Make a bidirectional reader from text — see Usage if you're new. Welcome and good luck!
Left text:
Right text:
Usage
Bilingual readers are great (target text on one side, native on another), but sometimes not available. This simple tool joins two texts together, aligning the paragraphs on each side using paragraph breaks.
Often, it's sufficient to use even low-quality machine translation for bidirectional readers, because you can use both texts together to come up with a more precise translation and understanding. Give it a shot, see how it works for you.
- Get the text you're studying in raw text form (for copy/pasting).
- Get a translation for the text (this is usually the tough part). If you use Chrome, you might be able to drag the .txt file into Chrome, right-click anywhere, and then click Translate. Use Google translate or Deepl (https://www.deepl.com/translator) to translate your text. Often, free services have length restrictions for the texts, so you might need to break the doc up into smaller sections.
- Copy the initial text into and paste it in either the Left or Right text, and copy the translation and paste it in the other. The text boxes are resizable, click and drag the bottom right corner of each.
- Select a font size, and click 'join'. You'll receive a warning if the paragraph break counts don't match, but the texts will still be joined.
- Printing the page (File > Print) should print just the text.
FAQs and NAQs (Never Asked Questions).
"Who is this for?"
A: Whoever finds it useful, really.
"Why is this so primitive?"
A: This is alpha-level release software -- there's nothing to it really. There are many things that could be done -- hooking in to existing translation utils, exporting fun things etc -- but that's way out of scope.
"Can you make this software do x, y, z, [feature request here]?"
A: I welcome code contributions to the GitHub repo! (see "About" in the menu) I don't know how many people will use it, though!
"This looks terrible printed."
A: Yeah ... it works in Chrome on a Mac. The css to get it to print correctly was rather tricky for me. If you can fix the css, that would be grand.
"I love it! Where can I donate a pile of money to?"
A: This is a small project, done for fun and as a small contribution to any learners who find it interesting. But if you really want to give me money, please donate that same sum to your nearest women's health org, animal shelter, or any worthy cause. Or call that friend you've been meaning to and say hi. Or surprise a stranger with a free coffee. Then send me a virtual high-five, and we'll call it even. Cheers!
About
Bidiread is for making bidirectional readers. :-P
Version: 0.0.0.0.1
GitHub repo: bidiread - code contributions are very welcome!
Issues and complaints: please use GitHub issues.