Need help to define a layout for phrase book

Question

I am learning another language (French) and decided to create my own phrase book.

My idea is to collect phrases from movies and TV show and continuously add them to my phrase best as I go along.

I am looking for some simple template I could use that would really show the phrase in french on the left-hand side in bold and an english translation of the right-hand side in italics (two column layout).

I found couple of Dictionary layout, but I find them too complex for what I want to achieve. I also considered using Glossaries and Acronyms but I was not happy with the result.

Would anyone be so kind and provide a suggestion what I could use?

Thank you very much

Answer 1

I think the easiest approach is to use any of a table environment with 2 columns; tabularx is probably the most convenient as you only need to set one of the columns. Another approach would be a custom list.

The first example with tabularx

The other example with a custom list

---

The code to the first example

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularx} 


\begin{document}

\renewcommand\arraystretch{1.5}
\noindent%
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{@{} >{\bfseries}l X@{}}
  Bête noire
  & A pet peeve A thing or person found particularly unwelcome and to be avoided. \\
  Billet doux
  & A short love letter or note. \\
  Bon appétit
  & 'Good appetite' - "Enjoy your food". \\
  Bon mot
  & Clever, witty remark. \\
  Bon vivant
  & 'Good liver' - a person who enjoys life, especially 'wine, women and song'. \\
  Bon voyage
  & Have a good trip. Ça ne fait rien (or sans faire rien) It doesn't matter - often deliberately mispronounced in English as 'San fairy Ann'. \\
\end{tabularx}

\end{document}

The code to the second example

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{enumitem} 

\newlist{phrases}{itemize}{1}
\setlist[phrases]{
  font=\bfseries,
  align=left,
  leftmargin=3em,
  labelwidth=\linewidth,
  itemindent=\dimexpr\linewidth-3em,
  labelsep=0pt,
}


\begin{document}

\begin{phrases}
  \item[Bête noire] A pet peeve A thing or person found particularly unwelcome and to be avoided.
  \item[Billet doux] A short love letter or note.
  \item[Bon appétit] 'Good appetite' - "Enjoy your food".
  \item[Bon mot] Clever, witty remark.
  \item[Bon vivant] 'Good liver' - a person who enjoys life, especially 'wine, women and song'.
  \item[Bon voyage] Have a good trip. Ça ne fait rien (or sans faire rien) It doesn't matter - often deliberately mispronounced in English as 'San fairy Ann'.
\end{phrases}

\end{document}