Scholar Translator Skill

Translate academic PDF papers while preserving mathematical formulas, charts, tables, and layout using flexible CLI commands with full parameter control.

When to Use This Skill

• •User asks to translate academic papers, research PDFs, or arXiv papers
• •User provides PDF file path or uploads a PDF
• •User mentions "translate paper", "translate PDF", "논문 번역", or similar phrases
• •User wants bilingual versions of scientific documents
• •User needs to translate specific pages or sections (page range support)
• •User wants to organize translations in custom directories

Prerequisites

UV/UVX Installation

This skill uses uvx to run scholar-translator directly from GitHub - no manual installation required.

If uvx is not available, install uv:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

AWS Credentials (Required for Bedrock)

To use AWS Bedrock translation service (recommended for quality), set these environment variables:

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your-access-key-id"
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your-secret-access-key"
export AWS_REGION="us-west-2"

Alternative: Use Google Translate service (no credentials required, but lower quality for technical content).

CLI Command Structure

Basic Syntax

uvx --from git+https://github.com/hi-space/scholar-translator.git scholar-translator \
  <file> \
  [options]

Quick Start Example

# Translate entire PDF to Korean using AWS Bedrock
uvx --from git+https://github.com/hi-space/scholar-translator.git scholar-translator \
  /path/to/paper.pdf

# Translate specific pages to Japanese
uvx --from git+https://github.com/hi-space/scholar-translator.git scholar-translator \
  /path/to/paper.pdf \
  --lang-out ja \
  --pages 1-10

Core Parameters

Core Parameter Details

file (required)

• •Absolute or relative path to PDF file
• •Enclose in quotes if path contains spaces
• •Example: /home/user/papers/research.pdf or "./My Papers/paper.pdf"

--lang-in / -li (optional)

• •Source language code (e.g., en, ja, zh)
• •Default: auto (automatic detection)
• •Specify if auto-detection fails
• •See Language Codes section for full list

--lang-out / -lo (optional)

• •Target language code (e.g., ko, en, ja)
• •Default: ko (Korean)
• •Required if translating to non-Korean language

--service / -s (optional)

• •bedrock - AWS Bedrock Claude models (high quality, requires AWS credentials)
• •google - Google Translate (free, lower quality for technical content)
• •Default: bedrock

--model / -m (optional)

• •For Bedrock: claude-haiku-4.5, claude-sonnet-4.5, claude-opus-4.5
• •For Google: ignored
• •Default: claude-haiku-4.5 (fast, cost-effective)

Advanced Parameters

Advanced Parameter Details

--pages / -p (critical feature!)

• •Specify which pages to translate
• •Syntax:
  • •Single page: -p 1
  • •Range: -p 1-10
  • •Multiple ranges: -p 1-3,7,10-15
• •Examples:
  • •-p 1 - Translate only abstract/introduction
  • •-p 1-5 - Translate first 5 pages
  • •-p 10-20 - Translate specific section
  • •-p 1,5,10 - Translate summary pages only

--output / -o (important feature!)

• •Custom directory for output PDFs
• •Creates directory if it doesn't exist
• •Default: Same directory as input PDF
• •Examples:
  • •-o /tmp/translations/ - Temporary location
  • •-o ./output/japanese/ - Organize by language
  • •-o ~/Documents/translated/ - User documents folder

--thread / -t

• •Number of parallel translation threads
• •Default: 4 (good balance)
• •Increase for large documents: -t 8 or -t 12
• •Reduce if hitting API rate limits: -t 2

--font-regex

• •Pattern to match fonts for language-specific rendering
• •Example: --font-regex "NanumGothic.*" for Korean
• •Use when output PDF has missing characters or rendering issues

--ignore-cache

• •Skip cached translations and force re-translation
• •Useful when previous results were incorrect
• •Adds processing time but ensures fresh results

Language Codes

Supported language codes for translation:

Usage:

• •Source language (--lang-in): Defaults to auto-detection, specify if needed
• •Target language (--lang-out): Required if not using default ko

Translation Services

AWS Bedrock (Recommended)

Quality: High - Uses Claude 4.5 models specialized for translation

Requirements:

• •AWS credentials (AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_REGION)
• •AWS region with Claude model access (us-west-2, us-east-1)

