EPISODE · Jul 7, 2026 · 31 MIN
Translation-Safe Writing for Global Supply Chains
from My Weird Prompts
Machine translation has gotten so fluent we've stopped being suspicious of it. But that fluency masks a dangerous problem: when AI translates technical documents like RFQs and specs, errors get camouflaged. A study found 30% meaning loss in B2B technical text — and those weren't awkward translations, they were smooth sentences with wrong specs. This episode breaks down universal rules for writing that survives MT: eliminating pronouns, capping sentences at 25 words, locking vocabulary to one term per concept, and avoiding passive voice. Then it drills into English-to-Chinese specifically — the manufacturing pair where structural differences like missing grammatical number and phrasal verbs create hidden traps. The core insight: writing for MT clarity isn't dumbing down. It's increasing precision.
What this episode covers
Machine translation has gotten so fluent we've stopped being suspicious of it. But that fluency masks a dangerous problem: when AI translates technical documents like RFQs and specs, errors get camouflaged. A study found 30% meaning loss in B2B technical text — and those weren't awkward translations, they were smooth sentences with wrong specs. This episode breaks down universal rules for writing that survives MT: eliminating pronouns, capping sentences at 25 words, locking vocabulary to one term per concept, and avoiding passive voice. Then it drills into English-to-Chinese specifically — the manufacturing pair where structural differences like missing grammatical number and phrasal verbs create hidden traps. The core insight: writing for MT clarity isn't dumbing down. It's increasing precision.
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Translation-Safe Writing for Global Supply Chains
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