<p>One possibility, if the vertical words are fairly long, is to have multiple parallel columns on a page. Gives you rather short line-length for English, but since you are just writing dictionary definitions, most of those are probably very short.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/eHKU3.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/eHKU3.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>(Image Credit: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/darkangel8980/art/Vulcan-Script-Pon-Farr-212492799" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.deviantart.com/darkangel8980/art/Vulcan-Script-Pon-Farr-212492799</a>)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-03-28T11:21:24.530Z
And this is a dictionary, so the text *should* be collumnated
No Name
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-03-28T00:23:51.967Z
2022-03-28T00:23:51.967Z
Rendu
<p>In a dictionary, you'll sometimes want to mix text from the languages concerned within a block, or perhaps even a sentence. At that point, I believe there really is only one viable option: Rotating one of the scripts entirely. Yes, the one you rotate <em>will</em> be a bit misrepresented, but it works. For an example, see this picture from what seems to be a French book on the Mongolian language:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr50/mongolian_horizontal.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr50/mongolian_horizontal.png" alt="A picture from what appears to be a French book on the Mongolian language, where the Mongolian writing that uses the traditional (vertical) alphabet is displayed in-line by rotating it 90 degrees, probably counterclockwise" /></a></p>
<p>This is <em>not</em> me trying to discourage you to change, or even downplay, your conlang's directionality. Indeed, rotating the English is also an option. Though I'd probably suggest rotating whichever one features the least, and from your snippet that seems to be the Atili.</p>
<p>One last thing to keep in mind.<br />
If Atili text runs top-to-bottom right-to-left like Chinese traditionally did (or bottom-to-top left-to-right), rotating it 90 degrees to match Latin alphabet text is simple, as is doing the opposite. But if it runs top-to-bottom right-to-left like traditional Mongolian (or bottom-to-top left-to-right), it gets a little bit more complicated. Assuming you rotate the Atili, then it either ends up as right-to-left text in the middle of your left-to-right Latin script text or you end up with the side normally facing the next line being the upper side rather than the lower side - neither is ideal, but either is fine.<br />
The book from the example picture seems to have gone with the latter approach.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-27T16:08:57.817Z
I found the picture in the [Unicode Standard Annex #50 on Unicode vertical text layout](https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr50/). I'm not sure what the book is - as far as I can tell the annex doesn't seem to say.
Sara J
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-27T16:06:31.160Z
2020-09-27T16:06:31.160Z
Sara J
<p>If you have a situation where the entry in the conscript is taller than the textual material discussing it, you’ll have to accept ‘wasted’ white space filling out the rectangle. Really, the only sensible way to do this if your textual material is in English is to have your conscript entry run down on the left edge of the rectangle, and fill in the English on the right.</p>
<p>If you have an alternative horizontal orthography (even if it uses the same characters, like happens in Chinese and Japanese), I would recommend using <em>that</em> for the dictionary/lexicon.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-05T19:59:04.607Z
(_It stands to reason that if your descriptive material is in a right-to-left language, like Arabic or Hebrew, you'd put the conscript entry down the **right** side of the rectangle and fill in the left with your Arabic or Hebrew..._)
Jeff Zeitlin
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-05T19:56:26.000Z
2020-07-05T19:56:26.000Z
Jeff Zeitlin
<p>My conlang Atili is written in a vertical script. I'm having a hard time trying to imagine how to write out words in the Atili script within my dictionary. This is important because Atili spelling is not predictable, and the normal Romanization that I use for Atili is phonetic and thus does not convey how a word is meant to be spelled in the Atili script. Right now, I'm using a secondary Romanization as a proxy for the native script that does convey the spelling of words in the conscript, which leads to dictionary entries like the following:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>azih</strong>   ÄZYIH <em>n.</em> (A) hand; (B) the first letter of the Atili alphabet, which represents the consonant /∅/</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I would rather just write the Atili word in the native script, but I'm not sure how to sensibly mix the horizontal Latin alphabet with the vertical Atili script. I'm not looking for technical details about implementing such a thing, just how to lay out the entries on the page.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-02T14:40:11.493Z
You've implemented your own keyboard layout or you're using Private Use Area of Unicode?
USERNAME GOES HERE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-02T14:43:20.517Z
@VictorVosMottorthanksMonica At this point, I'm just working about layout. I plan to use Private Use Area once I get the letters digitized along with `\XeTeXupwardsmode`.
OpenAI was the last straw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-02T14:49:54.227Z
Interesting... I'm a developer but I never used private use area.
USERNAME GOES HERE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-03T13:15:15.783Z
Presumably, you're using a word processor or page layout program for this; which one?
Jeff Zeitlin
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-03T14:52:19.473Z
@JeffZeitlin I am using XeLaTeX.
OpenAI was the last straw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-04T15:58:52.743Z
You might be better off asking this in [tex.se]; it's likely that there have been questions about mixing vertically- and horizontally-written languages before...
Jeff Zeitlin
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-04T16:35:09.440Z
@JeffZeitlin I'm at least theoretically aware of how to _implement_ mixing horizontal and vertical text in LaTeX. I just can't seem to come up with a sensible layout for an entry. Sometimes writing out the word could take up more vertical space than the rest of the entry.
OpenAI was the last straw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-04T17:23:05.340Z
https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/342406/create-a-mix-of-horizontal-and-vertical-text-in-a-footer
USERNAME GOES HERE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-05T19:54:36.123Z
@JeffZeitlin Can you make that an answer?
OpenAI was the last straw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-16T10:21:30.600Z
Maybe you could find an example of an (inner) Mongolian dictionary? I don't know much about it, but it can be written vertically.
Hoboist
<writing-systems>
How can I format a dictionary that mixes vertical and horizontal scripts?
# How can I format a dictionary that mixes vertical and horizontal scripts?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-07-02)

