Thai copy that does not read like a translation

"2 seats left"

On an airline project, one line said "2 seats left".

In Thai it came out as ที่นั่งทางซ้าย: the seats on the left side.

It meant two seats remaining: เหลือ 2 ที่นั่ง.

Every word was translated. The meaning was not.

Thousands of rows in a Google Sheet

Later came a bigger job: 2,000 to 3,000 rows of text to translate. They lived in Google Sheets.

Translation has many moods and tones. So I found an AI that gets the mood and tone.

Then: paste to the AI, copy back. Paste to the AI, copy back.

AI can’t work inside a Sheet. How do I let it think for me?

"Can I get the code?"

After I sent the first batch, I asked the client team: can I get the code, and edit it there?

I got it. I said: I’ll use GitHub, do it myself, and send a pull request. No more Sheets.

Then I built a tool. The AI learns the mood and tone and translates. A web page lets me review it. Today it is called Momo Copy Review.

Much faster. No more copy, paste, copy, paste.

My own estimate: staying in the Sheet would have meant about six months of copy-paste.

The review page grew, one complaint at a time

AI can do the boring half. But a person still has to check it, and people get lazy about checking.

So the checking has to be easy to see. The page kept changing:

• 📄Plain text, stacked. Hard to read. So: highlights.
• 👆“How do I say which part I don’t like?” So: a comment box, and tap the highlighted words.
• 📋A Copy button, then paste into the chat. “Can it send straight to the AI?” It could.
• 📑Too many items on one page. 10 per page was still too long. Now it is 5.

Maybe not the best design. It is what I could think of. Adjust it as you go, until it fits you.

The rules I review with

Correct Thai can still read like a translation. So the AI checks every Thai line against the English and my rules:

• 🏃Verbs over noun chains. Thai copied from English piles up การ…ของ…. Say what happens instead.
• 🔤Tech terms stay English. Design System, Component. คอมโพเนนต์ reads worse.
• ↔️A space between Thai and English. ใช้ AI ช่วย, not ใช้AIช่วย.
• 🚫No claims the English never made. No “guaranteed”, no “No. 1”.

The AI suggests the Thai. I decide every line.

What I still wish for

Sometimes I want the AI to push back: “given how you work, this is better”, or “there is another way”.

Mostly it does what you say. I want fresh ideas too.

And sometimes you can’t think of a better way, because you never got the chance to see it.

This job showed me that getting into the code is easier than I thought.