Translation Rules

The core principle

A Divi page file contains two kinds of content:

Divi shortcodes — structural markup like [et_pb_section], [et_pb_row], [et_pb_text]. These define the page layout. Changing them breaks the page.
Text content — headings, paragraphs, and image alt text inside those shortcodes. This is what gets translated.

The server separates these two kinds of content before handing anything to Claude. Claude only ever sees the text content, wrapped in numbered markers. The shortcodes are kept server-side and reinserted after translation.

What to translate

Content	Example
Visible text in HTML elements	`<h2>Welcome</h2>` → `<h2>Bienvenue</h2>`
Image `alt` attributes	`alt="Team photo"` → `alt="Photo de l'équipe"`
Element `title` attributes	`title="Learn more"` → `title="En savoir plus"`

What NOT to translate

Content	Example	Reason
Divi shortcodes	`[et_pb_section fb_built="1" ...]`	Page structure — changing breaks layout
Shortcode closing tags	`[/et_pb_section]`	Required by Divi parser
Shortcode attributes	`_builder_version="4.9.0"`	Internal Divi settings
HTML attributes	`class="et_pb_text"`, `id="main"`	CSS and JavaScript hooks
`href` URLs	`href="https://example.com"`	Link targets
`src` attributes	`src="/wp-content/uploads/image.jpg"`	File paths
`data-*` attributes	`data-parallax-amount="0.3"`	JavaScript data
Chunk markers	`{{CHUNK_001}}` / `{{/CHUNK_001}}`	Server uses these to reassemble
Metadata markers	`{{POST_TITLE}}`, `{{POST_SLUG}}`, `{{POST_EXCERPT}}`	Server uses these to update WordPress fields

What to preserve exactly

HTML tag structure (opening and closing tags, nesting)
Line breaks and blank lines between blocks
HTML entities:  , &, <, >, “, etc.
Inline elements: , , <a href="...">,  (translate text inside, keep the tags)

What to remove

Empty tags that result from translation (for example, if the original had a non-breaking space placeholder):

The server also removes these during reassembly, but Claude can omit them during translation to keep the output clean.

Chunk marker format

The server wraps each translatable block in numbered markers:

{{CHUNK_001}}
<h2>Original heading</h2>
<p>First paragraph.</p>
{{/CHUNK_001}}

{{CHUNK_002}}
<p>Second paragraph with <strong>bold text</strong>.</p>
{{/CHUNK_002}}

Rules for markers:

Keep every {{CHUNK_XXX}} opening tag on its own line
Keep every {{/CHUNK_XXX}} closing tag on its own line
Keep the number exactly — do not renumber
Do not merge or split chunks
Do not add new chunks

Correct translation:

{{CHUNK_001}}
<h2>Titre traduit</h2>
<p>Premier paragraphe.</p>
{{/CHUNK_001}}

{{CHUNK_002}}
<p>Deuxième paragraphe avec <strong>texte en gras</strong>.</p>
{{/CHUNK_002}}

Common mistakes:

# Wrong — marker text modified
{{CHUNK-001}}

# Wrong — markers merged
{{CHUNK_001}}
content of chunk 1
content of chunk 2
{{/CHUNK_002}}

# Wrong — text added outside markers
This is an extra paragraph I added.
{{CHUNK_001}}
...

WordPress metadata markers

For WordPress posts, metadata is included before the content chunks:

{{POST_TITLE}}
Original Post Title
{{/POST_TITLE}}

{{POST_SLUG}}
original-post-title
{{/POST_SLUG}}

{{POST_EXCERPT}}
A short summary of the post.
{{/POST_EXCERPT}}

Translation rules:

POST_TITLE — translate naturally, same conventions as the page title
POST_SLUG — translate and adapt for URLs: lowercase, hyphens only, no accented characters, no spaces
POST_EXCERPT — translate the full excerpt text

Slug adaptation example:

# Source (English)
{{POST_SLUG}}
our-products-and-services
{{/POST_SLUG}}

# Translation (French)
{{POST_SLUG}}
nos-produits-et-services
{{/POST_SLUG}}

# Translation (German)
{{POST_SLUG}}
unsere-produkte-und-dienstleistungen
{{/POST_SLUG}}

Multi-part documents

Documents larger than approximately 30 KB are automatically split into parts. The server labels each part:

PART 1 of 3
============
{{CHUNK_001}}...{{/CHUNK_001}}
{{CHUNK_002}}...{{/CHUNK_002}}

Translate each part and submit it with submit_bulk_translation. The server processes each part and then returns the next one. After the last part is submitted, the server writes the final output.

Complete example

Source (English):

{{CHUNK_001}}
<p class="intro">Welcome to our store</p>
{{/CHUNK_001}}

{{CHUNK_002}}
<img src="banner.jpg" alt="Seasonal promotion banner" />
<p>Contact us today for a free quote.</p>
{{/CHUNK_002}}

Translation (Spanish):

{{CHUNK_001}}
<p class="intro">Bienvenido a nuestra tienda</p>
{{/CHUNK_001}}

{{CHUNK_002}}
<img src="banner.jpg" alt="Banner de promoción de temporada" />
<p>Contáctenos hoy para un presupuesto gratuito.</p>
{{/CHUNK_002}}

Note:

class="intro" — not translated (HTML attribute)
src="banner.jpg" — not translated (file path)
alt="..." — translated (visible description)