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Recipe: producing the same document in several languages without it diverging

A single locked source drives every translated version, and a consistency check then compares the figures and key terms between each language, so that a correction made in one version is not forgotten in the others.

This recipe belongs to the author's own method, it does not rely on any dated product documentation. A cooperative that publishes the same report in French, in Spanish and in German risks one specific thing: a correction made in one language and forgotten in the other two. The risk does not come from the translation itself, it comes from the absence of a single reference point once the three versions exist separately.

Locking a source before translating

Designate one version as the source, the one that carries the reference figures and decisions. Lock it, that is, stop modifying it, before requesting the translations. Any later correction is made first on this source, then carried across to the other languages.

Translating from the source, not from a previous translation

Ask Cowork to produce each language version directly from the locked source, rather than from a version that has already been translated. Translating a translation accumulates small drifts at each pass, a figure rounded differently, a technical term rendered by two distinct words from one language to another.

Comparing the key figures across versions

Once the three versions have been produced, ask for a comparison targeted at the elements that matter most, the figures and the repeated technical terms. An example instruction and output:

Compare the budget figure across the three versions of the report.
French: 4200 euros. Spanish: 4200 euros. German: 3800 euros.
Discrepancy spotted between the German version and the other two.

This discrepancy could come from a translation error, from a correction made to the source after the German translation, or from confusion between two similar figures in the original document. The comparison flags the discrepancy, it does not say what caused it: open both passages before correcting.

Keeping track of the version that holds authority

Note, in each translated file, the source version it was produced from. Without this record, no one can tell, long afterwards, whether a Spanish version predates or postdates a correction to the source figure. The recipe for organising the team's shared memory applies directly here, a short summary that indicates which version of each language is the most recent.