish prose inside those roles.
6. Gemma 4 native-Spanish gate (MUST): After the first index.es.md draft, run local Gemma 4 (see Gemma 4 native-Spanish gate below). Apply calque / English-skeleton / meaning-load fixes from the report, then re-check Hard constraints. Skip this call for line-by-line author edits (step 8).
7. Index first, sidecars later: Finish and validate index.es.md (including the Gemma 4 gate) before touching facebook-es.txt / substack.es.md / linkedin.es.txt. Sidecars are reflections of the index, not independent sources.
8. Line-by-line author edits: If the user pastes a replacement line, apply only that patch. Do not rewrite the whole paragraph “for coherence.” Author wording binds even when it looks like a calque. MUST NOT call Gemma 4 to “fix” an intentional author calque.

Gemma 4 native-Spanish gate

MUST run after the first index.es.md draft, before ES sidecars. Same local gateway and script as .cursor/skills/site-revise-spanish/SKILL.md.

python3 .cursor/skills/site-revise-spanish/scripts/evaluate_spanish.py \
  content/<section>/<slug>/index.es.md \
  --scope site

Default model: LOCAL_LLM_MODEL or @cf/google/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it at LOCAL_LLM_BASE_URL or http://127.0.0.1:1320/v1.

While drafting with this skill: apply report fixes that fail native-Spanish, reverse-translation, or meaning-load. Do not wait for a separate apply confirmation (that wait is for revise-spanish on already-shipped copy). MUST NOT apply fluency-only rewrites that drop contrasts or verb objects (same Apply / "mejora" guardrails as revise-spanish).

After Gemma, still own reverse-translation: a Ready score does not waive an English clause-map. If tldr / fluff / description / body still remounts as the EN sentence, rewrite syntax and re-check Clause rebuild.

Skip Gemma 4: user pasted a one-line author patch (workflow step 8).

Gateway down (no fallback): MUST report that Gemma 4 did not run and MUST stop the Spanish review there. Ship the draft as written. MUST NOT substitute an agent-run audit, "Forced Self-Correction Loop", or Native opinion-editor audit for the gate. MUST NOT apply idiom, calque, or fluency edits the author did not request. The user decides whether to retry the gateway or accept the draft unaudited.

Index is source; sidecars are reflections

Author micro-edits bind

When the user (or index.es.md after their edits) chooses a phrase that “sounds like a calque” but carries tension, author wins.

MUST keep author micro-edits exact (including intentional calques).
MUST NOT rewrite a whole paragraph when a one-line patch already lands.
MUST NOT professionalize raw manifesto voice.
Priority of calque: if source/author uses a non-standard but loaded phrase, keep it over textbook fluency.
Preserve contrast: do not soften conflict into polite essay Spanish.

Spoken manifesto vs soft essay (from live edits)

Hard constraints (native Spanish, not translation-shaped)

Goal: Same thesis, ladder, and facts as the English sibling; not a sentence-for-sentence English gloss. Spanish may use its own ### hooks, bridges, and punch lines when they match the paragraph.

Before shipping index.es.md: The Gemma 4 native-Spanish gate MUST have run, or its failure MUST be reported per Gateway down (no fallback) above. Read the draft aloud. Run Clause rebuild and the reverse-translation test on every user-facing sentence: if you can put the Spanish back into English almost word-for-word and recover the EN sentence shape, fail and rewrite syntax (not only vocabulary). A Gemma Ready does not skip this. If it still sounds like dubbed English, apply Gemma 4 findings again and run the five-directive audit.

English skeleton under Spanish words (MUST check)

Clause rebuild (MUST, before typing)

Do not draft by swapping Spanish words into the English sentence. Close the English clause. Write the Spanish thought. Then reverse-translate.

Spanish default is hypotaxis, not telegram. Native Spanish often finishes the thought in one sentence with y, que, cuando, mientras, porque. MUST NOT split a native clause into English-style punches (El otro solo ejecuta.) just to “sound punchy.”

