Four Language Parallel Column Book

Question

I am trying to format a four column parallel text in four different languages to display on two pages with two columns per page.

I have tried using ledpar and parallels but I cannot get it to work. I tried using opposing pages and then using a two-column tabular on each page to display the four languages, but tabular isn't supported by either ledpar or parallels.

Using the tabular environment inside of ledmac won't work because it does not support line breaks inside a cell.

Is there a way to display my text so each corresponding paragraph appears at the same horizontal location across the columns and pages? Any help or ideas as to which direction to go would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Using the parcolumns pacakge mentioned in the solution at How do I create parallel text aligned by paragraph? seems to work nicely.

Each section is to be placed within:

\begin{paracol}{4}
\end{paracol}

where the 4 is the number of columns. Then \switchcolumn[<n>], where <n> specifies the column (either 0, 1, 2, or 3 for the 4 columns) is used to specify that the text following is for that specific columns within the paracol environment.

Known Issues:

• Since the colunms aren't very wide there are issue with text overflowing. So the microtype package and \sloppy were used. See automatic line breaking for two column text.

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{paracol}
\usepackage{microtype}
\begin{document}
\begin{paracol}{4}\sloppy
    \switchcolumn[0]\noindent
    \textbf{Column 1 text:}
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 
    Sed accumsan nulla ac ipsum elementum interdum. 
    Praesent ultricies faucibus turpis, non scelerisque nisi bibendum et. 

\switchcolumn[1]\noindent
    \textbf{Column 2 text:}
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 
    Sed accumsan nulla ac ipsum elementum interdum. 
    Praesent ultricies faucibus turpis, non scelerisque nisi bibendum et. 
    Phasellus quis ultricies sapien. 

\switchcolumn[2]\noindent
    \textbf{Column 3 text:}
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 

\switchcolumn[3]\noindent
    \textbf{Column 4 text:}
    Integer iaculis nibh at orci hendrerit et elementum enim luctus. 
\end{paracol}

\bigskip\hrule\bigskip
\begin{paracol}{4}\sloppy
    \switchcolumn[0]\noindent
    \textbf{Column 1 text:}
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 
    Sed accumsan nulla ac ipsum elementum interdum. 
    Praesent ultricies faucibus turpis, non scelerisque nisi bibendum et. 

\switchcolumn[1]\noindent
    \textbf{Column 2 text:}
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 
    Sed accumsan nulla ac ipsum elementum interdum. 
    Praesent ultricies faucibus turpis, non scelerisque nisi bibendum et. 
    Phasellus quis ultricies sapien. 
    Aliquam venenatis dolor libero, a dignissim nisi. 
    In ut magna a erat blandit facilisis. 
    Nulla vitae urna et nisl dignissim condimentum condimentum vitae mi. 
    Donec sed eros id nibh posuere posuere

\switchcolumn[3]\noindent
    \textbf{Column 4 text:}
    Integer iaculis nibh at orci hendrerit et elementum enim luctus. 
    Nulla varius mauris adipiscing libero vulputate condimentum. Suspendisse porta consequat neque, tincidunt fermentum risus aliquet ac. 
    Curabitur sed dui orci, eget rutrum quam. 
    Suspendisse potenti.
\end{paracol}

\end{document}

Answer 2

I just found something that might help you: http://uucode.com/blog/2010/12/06/multi-page-tables-with-inter-row-page-breaks/

Ok, there are only three columns, but have a look at the pdf, this is close to what you ask. The columns are even spread across two pages.