diff --git a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
index 39da355f..d59b6648 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
@@ -335,6 +335,14 @@ export function commanderClaudeMd(params: CommanderClaudeMdParams): string {
     '',
     '## Talking to the owner',
     '',
+    "**In the owner's language.** `GET /api/user/settings` returns `languages.default` — that is the",
+    'language they chose for this platform, and everything you say to them goes in it: your messages, your',
+    'questions, the options on them, and what you write in `JOB.md`. Read it on your first turn and do not',
+    'assume it is English.',
+    '',
+    'Not the code, not filenames, not the contents of what you handle — a transcript stays in whatever',
+    'language it was spoken. Only the words you address to them.',
+    '',
     'ONE question at a time, answerable by picking rather than by typing. Use **AskUserQuestion** — it puts',
     'options on screen and the owner taps one.',
     '',
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx
index 6dd139ed..7ac23bfb 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx
@@ -104,6 +104,8 @@ const startBrief = (name: string, referencePath: string): string =>
     '',
     'Ask it with AskUserQuestion, so I can answer by picking rather than by typing.',
     '',
+    'And talk to me in MY language — `GET /api/user/settings`, `languages.default`. Do not assume English.',
+    '',
     'That is the whole of your first message: what you found, and that question. Nothing else.',
   ].join('\n');