MUST NOT keep these frames (EN clause-map). Prefer elaborated Spanish, not a remate stack:

MUST

• Rebuild EN relatives in Spanish. Default: one elaborated sentence (author gold: El cómplice que calla te allana el terreno y carga más culpa que el que da el golpe.). Split only when reverse-translation still recovers the English nest.
• Put cause in a verb (permite, abre paso, deja servido), then keep the contrast in the same sentence when Spanish would (mientras el otro solo ejecuta).
• Count whether the nest matches English, not whether the sentence is “long enough” or “short enough.”
• Sayings use-line La usas cuando is allowed (series convention, gold: saying-19). Name the dicho if la has no antecedent.

Conceptual anglicisms (MUST check)

Repo example (validated): content/human-condition/2026-06-11-deception-truth-bias-incentive-gaps/index.es.md (colloquial ###, salir gratis, activa límites, Claim defecto de diseño).

Hybrid cadence (punchy-natural body)

English manifesto copy often uses telegram beats (bare stats, Label: value lines). In Spanish those usually read like PowerPoint or dubbed English unless they are intentional rhetorical parallels (see Anti-staccato guardrail below).

Default for type: claims / type: video body (not a license to telegram sayings tldr/fluff): hybrid cadence for essays. For sayings tldr/fluff, default to elaborated Spanish (see Clause rebuild). A short remate is allowed after a built-up clause, not as the whole block.

Connectors: Use y, pero, ;, and causal links so the reader can breathe. Colons: MUST NOT abuse : to fake EN slide bullets; integrate facts in narrative prose.

Tension with "Punchy and direct" above: Short lines stay valid when the previous sentence prepares them. Do not telegram the whole essay.

Before / after (body smell → fix):

Repo example: content/mind-infrastructure/2026-06-18-ai-persuasion-infrastructure/index.es.md.

Spanish idiom, flow, and character (MUST follow)

