Usage

This template may be used when a verse text in its original language and its translation into English are to be displayed together. It displays the original text in italics and the translation in roman type. Optionally, it displays attributions for each text below. The main parameter set is the following:

{{Verse translation|lang=ISO 639 language code or IETF language tag|original text|translation|attr1=original text attribution|attr2=translation attribution}}
Full parameter set in horizontal format
{{Verse translation|lang=|italicsoff=|rtl1=|<!--original text-->|<!--translation-->|attr1=|attr2=}}
Full parameter set in vertical format
{{Verse translation
 | lang       = 
 | italicsoff = 
 | rtl1       = 
 | <!--original text-->
 | <!--translation-->
 | attr1      = 
 | attr2      = 
}}

Examples

Basic example

The first two parameters are required, unlabelled, and hold the two texts. For example:

Markup Renders as
{{Verse translation
|Sprechen Sie Deutsch?
Bist du sicher?
|Do you speak German?
Are you sure?}}

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?
Bist du sicher?

Do you speak German?
Are you sure?.

While |lang=de is omitted from this minimal example, the |lang= parameter should be specified in normal use.

Line breaks in the code texts are preserved in the display. Extra markup like <br /> is not required, but will also be displayed if included. As shown below, correctly formatted inline references can also be added to both texts.

Full example

The parameters |attr1= and |attr2= are optional, must be labelled, and do not preserve line breaks in the code. They are meant to contain the attributions for (1) the original text and (2) the translation. Either, both, or neither may be used. Their content will be displayed preceded by a dash and in slightly reduced text. These texts do not wrap automatically; if wrapping is required, <br /> can be used, as below. Also optional (though recommended by Manual of Style/Accessibility § Other languages) is |lang=, which takes an IETF language tag or ISO 639 language code in the same format as {{lang}}. For example:

Markup Renders as
{{Verse translation|lang=es|
¿Qué es la vida? — Una ilusión,
Una sombra, una ficción,
Y el mayor bien es pequeño;
Que toda la vida es sueño,
Y los sueños sueño son.<ref>{{cite book|title=La vida es sueño|last=Calderón de la Barca|first=Pedro|author-link=Pedro Calderón de la Barca|editor-last=Comfort|editor-first=William Wistar|location=New York|publisher=American Book Company|date=1904|page=104|url=https://archive.org/details/lavidaessueo00comfgoog}}</ref>
|What is life? A thing that seems,
A mirage that falsely gleams,
Phantom joy, delusive rest,
Since is life a dream at best,
And even dreams themselves are dreams.<ref>''Calderon's Dramas'', pp. 78–79. London: Henry S. King & Co., 1873.</ref>
|attr1=[[Pedro Calderón de la Barca|Calderón]]: ''{{lang|es|[[La vida es sueño]]}}''<br />Act II, Scene 19, lines 1197–1201
|attr2=[[Denis Florence Mac-Carthy]]
}}
{{Reflist}}

¿Qué es la vida? — Una ilusión,
Una sombra, una ficción,
Y el mayor bien es pequeño;
Que toda la vida es sueño,
Y los sueños sueño son.[1]

What is life? A thing that seems,
A mirage that falsely gleams,
Phantom joy, delusive rest,
Since is life a dream at best,
And even dreams themselves are dreams.[2]

Calderón: La vida es sueño
Act II, Scene 19, lines 1197–1201
Denis Florence Mac-Carthy
  1. Calderón de la Barca, Pedro (1904). Comfort, William Wistar (ed.). La vida es sueño. New York: American Book Company. p. 104.
  2. Calderon's Dramas, pp. 78–79. London: Henry S. King & Co., 1873.

Notice that the <ref>...</ref> markup is added before the attribution parameters.

Italic override

If |italicsoff= is set to any value, the first column's italics are turned off. This is useful for original texts in non-Latin scripts, for which italics may be neither useful nor appropriate:

Markup Renders as
{{Verse translation|lang=ka|italicsoff=y|
მელნად ვიხმარე გიშრის ტბა და კალმად მე ნა რხეული,
ვინცა ისმინოს, დაესვას ლახვარი გულსა ხეული.
|attr1=[[Shota Rustaveli]]: from ''[[The Knight in the Panther's Skin]]''
|For ink I have used a lake of jet, and for pen a pliant crystal.
Whoever hears, a jagged spear will pierce his heart.}}

მელნად ვიხმარე გიშრის ტბა და კალმად მე ნა რხეული,
ვინცა ისმინოს, დაესვას ლახვარი გულსა ხეული.

