tokenstranslation
Installation
SKILL.md
tokenstranslation
Same string in Spanish costs 27% more tokens than in English. Arabic: 230% more. Japanese: 193% more. This is the BPE language tax. We fix it.
Tokenization is biased toward English because the training corpora are. Non-English UX pays a permanent tax on every API call. tokenstranslation detects the source language, translates to English on the way in, translates Claude's response back on the way out. The user sees their native language. The bill sees English.
When this is worth it
| Your UX language | Tax vs English | What tokenstranslation saves |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French | 25-35% extra | 20-30% on input |
| German, Dutch | 30-50% extra | 25-40% on input |
| Japanese | ~190% extra | 50-65% on input |
| Chinese | ~30-90% extra (varies by tokenizer) | 15-50% on input |
| Arabic, Hindi, Thai | 200-400% extra | 50-75% on input |
If your product is multilingual, this is the single biggest free win on your bill.