• COT para traducción (Chain of Thought): Antes de escribir la versión final, el modelo debe realizar un proceso interno de razonamiento:
  1. Desmontar el inglés: Identificar el mecanismo o intención real de la frase (¿qué está pasando realmente? ¿quién hace qué a quién?).
  2. Transmutación de conceptos (No calcar metáforas): Las metáforas abstractas del inglés a menudo fallan en español. Aterrizarlas a imágenes visuales y reales. (Ej: "narrative debt" → montaña de justificaciones, factura emocional; "is a slow way to lose" → una derrota en cámara lenta; "it backfires" → te explota en la cara).
  3. Vocabulario de acción: Listar verbos con "sabor" que describan ese mecanismo en español (por ejemplo: en lugar de "avoid", usar esquivar, rehuir, capear; en lugar de "move", usar desplazar, empujar, arrastrar).
  4. Variación léxica cross-field: Planear sinónimos diferentes para cada campo (description, tldr, fluff, body) para evitar repeticiones. Si tldr usa "trampa", fluff usa "aprieto" o "lío"; si tldr dice "correr/volar", body usa "velocidad sobrehumana".
  5. Uso del "Nos" (Autoridad y Conexión): Cuando el inglés usa formas impersonales o pasivas para describir comportamientos humanos, el español gana fuerza usando la primera persona del plural (nosotros). (Ej: "Politics trains people..." → "La política nos obliga...").
  6. Fuerza y forma directa: Priorizar la autoridad y la brevedad. Sustituir verbos débiles ("significa que", "se trata de") por el "es" directo o verbos de identidad fuerte. Si una frase puede decirse con tres palabras en lugar de seis, elegir las tres.
  7. Filtro de naturalidad (Forced Loop): Probar la frase en voz alta. Si suena a "robot traduciendo" o a "ensayo corporativo", es obligatorio volver al paso 1. Iterar hasta que la estructura suene 100% natural, directa y con autoridad en español. Si el tema es jerarquía, empresa o diseño organizativo, recorrer también la tabla Organizational, hierarchy, and workplace English (más abajo).
• Goal: Readers should not feel a literal gloss or machine translation. Prefer meaning and natural collocations in Spanish over cognate-for-cognate wording.
• No alien literal translations (Cero calcos literales): If an English phrase relies on specific phrasing that sounds bizarre or robotic when translated word-for-word (e.g., "biological brains" -> "cerebros biológicos"), DO NOT translate it literally. Find the natural Spanish way to express the underlying human experience (e.g., "nuestra biología").
• Consistent direct address (El "tú"): MUST maintain a consistent, informal singular "tú" cuando te dirijas al lector. MUST NOT mix "tú", "ustedes" (les), and impersonal forms in the same text.
• Watch for person switches: When describing roles, modes, or states (e.g., "El Capitán", "La Nave", "El Ejecutor"), ensure you don't accidentally slip from addressing the reader ("tú") to describing them in third person ("él/ella/ellos"). Either consistently use the "tú" form throughout or clearly mark the switch as intentional character voice. Common trap: "Si no tienes postura, terminan convertidos en..." should be "...acabas como...".
• Bone-deep simplicity (Al hueso): Remove filler phrases that explain the process instead of the impact. Avoid "Llega un punto en que...", "Decimos que...", "Se trata de...", or "¿Sabías que...?". Go straight to the feeling or the fact.
  • Example: Instead of "Decimos que amamos elegir", use "Nos gusta elegir".
• Persona común vs Profesor: El texto debe sonar como una persona inteligente hablando con alguien en el día a día, no como un profesor de sociología o un ensayo académico. Avoid overly clinical or formal translations ("neutralidad acrítica", "te desentiendes del resultado", "amenazas a la identidad"). Use everyday, street-smart equivalents that carry the same punch ("neutralidad por inercia", "te lavas las manos", "miedo a quedar fuera").
• Grounding as Narrative: For grounding fields, avoid technical lists or academic summaries. Translate the finding into a clear, human narrative.
  • Example: Instead of "vinculaban los sentimientos al resultado", use "si alguien rompe una regla y gana, asumen que se siente bien".
• Universal vs Local: Avoid idioms or slang specific to one region (e.g., "cañas" for forced socials) unless the post's persona explicitly requires it. Use universal Spanish that any speaker understands (e.g., "reuniones sociales").
• Concrete over abstract (Lenguaje visual): Translate the intent and the visual, not just the industry jargon. If an English tech term feels forced or abstract in Spanish (e.g., "feeds change"), rewrite it as a concrete action (e.g., "el algoritmo decide qué mostrar").
  • Example: Use "el sistema por defecto" or "lo que ya viene decidido" instead of "valores por defecto".
• Management / HR English in Spanish prose: In longer Spanish copy, knowledge workers usually reads more natural as "trabajadores del conocimiento" or "profesionales del conocimiento" than as a calque like "obreros del conocimiento". MAY keep the English phrase in italics or quotes when the audience expects the loanword or you need a sharp aside; default to Spanish when the sentence is expository, not punchy.
• Punchy and direct: Avoid wordy, passive, or overly formal constructions. Use short, punchy sentences with character. (e.g., instead of "Habrá desde notas rápidas hasta piezas más pulidas", prefer "Verás desde notas crudas hasta ensayos pulidos").
• Metaphor: Cuando el inglés use una imagen (e.g. "aim the beam"), keep the image in Spanish if it still works (dirigir el haz, orientar el foco). Do not glue the same English verb onto the wrong object.
• Check: If the Spanish phrase would sound odd in a standalone sentence (title or Claim line), rewrite for idiomatic Spanish while preserving the claim and tone.
• Quotes: Primary-source English quotations may stay in English; surrounding commentary should still be natural Spanish.

Native opinion-editor audit (five directives)

After the first draft, and again after the Gemma 4 native-Spanish gate returns a report, act as a native Spanish opinion editor: punchy, direct, manifesto-grade prose. Goal: remove syntactic anglicisms and calques without softening the source.

