How to do Chinese and English typesetting in Word

Key points of this article

When there are few paragraphs and need to be compared sentence by sentence, use a two-column format, with the original text in the left column and the translation in the right column, so that the rows are naturally aligned.
When there are many paragraphs or long-term maintenance is needed, choose a layout in which the original paragraphs and the translation paragraphs alternate up and down to make modifications easier.
Set fonts separately for Chinese and English. Use Western fonts for English and Chinese fonts for Chinese. Keep the font size and line spacing consistent for both, so that they are visually neat.
When the entire Word document needs bilingual comparison, you can use OmniDoc's document translation to select bilingual comparison output, and then check it page by page in Word.
Regardless of manual or machine output, check table spreads, formulas, numbers, and proper nouns. Machine-translated content needs to be checked manually.

Many people need to read a Chinese text and its English translation together, such as the abstract of a paper, the terms of a contract, a product description, or a classroom handout. If you just paste two paragraphs of text together one after another, it will be easy to miss the line when reading, and you will have to readjust the entire page if you change one part. The key to doing Chinese and English typesetting in Word is to first select the right format, and then unify the fonts and spacing.

This article is written for people who need to organize bilingual documents by themselves. After reading, you can use Word to manually create two commonly used comparison layouts, and you can also determine when to directly use OmniDoc to translate the entire document, output the bilingual comparison results, and know where to check after getting the results.

How to do typesetting in Chinese and English in Word? One sentence conclusion

First determine the length and purpose of the material: short materials use a two-column table to align paragraph by paragraph, long materials use an alternating paragraph format with up and down. When the entire document needs to be translated, use OmniDoc to output a bilingual comparison file. The following table can be directly compared and selected.

your situation	Recommended practices	reason
Within a few pages, you need to read sentence by sentence	Two-column table, original text on the left and translation on the right	Rows are naturally aligned with each other and no additional adjustments are required
There are many paragraphs and need to be printed or modified for a long time.	The original text and the translated text paragraphs alternate up and down.	The structure is simple, and changing one section does not affect other sections.
The entire Word or PDF needs to be translated into another language	OmniDoc translation, select bilingual comparison output	Keep the layout, tables and pictures as much as possible to avoid manual splitting
Only translation is required, no comparison is required	Directly output only the translation	The file is clean and suitable for delivery to readers who only want to read the translation.
The original text contains a large number of formulas, codes or charts	Manual sectioning, only one copy of the chart is retained	Bilingual copying can easily disrupt the position of formulas and charts.

Before you start: Confirm these points first

Understanding the following points before you start can avoid half of the rework.

Confirm the granularity of the control. Is it a sentence-by-sentence comparison, a paragraph-by-paragraph comparison, or a whole-page comparison? Sentence-by-sentence comparison requires one-to-one correspondence between the original text and the translation, and the form is appropriate; full-page comparison is suitable for reading long texts, and the original text page and the translation page can be placed in sections.
Confirm where the translation comes from. If the translation is written by you or there is already a manual translation, just paste it directly; if it is machine translation or needs to be re-translated, complete the translation first and then format it, and check it paragraph by paragraph after formatting.
Confirm font and font size. Song type or Hei type is commonly used for Chinese, and Times New Roman or Arial is commonly used for English. The font size and line spacing of the two need to be consistent, otherwise the same line will be one high and one low, which will look messy.
Confirm page orientation and paper. A two-column table needs to be wider than a single-column table, and a portrait A4 page may be squeezed very narrowly. If there is a lot of content, you can consider a horizontal page, or use an alternating top and bottom layout.
Confirm whether you want to retain the original text format. If there are many titles, numbers, tables, and footnotes in the original text, they are easily lost when copied manually. In this case, it is easier to use the document translation function.

Steps to manually create a two-column comparison table in Word

The following steps are suitable for materials within a few pages that need to be aligned paragraph by paragraph. These are common table operations in Word and are not version dependent.

insert a two-column table. * insert the table where the page needs, and set the number of columns to 2. The number of lines is estimated according to the number of paragraphs, and then increased when it is not enough.
paste the original text into the left column. * put a cell in each original paragraph to keep the order of the paragraphs consistent and avoid skipping or repeating.
paste the translation into the right column. * corresponding to the left column line by line, you can add lines when the translation paragraph is long, so that the paragraphs on both sides are on the same line as far as possible.
uniform font. * Select the Chinese content and set the Chinese font and font size separately; select the English content and set the western font separately. The font size and line spacing of the two columns are the same.
adjust the border of the table. * if you don't want obvious grid lines, you can set the border to light gray or leave only horizontal lines, making it easier to follow when reading.
set paragraph spacing. the distance between the front and back of the paragraph in each cell should be kept uniform to avoid misalignment due to the different spacing between the paragraphs on both sides.
set the header line to repeat. when the form is long and spreads, set the first row as the title row, so that after the page change, the header will be displayed at the top of each page, such as "original" and "translation".
Save in docx format. keep editable Word files, which are convenient for subsequent modification and printing.

# key points of manually alternating up and down layout

When there are many paragraphs, two-column tables will make each cell very narrow and have a poor reading experience. At this time, the upper and lower layout can be used alternately: the original paragraph is a separate paragraph, followed by the corresponding translation paragraph, which can be distinguished by different colors or indents.

