define-localizationlisted

# Skill: define-localization **What it does.** Creates `translations/{locale}/localization.md` — the contract a translation obeys. Turns "translate it to English" into a decided position on every device the book uses. **Triggers** - "set up the English translation" / "add French as a target language" - "/define-localization" - "how does the book cross into {language}" - Equivalent phrasing in the project's output language **Input.** The target locale, as a BCP 47 tag. **Output.** `translations/{locale}/localization.md`, plus the empty scaffolding for `lexicon.md`, `referents.md` and `status.md`. > **Write the file in the project's output language** — it is a document the author rules on, not one the translation reads aloud. Quoted target-language examples stay in the target language. **Read `.project/templates/localization.md` before starting.** It defines the layout, the three verdicts, and the rules this skill must not contradict. --- ## Core principle > **Decide cold, once, in a document — never in the middle of a sentence.** A translator meeting a rule conflict mid-paragraph resolves it in whichever direction the sentence pushes. The next chapter resolves it the other way. Neither decision is recorded, and the edition ends up with no position at all. The contract exists so that `translate-chapter` never has to decide anything. Every conflict it can hit has already been ruled on. **The second principle, which the author must state before anything else is writte