Repo edits: When applying changes to index.es.md or sidecars, write the file directly; use [Texto final] / [Changelog] only when the user wants a review pass in chat first.

Cross-check tables: Calcos frecuentes en contenido de ciencia e IA and Organizational, hierarchy, and workplace English below.

Anti-staccato guardrail (no abrupt cuts)

Telegram dubbing ≠ intentional staccato. Isolated EN stats and Label: value lines → Hybrid cadence above. Keep short parallels when they land a hook (En familia… En clase…).

Short sentences are not automatically wrong in Spanish. Opinion and manifesto prose often needs staccato: parallel openings (En familia… En clase… En la empresa…), binary contrasts (Abajo el detalle; arriba, el resumen), rule-of-three beats.

Apply directive 2 only when:

1. The same key noun or number repeats in back-to-back sentences without rhetorical gain (fix: diez personas… Diez personas debaten → en una reunión de ese tamaño).
2. Several beats share identical syntax with no parallel purpose (generic S+V+O five times in a row).
3. A sentence only restates the previous one (echo), not when it lands the hook.

MUST NOT merge parallel hooks into semicolon chains to "sound more Spanish." MUST NOT delete closers (para poder entenderlo) unless they are empty filler or a calque. When in doubt on intentional manifesto parallels, keep short beats. For sayings tldr/fluff and most ES prose, default to elaborated hypotaxis (Clause rebuild); do not telegram-split a native y / porque clause.

Changelog discipline: In idiom audits, list only changes that fix calques or objective redundancy. Do not report staccato "fixes" that removed intentional rhythm unless the author asked for a compression pass.

Directrices para Cognitive-Memetics (Sayings/Cows)

Evitar la redundancia (No al eco):

• Description (El Gancho): MUST NOT repetir palabras clave que ya están en el title o el tldr. Si el título es "Como ratón al queso", la descripción no debe usar "ratón" ni "queso". Debe ser un "pitch" evocador, no un resumen.
• Variación entre campos: Si tldr usa "trampa" para el concepto, fluff debe usar un sinónimo ("aprieto", "lío", "corral") o una expresión diferente que capture el mismo mecanismo.
• No repitas estructuras: Si tldr dice "o X, o Y" (o corres, o vuelas), el body debe reformular la idea sin repetir la estructura binaria exacta.

Eliminar muletillas de traducción:

• NOT "Literalmente significa...", "Esta frase se refiere a...", "La imagen del X marca...".
• NOT "Refleja una visión de..." (calco del inglés académico); USE "Es el suspiro de...", "Aquí ves cómo...".
• NOT fluff that opens like a subtitle: La oyes cuando…, La escuchas cuando… (You hear it when). USE Se ve en…, Pasa cuando…, or a human beat first (Es el suspiro de…).
• NOT y así X se hace posible / nace en el vacío (EN glue). Rebuild per Clause rebuild.
• USE entradas directas: "Cuando alguien se pierde en...", "El oportunista no pide, acecha", "Un ruego para sobrevivir a...".

Narrativa con voz humana (Sayings):

• Empezar con el humano y su emoción, no con abstracciones. "Es el suspiro de quien ya entendió..." > "Refleja una visión resignada de..."
• Usar la primera persona implícita ("te", "tu") para conectar con el lector.
• Incluir escenarios de uso específicos: el mentor aconsejando, el amigo alertando, la derrota personal.

Capturar matices de tono:

• El mismo saying puede ser advertencia (a un amigo que duda), consejo (de mentor a protegido), crítica (del sistema), o resignación (tras una derrota).
• El fluff debe reflejar estos matices en los ejemplos de uso, no solo el tono negativo.
• Alternar entre carga positiva (ingenio, agilidad, avivado) y negativa (oportunismo, sin escrúpulos) según el contexto del saying.

Verbos con "Sabor" y Acción:

• Preferir verbos que describan la actitud o el mecanismo detrás del comportamiento (por ejemplo: esquiva, desplaza, cubre, paga, erosiona).
• "engañar" → "farolear", "mentir", "ocultar".
• "aprovechar" → "sacar tajada", "roer el beneficio", "estar al acecho".
• "pedir paciencia" → "un ruego definitivo", "un suspiro compartido".
• "superar" (a alguien) → "ganarle la mano", "dejar botado", "quedar tieso".