The advantage of this layout is that each paragraph is a complete width, and you only need to change the corresponding two paragraphs when you modify it, so it is not easy to affect other content. The disadvantage is that the page is long and needs to be looked back by the reader. If you want the translation to be less eye-catching, you can make the translation a little smaller or set it to dark gray, but still make sure the size is clear and easy to read.

# steps for outputting bilingual control files with OmniDoc

If the whole Word document needs to be translated, and you want the translation to be compared with the original, you can use the document translation function of OmniDoc. OmniDoc supports Word .docx files, the output can be bilingual or translation only, tables, layouts and pictures will be retained as much as possible.

prepare the original file. * make sure that the Word file opens normally and is not corrupted. The format is .docx.
Open OmniDoc. you can upload it on an omnidoc.top page or use a desktop client, which can be downloaded from download.omnidoc.top.
upload files. Select the Word file to be translated and wait for the file to be loaded.
Select the output method. choose bilingual control in the output option, and the source text and the translated text will be arranged side by side or alternately; if only the translation is needed, select the translation only.
Select the document type. if it is an academic paper, contract or technical material, you can choose the corresponding text style to help keep the terminology consistent.
start translating. * wait for the completion of the task after you submit the task, and you can do other preparatory work first.
download the results. download the Word file after completion, and check whether the file can be opened normally in the local Word.
Open the check in Word. check page by page to see if the bilingual arrangement is normal and whether the tables and formulas are misplaced, and then make the necessary manual modifications.

If you need to continue editing outside of Word, such as collaborating online or keeping the transfer between Word and LaTeX, you can also use the UniDoc web editor at app.unidoc.top.

# check item by item after completion

Whether it is manual typesetting or output files, they should be checked item by item, not delivered directly.

Check item	What do you think?	What if there's a problem?
Whether the left and right or upper and lower contents correspond to each other	Several paragraphs are randomly selected to compare whether the meaning of the original text and the translation correspond to each other.	When a paragraph is missed or misplaced, go back to the original text and re-paste it in paragraph order.
Whether the table is broken across pages	Turn to the page change of each page to see if the cell is truncated.	Set the header row to repeat, or insert the paging position before and after the table
Is the font and font size uniform?	Scroll through the full text to see if the font size and line spacing are the same in Chinese and English	Unify the format, or set the font separately after re-selection
Numbers, units and dates	Check the format of numbers, percent signs, units and dates one by one	Modify the original text, especially the values in the contract and report
Formulas, charts and numbers	Check whether the formula is complete, the picture is clear, and the serial number is continuous.	The formula can be re-entered manually. Only one copy of the picture can be retained and the corresponding position can be indicated.
The content of machine translation	Manually check proper nouns, legal provisions and technical terms	Give the important content to someone who understands the profession for review, and change it back to the original expression if necessary.

# Core comparison

Each of the three common practices has its own focus and can be compared from the following point of view.

Practice	An appropriate situation	What you need to pay attention to.
Two-column table	Short text, need accurate comparison sentence by sentence	The page becomes narrow when the content is long, and the spread is easy to break the line, so you need to set the title line to repeat.
Alternating paragraphs up and down	Documents with many paragraphs and long-term maintenance	If the reader wants to look back up and down, the sense of contrast is weak, and the translation can be distinguished by color or indentation.
OmniDoc bilingual control output	Rapid translation and typesetting of the whole document, hoping to retain more of the original format	After output, it still needs to be checked in Word, and manual check cannot be skipped.

# which method is suitable for you?

If you are a student, you have a few pages of paper abstract on hand to compare. Two columns of tables are enough and can be completed in a few minutes.

If you are a professional and need to make a multi-page contract or product manual bilingual, it is recommended that you use OmniDoc to output the first draft, and then check the key terms and figures in Word.

If you are a teacher or organizer, you need to prepare long handouts for your students. Alternating layout is more appropriate and it is easier to revise.

# frequently asked questions (FAQ)

1. How to make typesetting in both Chinese and English in Word without additional software?

Sure. This can be done with two columns of tables or alternating paragraphs, using only the table and paragraph settings that come with Word. If the file is long and manual pasting can be time-consuming, you can consider the document translation function.

2. How do Chinese and English documents look good in typesetting?

The key is to keep the font size, line spacing and paragraph spacing the same, set fonts in both Chinese and English, and use light-colored lines in the table border. When there is a lot of content, the upper and lower layout is preferred to avoid being too narrow.

3. What if the header of the bilingual Word file is missing after turning the page?

Set the first row of the table as the title row, so that the header will be displayed repeatedly after the page change. If it is a paragraph layout, you can use the header to indicate "original text" and "translation" at the top of each page.

4. Can the scanned version of PDF be used as a bilingual control?

You can upload the scanned version of PDF directly for translation, and choose bilingual output. However, the recognition quality of the scanned parts will affect the results, and it still needs to be checked page by page after output. To determine whether the PDF is a scanned piece, you can try to select a paragraph of text with the mouse. If not, it is usually the scanned piece.

5. To what extent does the translation need to be checked?

Important documents, such as contracts, certificates, academic contributions and medical materials, should be reviewed by professionals one by one. General information can spot check key paragraphs, focusing on whether numbers, proper nouns and negatives are correct.

# Summary

In Word to do Chinese and English typesetting, short materials with two columns of tables, long materials with alternating layout, uniform font and spacing can get a neat effect. When the whole document needs to be translated, you can use OmniDoc to output bilingual control, and then check it item by item in Word. No matter which method is used, manual inspection before delivery cannot be saved.

Open OmniDoc to edit and export documents online