For ink I have used a lake of jet, and for pen a pliant crystal.
Whoever hears, a jagged spear will pierce his heart.

Shota Rustaveli: from The Knight in the Panther's Skin

Right-to-left text

If |rtl1= is set to any value, the first column's text is aligned right. This is useful for original texts in right-to-left languages like Arabic, as exemplified below:

Markup Renders as
{{Verse translation|lang=ar|italicsoff=y|rtl1=y|
خل الذنوب صغيرهاو كبيرها ذاك التقى
و اصنع كماش فوق أرض الشوك يحذر ما يرى
لا تحقرن صغيرةً إن الجبال من الحصى
|Abandon sins, big and small – that is Tawqa
And be like the one who walks on a thorny path, he is cautious of what he sees
Do not belittle the small sins; truly mountains are made from pebbles}}

خل الذنوب صغيرهاو كبيرها ذاك التقى
و اصنع كماش فوق أرض الشوك يحذر ما يرى
لا تحقرن صغيرةً إن الجبال من الحصى

Abandon sins, big and small – that is Tawqa
And be like the one who walks on a thorny path, he is cautious of what he sees
Do not belittle the small sins; truly mountains are made from pebbles

Tips

Special characters

As with many other templates, if the characters = or | appear in the verse texts, they will break the template's display. The easiest solution is to replace them with {{=}} or {{!}} respectively.

Language markup

The |lang= parameter covers the first block of text in this template. It is good practice to enclose any other non-English text—such as in |attr1=—in the {{lang}} template, as in the full example above.

Indentation

The indentation provided automatically in this template is approximately equal to <blockquote> and <poem> in the following examples:

Markup Renders as
Text.
<blockquote>Indented text.</blockquote>
More text.

Text.

Quoted text.

More text.

Markup Renders as
Text.
<poem style="margin-left: 3em; font-style:italic">Indented text.</poem>
More text.

Text.

Indented text.

More text.

Prose

Although optimized for verse, the template works equally well for prose. For example:

Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur. Hi omnes lingua, institutis, legibus inter se differunt. Gallos ab Aquitanis Garumna flumen, a Belgis Matrona et Sequana dividit. Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae, propterea quod a cultu atque humanitate provinciae longissime absunt, minimeque ad eos mercatores saepe commeant atque ea quae ad effeminandos animos pertinent important, proximique sunt Germanis, qui trans Rhenum incolunt, quibuscum continenter bellum gerunt. Qua de causa Helvetii quoque reliquos Gallos virtute praecedunt, quod fere cotidianis proeliis cum Germanis contendunt, cum aut suis finibus eos prohibent aut ipsi in eorum finibus bellum gerunt.

All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in our Gauls, the third. All these differ from each other in language, customs and laws. The river Garonne separates the Gauls from the Aquitani; the Marne and the Seine separate them from the Belgae. Of all these, the Belgae are the bravest, because they are furthest from the civilization and refinement of [our] Province, and merchants least frequently resort to them, and import those things which tend to effeminate the mind; and they are the nearest to the Germans, who dwell beyond the Rhine, with whom they are continually waging war; for which reason the Helvetii also surpass the rest of the Gauls in valor, as they contend with the Germans in almost daily battles, when they either repel them from their own territories, or themselves wage war on their frontiers.

Gaius Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 1.1 —translated by W.A. McDevitte and W.S. Bohn

TemplateData

Use this template to provide a side-by-side translation of a text

Template parameters

ParameterDescriptionTypeStatus
Original text1

no description

Auto value
Unknownrequired
Translation2

no description

Unknownoptional
Language code (original text)lang

ISO 639 language code or IETF language tag for the first column of text.

Example
fr
Unknownoptional
Italics (original text)italicsoff

If set to any value, the first column's italics are turned off. This is useful for original texts in non-Latin scripts, for which italics may be neither useful nor appropriate.

Example
y
Unknownoptional
Right-to-left (original text)rtl1

If set to any value, the first column's text is aligned right. This is useful for original texts in right-to-left languages like Arabic.

Example
y
Unknownoptional
Attribution (original text)attr1

Attribution(s) for the original text

Example
Rene Descartes (1644), ''Principles of Philosophy''
Unknownoptional
Attribution (translation)attr2

Attribution(s) for the translation

Example
John Smith (1959)
Unknownoptional

See also