---
name: sea-translate
description: "Southeast Asia translation - English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil, plus register shifts for Singapore business writing"
metadata: { "openclaw": { "emoji": "🌏" } }
---

# Southeast Asia Translation

Translation between English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, and — more useful day to
day — rewriting the same message for a different reader.

## The part people actually need

Most Singapore work is already in English. The real problem is that one message
has to land with several audiences, and the register is different for each:

| Reader | What changes |
|---|---|
| Singapore colleague | Direct, short, first names, light Singlish is fine in chat |
| China head office | More formal, more context up front, titles matter |
| Malay-speaking client | Warmer opening, more explicit courtesy |
| Tamil-speaking client | Similar warmth; get the honorific right |
| Regional group chat | Plain English, no idioms, nothing that needs local knowledge |

Ask which one before rewriting. "Make it more formal" without knowing the reader
usually produces something stiff rather than appropriate.

## Singlish

Singlish is a real register, not broken English. In an internal chat it reads as
natural; in a proposal to a bank it does not.

- **Keep it** in casual internal messages if the original had it
- **Strip it** for anything a client, regulator or overseas office reads
- Never *add* Singlish to someone's writing unless they asked

Common particles and what they carry: `lah` (finality, softening) · `leh`
(mild appeal) · `lor` (resignation) · `meh` (doubt) · `can`/`cannot` (yes/no).
Translating these word by word loses the tone; translate the intent.

## Example prompts

```
Translate this to Malay, for a client I have not met before
```

```
Same message, one version for my Singapore team and one for our Shanghai office
```

```
This is too casual for a bank. Keep the meaning, lose the Singlish.
```

```
What does "can lah, but later ah" mean here?
```

## Working notes

- Names, company names and job titles stay as written unless asked
- Amounts stay in the original currency, with S$ made explicit when ambiguous
- Dates: Singapore writes DD/MM/YYYY. `03/04` is 3 April, not 4 March — spell the
  month out when a misread would cost something
- When a phrase has no clean equivalent, say so and offer the closest options
  rather than picking silently
- For Malay and Tamil, flag anything where a native speaker should check before
  it goes to a client. Confident-sounding wrong translation is the failure mode.