01 / Scope record
Define the edition before evaluating the prose.
This record establishes the decision boundary for the demonstration. A live project would bind the approved manuscript version, target market, package selections, review owner, and contractual exclusions.
- Source language
- English
- Target edition
- Brazilian Portuguese
- Material
- Original literary-fiction demonstration
- Source extent
- 153 words / one excerpt
- Editorial objective
- Preserve restrained voice, maritime setting, and quiet suspense
- Review owner
- Rightsholder or designated editor
- Included
- Localization, bilingual revision, terminology, QA, and delivery manifest
- Excluded
- Cover, legal clearance, distribution, and publication files
02 / Working text
Read the source and target as one editorial unit.
English source
On the morning the ferry returned, Lia found the brass key under the ledger where her father had always left it. The harbor was still blue with rain, and every shop along the quay had opened its shutters except the mapmaker's. She crossed the empty street with the key warm in her palm, though the day was cold. Inside, the room smelled of paper, salt, and the lamp oil he had used through the last winter. A half-finished map waited on the central table. The river ended at the edge of the sheet, but a fine pencil line continued into the margin as if the country had not yet decided where to stop. Lia placed the key beside the compass. From the harbor came one long blast of the ferry horn. In the ledger, beneath yesterday's date, her father had written only four words: Begin where the water changes.
Brazilian Portuguese
Na manhã em que a balsa voltou, Lia encontrou a chave de latão sob o livro-caixa, onde o pai sempre a deixava. O porto ainda guardava o azul da chuva, e todas as lojas do cais tinham aberto as venezianas, menos a do cartógrafo. Ela atravessou a rua vazia com a chave aquecida na palma, embora o dia estivesse frio. Lá dentro, a sala cheirava a papel, sal e ao óleo da lamparina que ele usara durante o último inverno. Um mapa inacabado esperava sobre a mesa central. O rio terminava na borda da folha, mas um traço fino a lápis avançava pela margem, como se o país ainda não tivesse decidido onde parar. Lia pousou a chave ao lado do compasso. Do porto veio o apito longo da balsa. No livro-caixa, sob a data de ontem, o pai escrevera apenas quatro palavras: Comece onde a água muda.
03 / Decision log
Make consequential choices visible and reviewable.
Decision 01
ferry / balsa
Balsa is direct and natural in Brazilian Portuguese; it preserves the ordinary working-harbor register.
Decision 02
blue with rain
Guardava o azul da chuva keeps the image active without making the sentence more ornate than the source.
Decision 03
mapmaker / cartógrafo
Cartógrafo is preferred to a circumlocution because the scene treats the profession as familiar and concrete.
Decision 04
ledger / livro-caixa
The hyphenated commercial term supports the family-business setting and remains consistent through the excerpt.
Decision 05
Begin where the water changes
Comece onde a água muda retains the imperative, four-word cadence in Portuguese, and deliberate ambiguity.
Live-project decision logs expand as the manuscript establishes recurring names, metaphors, dialogue patterns, cultural references, and approval-sensitive language.
04 / Consistency record
Carry approved language across the complete edition.
| Source | Approved target | Instruction |
|---|---|---|
| ferry | balsa | Use for vessel and service |
| ledger | livro-caixa | Keep hyphenated form |
| mapmaker | cartógrafo | Profession, not shop title |
| quay | cais | Keep maritime register plain |
| compass | compasso | Drawing instrument in context |
Voice brief
- Restrained third-person narration with a quiet current of suspense.
- Concrete maritime vocabulary; avoid decorative synonyms that raise the register.
- Preserve medium-length sentences and the source's measured forward movement.
- Keep the father's final instruction compact, imperative, and open to interpretation.
Approval status: demonstration terminology is illustrative. A live record becomes authoritative only after the designated rightsholder or editor approves it.
05 / Release record
Finish with evidence of what was checked and released.
| Check | Result | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Completeness | Pass | All source sentences represented |
| Language variant | Pass | Brazilian Portuguese usage applied |
| Terminology | Pass | Five recorded terms checked |
| Names and continuity | Pass | Character and setting references consistent |
| Formatting | Pass | Paragraph order and emphasis preserved |
| Editorial review | Pass | Bilingual and target-language passes recorded |
| ID | File | Format | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Localized excerpt | DOCX | Final |
| 02 | Editorial decision log | Final | |
| 03 | Terminology and voice record | XLSX | Final |
| 04 | QA and release summary | Final |