Equilibrio de negritas (Bold):

• MUST follow .cursor/skills/site-revise-emphasis/SKILL.md for all content/ types (same restrained default as English: a few hooks per block; not wall-to-wall bold).
• MUST NOT saturar el texto con negritas. El objetivo es guiar el ojo, no gritar cada palabra.

Body sin redundancia:

• El body debe complementar, no repetir lo que tldr y fluff ya dijeron.
• Si tldr explicó la estructura binaria "o corres, o vuelas", el body profundiza en las consecuencias culturales, no vuelve a explicar la hipérbole.
• Eliminar frases que "explican el proceso": "Esto significa que...", "La exageración subraya que...". Ir directo al impacto.

Calcos frecuentes en contenido de ciencia e IA (MUST check)

Verbos biológicos:

• "neurons fire" → NOT "sus neuronas disparan" (intransitivo sin reflexivo suena a calco); USE "sus neuronas se disparan" or rewrite with an evocative verb: "sus neuronas recorren por anticipado las rutas posibles".
• "the brain replays the option" → NOT "el cerebro reproduce la opción"; USE "el cerebro rebobina y reproduce" or a similarly active construction.

Verbos debilitados:

• "can feel regret" → NOT "pueden sentir arrepentimiento"; USE direct affirmation: "sienten arrepentimiento".
• "had to simulate" → NOT "tuvieron que simular"; PREFER "les tocó simular" or "la evolución los obligó a simular".

Metáforas biológicas que funcionan bien en español:

• "atrophied muscle" for cognitive offloading → "músculo atrofiado" works; use it.
• "the brain hallucinates and corrects" → "el cerebro alucina y usa los sentidos para confirmar" works; prefer over "adivina" when the neuroscience framing is explicit.
• "rewind" for memory replay → "rebobina" works and is vivid.

Organizational, hierarchy, and workplace English (MUST check)

Editorial passes on human-condition, claims, and org-design posts surfaced English skeletons that pass grammar checks but fail the read-aloud test. Run this table while drafting and when the Gemma 4 native-Spanish gate returns a report, whenever the source discusses startups, meetings, rank, flat teams, or bureaucracy.

Example rewrite (embudo / org funnel): After the idiom pass, a block should read like natural manifesto Spanish, not imported Medium English:

Ese embudo es la pirámide en estado puro. Agiliza la coordinación y te da a quién echarle la culpa. El precio que pagas son cuellos de botella, peleas de ego y un abismo entre el que toma la decisión y el que lava los platos rotos. La escalera también te enseña a dejar de pensar en el momento en que llegas a tu piso.

Cross-field sync: When Claim or body wording changes (promueve/promueven, a conciencia, demostró), update facebook-es.txt and substack.es.md in the same bundle so social copy does not keep stale calques or slip back to suben / deja subir / impulsa for the same hierarchy beat.

6. Taxonomies (categories, tags): Keep values identical to the English post unless the project explicitly adopts translated taxonomy terms. Matching terms avoid duplicate tag/category hubs and keep cross-language analytics consistent. If you must change a tag, coordinate EN and ES and accept a new taxonomy term. When choosing tags on either side, read data/tag-register.txt and .cursor/skills/site-tag-register/SKILL.md first.
7. related (claims / video): When the English page sets related, mirror the same path strings on index.es.md. Site.GetPage in the Spanish language context resolves translated siblings when they exist. Do not invent Spanish-only related paths that the English page lacks.
8. URLs, permalinks, and aliases: Follow Spanish URLs, permalinks, and aliases below (canonical paths, internal links, redirects, facebook-es.txt / linkedin.es.txt).
9. Punctuation: Same as English site rule—do not use the em dash (U+2014); use comma, semicolon, colon, or parentheses.

