Add Term Skill

Add new computer science terms to the CJK comparison tables.

Usage

/add-term <English term> [--category <category>]

Overview

This skill adds new terms to the YAML data files that power the CJK computer science terms comparison website. Each term requires translations in 6 locales: English (en), Japanese (ja), Korean (ko), Simplified Chinese (zh-CN), Cantonese/Hong Kong (zh-HK), and Traditional Chinese/Taiwan (zh-TW).

YAML Data Format

Terms are stored in tables/*.yaml files. Each file is an array of translation entries. Each entry maps locales to word definitions.

Entry Structure

# Comment describing the term (English name)
- en:
    <word-id>:
    - { term: <root1> }
    - { term: <root2>, space: no }
  ja:
    <word-id>:
    - { term: <text>, loan: <source> }
  ko:
    <word-id>:
    - { term: <text>, read: <reading>, correspond: <english> }
  zh-CN:
    <word-id>:
    - { term: <text>, read: <pinyin>, correspond: <english> }
  zh-HK:
    <word-id>:
    - { term: <text>, read: <jyutping>, correspond: <english> }
  zh-TW:
    <word-id>:
    - { term: <text>, read: <bopomofo>, correspond: <english> }

Term Properties

Phonetic Systems by Locale

• •zh-CN: Hanyu Pinyin with tone marks (e.g., diàn, nǎo)
• •zh-HK: Jyutping (e.g., din6, nou5)
• •zh-TW: Bopomofo/Zhuyin (e.g., ㄉㄧㄢˋ, ㄋㄠˇ)
• •ja: Hiragana with spaces between kanji readings (e.g., けい さん き)
• •ko: Hangul with spaces between hanja readings (e.g., 계 산 기)

Word ID Normalization Rules

Word IDs group cognates across languages. Follow these rules:

1. •

   Sino-Japanese/Sino-Korean → Traditional Chinese

   • •전산학 → 電算學
   • •計算機 (Japanese) → 計算機
2. •

   All Chinese characters → Traditional/Orthodox form (康熙字典體)

   • •科学 → 科學
   • •电脑 → 電腦
3. •

   Transliterated Western words → lowercase Latin

   • •コンピュータ → computer
   • •버그 → bug
   • •Exception: Proper nouns keep capitalization (圖靈 → Turing)
4. •

   No spaces between Chinese characters, space before/after Latin

   • •암호 이론 → 暗號理論
   • •コンピュータ科学 → computer 科學

Examples

Phonetic borrowing (外来語/외래어)

- en:
    computer:
    - { term: comput, correspond: compute }
    - { term: er, space: no }
  ja:
    computer:
    - { term: コンピュータ, loan: computer }
  ko:
    computer:
    - { term: 컴퓨터, loan: computer }

Calque/loan translation (번역차용/翻訳借用)

- en:
    artificial intelligence:
    - term: artificial
    - term: intelligence
  ja:
    人工智能:
    - { term: 人工, read: じん こう, correspond: artificial }
    - { term: 知能, read: ち のう, correspond: intelligence }
  ko:
    人工智能:
    - { term: 人工, read: 인 공, correspond: artificial }
    - { term: 知能, read: 지 능, correspond: intelligence }
  zh-CN:
    人工智能:
    - { term: 人工, read: rén gōng, correspond: artificial }
    - { term: 智能, read: zhì néng, correspond: intelligence }

Multiple variants in one locale

  zh-HK:
    智能電話:
    - { term: 智能, correspond: smart, read: zi3 nang4 }
    - { term: 電話, correspond: telephone, read: din6 waa2 }
    智能手機:
    - { term: 智能, correspond: smart, read: zi3 nang4 }
    - { term: 手機, correspond: telephone, read: sau2 gei1 }

Existing Categories

Adding a New Category

When creating a new category:

1. •Create tables/<category>.yaml with appropriate entries
2. •Add a section to ALL locale markdown files:

en.md:

Category Title
--------------

[Show table](tables/<category>.yaml)

ja.md:

カテゴリー名
------------

[表示](tables/<category>.yaml)

ko.md:

카테고리명
----------

[표 보기](tables/<category>.yaml)

zh-Hant.md:

類別名稱
--------

[顯示表](tables/<category>.yaml)

Research Guidelines

Translation research is critical. Always cross-check multiple sources before adding a term. Incorrect or uncommon translations degrade the quality of the comparison tables.

General Principles

• •Cross-reference multiple sources - Never rely on a single source. Compare Wikipedia articles, technical documentation, academic papers, and actual usage in the wild.
• •Prefer official/standard terminology - Government standards bodies, academic institutions, and major tech companies often have established translations.
• •Check actual usage frequency - A term may have multiple translations; prefer the one most commonly used in practice.
• •Include multiple variants when appropriate - If a concept has multiple translations with similar usage frequency in a locale, include all of them. For example, “smartphone” in Cantonese is both 智能電話 and 智能手機. Do not arbitrarily pick one; represent actual linguistic diversity.
• •User-provided references - If the user provides reference materials (URLs, documents, screenshots), incorporate them into research and cite them when relevant.

Recommended Search Engines by Locale

Useful Reference Resources

• •Wikipedia - Check the article in each language; the sidebar shows equivalent articles in other languages
• •Microsoft Language Portal - Official Microsoft terminology translations
• •國家教育研究院 (Taiwan) - Official academic/technical term database
• •韓國情報通信用語辭典 - Korean ICT terminology
• •JIS/KS standards - Japanese/Korean industrial standards for terminology

Verification Checklist

Before finalizing a term entry:

• • Searched in locale-appropriate search engines
• • Verified the translation appears in authoritative sources
• • Checked for regional variants (especially zh-CN vs zh-TW vs zh-HK)
• • Confirmed phonetic readings are accurate
• • Cross-checked cognate relationships across languages

Handling Uncertainty

• •If a translation cannot be verified with confidence, ask the user for guidance or additional references.
• •If multiple equally valid translations exist, include all common variants (see “Multiple variants in one locale” example above).
• •Add a comment in the YAML if there's notable ambiguity or regional variation worth documenting.

Workflow

1. •Identify the category - Find the appropriate YAML file or create a new one
2. •Research translations - Use the guidelines above to find and verify translations in each locale
3. •Determine word IDs - Normalize according to the rules above
4. •Add the entry - Append to the YAML file with proper formatting
5. •If new category - Update all 4 markdown files
6. •Build and verify - Run deno task build to check for errors

YAML Style Guidelines

• •2-space indentation
• •Double quotes for strings with special characters
• •80 character line limit
• •Align columns for readability when practical
• •Add # Comment above each entry with the English term name
• •End file with vim modeline: # vim: set et sw=2 ts=2 sts=2 ft=yaml: