--- name: french-language description: Ensures all project content is written in proper French with correct accents, grammar, and typography. Use when user mentions french, français, langue française, accents, orthographe, typographie, or when working on a project that requires French language content. Also use when generating any text-based file (SVG, Mermaid, PlantUML, Draw.io, HTML, CSV, JSON, YAML, etc.) in a French-language project. Helps enforce French writing conventions across all file types. --- # Enforce French Language Conventions You are helping the user ensure that all project content is written in proper French, with correct accents, grammar, and typographic conventions. This skill applies to **all generated or edited files** that contain human-readable French text, not just documentation. ## When to Use - The project's CLAUDE.md or documentation specifies French as the primary language - The user asks to write, review, or fix French content - The user mentions accents, orthographe, typographie, or langue française - Files contain French text with missing or incorrect accents - **Generating any file** (SVG, Mermaid, PlantUML, Draw.io, HTML, CSV, JSON, YAML, etc.) in a project configured for French ## Pre-flight Checks Before making changes, always: 1. **Check the project's language configuration** — look for CLAUDE.md, README, or other configuration files that specify the project language 2. **Identify which files contain French text** — scan all file types, not just markdown 3. **Ask the user before making bulk changes** — especially when fixing accents across many files ## French Writing Rules ### Accents and Special Characters French accents are **mandatory**, not optional. Missing accents change word meaning and are considered spelling errors. | Character | Name | Examples | | --------- | -------------------- | --------------------------------------- | | é | accent aigu | réalisateur, qualité, équipe, périmètre | | è | accent grave | stratège, modèle, problème, critère | | ê | accent circonflexe | être, forêt, fête, tête | | à | a accent grave | à, déjà, voilà | | ù | u accent grave | où | | ô | o accent circonflexe | contrôle, rôle, clôture, binôme | | î | i accent circonflexe | maître, connaître | | ç | cédille | ça, français, leçon, reçu | | ë, ï, ü | tréma | Noël, naïf, ambiguïté | ### Common Missing Accent Patterns When reviewing or generating French text, watch for these frequently missed accents: | Wrong | Correct | Context | | --------------- | --------------- | -------------------- | | qualite | qualité | noun ending in -ité | | securite | sécurité | noun ending in -ité | | perimetre | périmètre | noun ending in -ètre | | deploiement | déploiement | noun with dé- prefix | | developpeur | développeur | noun with dé- prefix | | stratege | stratège | noun ending in -ège | | modele | modèle | noun ending in -èle | | cloture | clôture | noun with ô | | equipe | équipe | noun with é | | role | rôle | noun with ô | | etre | être | verb with ê | | batisseur | bâtisseur | noun with â | | retrospective | rétrospective | noun with é | | responsabilites | responsabilités | plural noun with é | ### Technical Terms Technical English terms commonly used in French tech contexts should be **kept in English**: - Sprint, Backlog, Product Owner, Scope, Deadline - CI/CD, DevOps, LLMOps, API, SDK - RACI, SOW, ROI, NPS, KPI - Pull Request, Code Review, Merge Request - Framework, Pipeline, Prompt Engineering **Rule:** if the term is universally used in English in French tech culture, keep it. If a standard French equivalent exists and is commonly used, prefer the French version. ### French Typography French typography differs from English in several ways: | Rule | Example | | ---------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Space before `:` `;` `!` `?` | `Attention : ceci est important` | | No space before `,` `.` | `Bonjour, comment allez-vous.` | | Guillemets for quotes | `« texte »` (with non-breaking spaces) | | Ordinals | 1er, 2e, 3e (not 1ème, 2ème) | | Capitalization | Less capitalization than English — `Modèle opératoire` not `Modèle Opératoire` | | Em dash (`—`) | Not standard French punctuation — replace with `:`, `(…)`, or `.` depending on context | **Em dash vs English:** The em dash is valid and common in English. Do not remove em dashes from English content. Only apply this rule to French text. **Note on generated files:** Typography rules (spaces before punctuation, guillemets) may not be practical in all file formats. Prioritize correct accents in all cases; apply typography rules when the format supports them without breaking rendering. ## Process ### Step 1: Discover Content to Review Scan the project for **all files** containing French text: - **Documentation:** `*.md` files - **Diagrams and visuals:** `*.svg`, `*.drawio`, `*.puml`, `*.mmd` (Mermaid) - **Web content:** `*.html`, `*.htm`, `*.vue`, `*.jsx`, `*.tsx` - **Data files:** `*.csv`, `*.json`, `*.yaml`, `*.yml`, `*.toml` - **Presentations:** `*.tex`, `*.adoc`, `*.rst` - **Configuration:** `CLAUDE.md`, `README.md`, `*.properties`, `*.ini` - **Code:** comments and string literals in source files ### Step 2: Analyze and Report For each file, identify: - Missing or incorrect accents - Grammar issues - Typography issues (spaces before colons, etc.) - Inconsistent language (mixing French and English in non-technical contexts) Present findings as a table: ```text | File | Issue | Wrong | Correct | |------|-------|-------|---------| | docs/roles.md | Missing accent | qualite | qualité | | diagram.svg | Missing accent | deploiement | déploiement | | data.csv | Missing accent | responsabilite | responsabilité | ``` ### Step 3: Apply Fixes After user approval: 1. Use `Edit` with `replace_all=true` for each correction pattern across each file 2. For each file format, respect the format-specific guidelines below 3. Verify no regressions after applying fixes ### Step 4: Validate After applying fixes: 1. Search for remaining common missing accent patterns 2. Confirm all files are consistent 3. Report any terms you're unsure about (ask the user for guidance) ## Format-Specific Guidelines ### SVG Files - **Only modify text content** inside `` elements — never touch coordinates, styles, or structure - **Check text fits** — accented characters may be slightly wider; verify text still fits within its container - **Use UTF-8 characters** — not XML entities (`é` not `é`) - **Linters may reformat** — SVG optimizers (SVGO) may reformat the file after edits. This is expected and should not be reverted ### Mermaid Diagrams (`.mmd`, embedded in markdown) - Accents work natively in node labels: `A[Qualité] --> B[Sécurité]` - For labels with special characters, use quotes: `A["Clôture du projet"]` - Test rendering after adding accents — some Mermaid renderers may have issues with certain characters in edge labels ### PlantUML Files (`.puml`) - Accents work in labels and notes: `:Vérification du périmètre;` - Use UTF-8 encoding — add `@startuml` without BOM - Accents in participant names may require quoting: `participant "Développeur GenAI" as Dev` ### Draw.io / diagrams.net Files (`.drawio`) - These are XML files — accents work natively in `value` attributes - Edit the XML directly or use the visual editor - Watch for HTML-encoded entities that should be UTF-8 characters ### CSV Files - Ensure UTF-8 encoding (not Latin-1/ISO-8859-1) - Accents in field values: `"Qualité","Sécurité","Périmètre"` - Some spreadsheet tools may re-encode — verify encoding after export ### JSON / YAML Files - Accents work natively in string values: `"rôle": "Développeur"` - JSON requires UTF-8 by specification - YAML supports UTF-8 natively — no quoting needed for accented values ### HTML Files - Use UTF-8 encoding: `` - Use actual UTF-8 characters, not HTML entities (`é` not `é`) - Check ``, `<meta>`, `alt` attributes, `aria-label`, and visible text ## Generating New Files When generating any new file that will contain French text: 1. **Write with accents from the start** — do not generate without accents and fix later 2. **Use UTF-8 encoding** for all file types 3. **Apply the correct accents as you write** — refer to the common patterns table above 4. **Keep technical terms in English** — do not translate universally used English terms 5. **Validate before presenting** — re-read your generated content for missing accents before showing it to the user ## Important Guidelines - **Never remove accents** — if unsure whether a word needs an accent, keep it - **Preserve technical terms in English** — do not translate Sprint, Backlog, etc. - **Ask before bulk changes** — present the list of fixes before applying them - **One pattern at a time** — when using `replace_all`, fix one word pattern per edit to avoid unintended replacements - **Context matters** — some words change meaning with/without accents (e.g., "ou" = or, "où" = where). Always consider context - **UTF-8 everywhere** — always use UTF-8 encoding, never Latin-1 or other legacy encodings - **Generate correctly from the start** — it's cheaper to write accents correctly the first time than to fix them after the fact