My conlang Atili is written in a vertical script. I'm having a hard time trying to imagine how to write out words in the Atili script within my dictionary. This is important because Atili spelling is not predictable, and the normal Romanization that I use for Atili is phonetic and thus does not convey how a word is meant to be spelled in the Atili script. Right now, I'm using a secondary Romanization as a proxy for the native script that does convey the spelling of words in the conscript, which leads to dictionary entries like the following:

> **azih**   ÄZYIH *n.* (A) hand; (B) the first letter of the Atili alphabet, which represents the consonant /∅/

I would rather just write the Atili word in the native script, but I'm not sure how to sensibly mix the horizontal Latin alphabet with the vertical Atili script. I'm not looking for technical details about implementing such a thing, just how to lay out the entries on the page.

**Tags:** writing-systems
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You've implemented your own keyboard layout or you're using Private Use Area of Unicode?  
> **username_0**: @VictorVosMottorthanksMonica At this point, I'm just working about layout. I plan to use Private Use Area once I get the letters digitized along with `\XeTeXupwardsmode`.  
> **username_1**: Interesting... I'm a developer but I never used private use area.  
> **username_2**: Presumably, you're using a word processor or page layout program for this; which one?  
> **username_0**: @JeffZeitlin I am using XeLaTeX.  
> **username_2**: You might be better off asking this in [tex.se]; it's likely that there have been questions about mixing vertically- and horizontally-written languages before...  
> **username_0**: @JeffZeitlin I'm at least theoretically aware of how to _implement_ mixing horizontal and vertical text in LaTeX. I just can't seem to come up with a sensible layout for an entry. Sometimes writing out the word could take up more vertical space than the rest of the entry.  
> **username_1**: https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/342406/create-a-mix-of-horizontal-and-vertical-text-in-a-footer  
> **username_0**: @JeffZeitlin Can you make that an answer?  
> **username_3**: Maybe you could find an example of an (inner) Mongolian dictionary? I don't know much about it, but it can be written vertically.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2020-07-05. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

If you have a situation where the entry in the conscript is taller than the textual material discussing it, you’ll have to accept ‘wasted’ white space filling out the rectangle. Really, the only sensible way to do this if your textual material is in English is to have your conscript entry run down on the left edge of the rectangle, and fill in the English on the right.

If you have an alternative horizontal orthography (even if it uses the same characters, like happens in Chinese and Japanese), I would recommend using *that* for the dictionary/lexicon.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: (_It stands to reason that if your descriptive material is in a right-to-left language, like Arabic or Hebrew, you'd put the conscript entry down the **right** side of the rectangle and fill in the left with your Arabic or Hebrew..._)  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2022-03-28. Score: 3

One possibility, if the vertical words are fairly long, is to have multiple parallel columns on a page. Gives you rather short line-length for English, but since you are just writing dictionary definitions, most of those are probably very short.

Example:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/eHKU3.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/eHKU3.png)

(Image Credit: <https://www.deviantart.com/darkangel8980/art/Vulcan-Script-Pon-Farr-212492799>)

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: And this is a dictionary, so the text *should* be collumnated  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2020-09-27. Score: 1

In a dictionary, you'll sometimes want to mix text from the languages concerned within a block, or perhaps even a sentence. At that point, I believe there really is only one viable option: Rotating one of the scripts entirely. Yes, the one you rotate *will* be a bit misrepresented, but it works. For an example, see this picture from what seems to be a French book on the Mongolian language:

[![A picture from what appears to be a French book on the Mongolian language, where the Mongolian writing that uses the traditional (vertical) alphabet is displayed in-line by rotating it 90 degrees, probably counterclockwise](https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr50/mongolian_horizontal.png)](https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr50/mongolian_horizontal.png)

This is *not* me trying to discourage you to change, or even downplay, your conlang's directionality. Indeed, rotating the English is also an option. Though I'd probably suggest rotating whichever one features the least, and from your snippet that seems to be the Atili.

One last thing to keep in mind.  
If Atili text runs top-to-bottom right-to-left like Chinese traditionally did (or bottom-to-top left-to-right), rotating it 90 degrees to match Latin alphabet text is simple, as is doing the opposite. But if it runs top-to-bottom right-to-left like traditional Mongolian (or bottom-to-top left-to-right), it gets a little bit more complicated. Assuming you rotate the Atili, then it either ends up as right-to-left text in the middle of your left-to-right Latin script text or you end up with the side normally facing the next line being the upper side rather than the lower side - neither is ideal, but either is fine.  
The book from the example picture seems to have gone with the latter approach.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: I found the picture in the [Unicode Standard Annex #50 on Unicode vertical text layout](https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr50/). I'm not sure what the book is - as far as I can tell the annex doesn't seem to say.  

---

