Re: bi-lingual text

[Ruijie Yu via "General discussions about Org-mode." <emacs-orgmode@gnu.org>]

Uwe Brauer <oub@mat.ucm.es> writes:

> Hi
>
> I would like to have a sort of side by side, paragraph based,
> representation of text in two languages, say Spanish and English, best
> would be org based of course.
>
> It does not to have to be anything fancy like inter-linear, I could use
> a simple table but that looks cumbersome.
>
> I searched the package system but could not really find anything.

`2C-mode' might be what you want.  Be warned, though, that it might be
confusing when first using it, and that there might be missing
information since I have just begun to explore it because of your
message.

(Also, there doesn't seem to be much documentation on 2C at all, except
for in its source code?)

Two caveats:

1.  Whenever you split using <F2> s (M-x 2C-split RET), the split will
happen at the current column, while *consuming* the previous char.  You
can experiment with the command and see what I mean.

2.  Currently, when you use <F2> 1 (M-x 2C-merge RET), the associated
buffer is only minimised at the right side.  If a user wants to reuse
the same assoc buffer when typing <F2> s again, the user first has to
hide the buffer (at least in my experience).

What I tried:

In "bilingual.org", type the following:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
* Bilingual
Hello world.|!
Good night.
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Here, "!" its not a character but means the cursor; "|" is the character
before point, and will be used as the separator for the buffers.

Then, run <F2> s (M-x 2C-split RET).

There should now be two buffers side-by-side.  Go to the right buffer
and start typing.

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---

Bienvenue tout le monde.
Bonne nuit.
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Then (in either buffer) run <F2> 1 (M-x 2C-merge RET).  Now the
remaining buffer should read:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
* Bilingual
Hello world.  |Bienvenue tout le monde.
Good night.   |Bonne nuit.
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Hopefully this helps -- not only for you, but for those who, like me an
hour ago, accidentally discovered 2C-mode but did not understand how to
use it.

--
Best,


RY