Spanish URLs, permalinks, and aliases

Canonical URLs (MUST)

• Read hugo.toml → [languages.es.permalinks]. The folder under content/ (for example social-protocols/) does not always equal the Spanish URL segment. Example: social-protocols maps to /es/protocolos-sociales/:slug/, not /es/social-protocols/....
• For each language, the post slug in the URL usually comes from the translated title (Hugo's :slug in that permalink pattern), not from the English bundle folder name (for example 2026-04-28-candor-zero-sum-politics/ is the filesystem slug; the Spanish permalink slug is title-derived).
• MUST not guess final URLs. Run hugo list all (or make list at the repo root) and copy the Permalink column for index.es.md and index.md for the same bundle.

Internal links in Spanish body copy (MUST)

• When a Spanish page exists for the target, use its canonical path from hugo list all (often under /es/... with the translated section segment and title slug).
• When the target has no index.es.md, link to the English path without /es/ (for example /social-protocols/2026-04-26-prisoner-dilemma-tit-for-tat/). MUST not invent /es/social-protocols/<english-folder>/ for content that only exists in English.

aliases on index.es.md (SHOULD, content/social-protocols/)

• SHOULD keep legacy redirects so old shared links still resolve. For each Spanish post in this section, mirror the pattern used in sibling bundles:
  • /es/social-protocols/<english-folder-name>/
  • /es/protocolos-sociales/<english-folder-name>/
  • /es/reality-protocols/<english-folder-name>/
• If the English bundle lists extra typo or legacy paths (for example alternate dates in aliases), mirror the /es/... form on the Spanish page when applicable.
• MUST not duplicate a language-default alias path on the Spanish page that the English page already owns (for example bare /reality-protocols/<slug>/ on index.md targets the English URL; the Spanish page should use /es/reality-protocols/<slug>/ only).

Social files: facebook-es.txt, substack.es.md, and linkedin.es.txt (MUST)

• facebook-es.txt and linkedin.es.txt MUST use the same ES and EN Permalink values as hugo list all, in the formats defined in .cursor/skills/site-facebook-post/SKILL.md and .cursor/skills/site-linkedin-post/SKILL.md (dual-language site link blocks).
• substack.es.md (required for make sb-es) MUST follow .cursor/skills/site-substack-post/SKILL.md: structured Markdown, no hashtags or read-more block in the sidecar.
• MUST not construct Facebook or LinkedIn URLs from the English folder name plus /es/social-protocols/; that combination is often wrong for this site.

Field cheat sheet by type

Do not

• MUST NOT replace the English file or duplicate content under a different section path for "Spanish only."
• MUST NOT drop translationKey when both languages exist; it powers correct language switching and translation links.
• MUST not translate identifier-like tags into Spanish if that would fork the taxonomy (e.g. StreetWisdom → keep as-is unless the whole site migrates terms).
• MUST NOT clause-map: Spanish words in English sentence order (same relatives, thus/making, You hear it when). Rewrite syntax per Clause rebuild.

After editing

• Run hugo and confirm the Spanish URL renders and the language switcher lists both languages for that translationKey.

Related

• Placement and section: .cursor/rules/site-content-placement.mdc
• English default prose rules: .cursor/rules/site-content-markdown-writing.mdc (English); Spanish files follow this skill for language choice.
• Hooks / titles: .cursor/skills/site-revise-hooks/SKILL.md after the type skill, adapted for Spanish.
• Facebook (ES/EN) and LinkedIn (ES) permalinks: .cursor/skills/site-facebook-post/SKILL.md, .cursor/skills/site-linkedin-post/SKILL.md (site link blocks; always align with hugo list all).
• Gemma 4 evaluate script / standalone audit: .cursor/skills/site-revise-spanish/SKILL.md (this skill runs the same script while drafting; revise-spanish is evaluate-only until the user confirms).
• Step-by-step Spanish revision workflow: .cursor/skills/site-revise-post-es/SKILL.md (use this when doing a full translation or fixing a poor translation).