Available Models:

When to use Haiku (default):

• •Standard academic papers without complex terminology
• •Quick previews or rough translations
• •Large documents where cost is a concern
• •Batch translation of multiple papers
• •Most general-purpose translation tasks

When to use Sonnet:

• •Technical papers with domain-specific terminology
• •Papers requiring nuanced translation (legal, medical, etc.)
• •Critical translations for publication or submission
• •When translation quality is more important than speed/cost

Google Translate

Quality: Good for general content, lower for technical/academic

Requirements: None (free service)

When to use Google Translate:

• •No AWS credentials available
• •Quick preview or exploratory translation
• •Non-technical or general content
• •Good for - Quick previews, non-technical content, when AWS unavailable

Output Files

Every translation creates two PDF files:

1. Mono Version ({filename}-{lang}-mono.pdf)

• •Contains only translated text
• •Original text is replaced with translation
• •Smaller file size
• •Best for: Reading exclusively in target language

2. Dual Version ({filename}-{lang}-dual.pdf)

• •Contains both original and translated text
• •Translation appears alongside or below original
• •Larger file size
• •Best for: Academic review, comparison, learning, verification

File Location:

• •Default: Same directory as input PDF
• •With --output: Custom directory specified

Example:

# Input: /home/user/papers/research.pdf
# Output (default):
#   /home/user/papers/research-ko-mono.pdf
#   /home/user/papers/research-ko-dual.pdf
#
# Output (with -o /tmp/translations/):
#   /tmp/translations/research-ko-mono.pdf
#   /tmp/translations/research-ko-dual.pdf

Workflow Pattern

Standard Translation Steps:

1. •Check AWS credentials: echo $AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
2. •Verify file exists: ls -lh /path/to/paper.pdf
3. •Execute command with appropriate parameters
4. •Verify output files created: ls -lh output-dir/
5. •If errors occur: Check credentials, file paths, or use Google Translate fallback

Error Handling

AWS AccessDeniedException: Use --service google or set AWS credentials (AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_REGION)

File Not Found: Verify file exists (ls -lh file.pdf), use absolute path (realpath), quote paths with spaces

Permission Denied: Check write permissions or use --output to specify different directory

Best Practices

Paths: Use absolute paths, quote spaces: "/path with/spaces.pdf"

Performance: Default 4 threads; increase for large docs (-t 8), reduce for rate limits (-t 2)

Organization: Use --output for language/project-specific directories

Page Selection: Use --pages for large PDFs to save time/cost (e.g., -p 1-10 for intro/conclusion)

Command Cheat Sheet

# Basic translation (Korean, Bedrock Haiku)
uvx --from git+https://github.com/hi-space/scholar-translator.git scholar-translator paper.pdf

# Specify target language
uvx --from git+https://github.com/hi-space/scholar-translator.git scholar-translator paper.pdf --lang-out ja

# Translate specific pages only
uvx --from git+https://github.com/hi-space/scholar-translator.git scholar-translator paper.pdf --pages 1-10

# Custom output directory
uvx --from git+https://github.com/hi-space/scholar-translator.git scholar-translator paper.pdf --output /tmp/translations/

# High-quality translation (Sonnet)
uvx --from git+https://github.com/hi-space/scholar-translator.git scholar-translator paper.pdf \
  --service bedrock --model claude-sonnet-4.5

# Google Translate (no AWS credentials)
uvx --from git+https://github.com/hi-space/scholar-translator.git scholar-translator paper.pdf --service google

# Fast translation (more threads)
uvx --from git+https://github.com/hi-space/scholar-translator.git scholar-translator paper.pdf --thread 12

# Complete example with all options
uvx --from git+https://github.com/hi-space/scholar-translator.git scholar-translator \
  /path/to/paper.pdf \
  --lang-in en \
  --lang-out ja \
  --service bedrock \
  --model claude-sonnet-4.5 \
  --pages 1-20 \
  --output ~/translations/japanese/ \
  --thread 8

# Batch translation to multiple languages
for lang in ja fr de es; do
  uvx --from git+https://github.com/hi-space/scholar-translator.git scholar-translator \
    paper.pdf \
    --lang-out $lang \
    --output ./translations/$lang/
done