Background
I write Uchide no Kozuchi (SideKick's Knowledge Base) in Japanese. I want people who prefer English to be able to read the same content, but I don't feel confident enough in my own English reading ability to judge whether a translated article is ready to publish as-is.
Some time ago I put together a prototype workflow: have AI translate the Japanese articles into English, then have the same AI write a review of the translation in Japanese, which I use as the basis for my publish decision. (I covered it in the development log from 2026-07-18.) This time, I actually ran that workflow on real production articles.
What I worked on this time
I chose a set of articles for the trial run, then had AI translate and review each one. During the review process, the AI flagged several places where its own translation had drifted from the original Japanese. In one article, the explanation of how to calculate the number of shots had been rewritten in a way that differed from the source. In another, the name of a paid plan didn't match the original.
Because the AI summarised these issues in Japanese, I was able to notice them without reading through the English myself. For each problem I found, I corrected the Japanese source, then ran the translation and review again.
In the end, all the articles in the trial set passed the checks, so I published them along with an English Knowledge index page. I also added links for switching between the Japanese and English versions, and put in place the multilingual setup needed for search engines.
Why I chose this approach
I didn't want to automatically publish AI translations without any check, but I also couldn't realistically read every English article myself. The approach I settled on was to have the AI report in Japanese on what it checked and what it was uncertain about, while keeping the final publish decision with me.
This was a way of staying true to the principle SideKick consistently values: the final call is made by a person — even when the task is translation.
What changes for readers
Some of the Uchide no Kozuchi articles that were previously only available in Japanese can now be read in English as well. I haven't changed anything about the Japanese content or how the Japanese side works, so there is no impact for readers who use the Japanese version.
What comes next
What I published this time is just the initial group of articles. I plan to expand the coverage over time, but I intend to do that carefully, keeping both the AI review and the human check in place throughout.
Related features
- Related feature: 打ち出の小槌 (Knowledge Base)