Hi,
I'm looking for advice on how to export a document that includes both LTR and RTL languages (in my case, English and Hebrew) from Mellel to MS Word. I have looked through the forum and seen several threads on this, but I haven't yet found a solution that works. I should note that I am a Mac user and the publisher I am working with (who requires the document in MS Word) is a PC user; I know there are differences between MS Word for Mac and PC, which may be part of the issue.
Here's what I have tried so far: If I export the document to Word from Mellel on my computer, the Hebrew becomes jumbled (all the characters display backwards so that ברא becomes ארב, line breaks are messed up etc.) If I export it as an RTF file and tell the PC user to open the document in Word, the Hebrew displays correctly but the formatting on the footnotes gets messed up.
Any advice would be much appreciated!
[PS: I've seen something on the forum about inserting unicode markers, but I am not computer literate enough to know what that means. If this is the best way to go, could some instruct me on how to do this on a Mac?]
Problems Exporting RTL languages to Word
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rpcameron
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Re: Problems Exporting RTL languages to Word
Does the publisher offer any other options than Word? Just because one person says that, it does not necessarily mean that it truly is your only option.
I am currently working on an interlinearly glossed text with mixed RTL and LTR. After finding that expex (a great glossing package for TeX) doesn't handle RTL as well as I would like, I've moved to an XML-based workflow. Most publishers are able to integrate well-formed XML into their publishing workflows, so this would be a viable option for most individuals. (Of course, your styling, such as fonts, et al., is all handled separately, but once the copy is set, there ought not be many problems.) if you can get by with XML and a separate style, then plain text should be enough to get the copy hammered into a final state.
I am currently working on an interlinearly glossed text with mixed RTL and LTR. After finding that expex (a great glossing package for TeX) doesn't handle RTL as well as I would like, I've moved to an XML-based workflow. Most publishers are able to integrate well-formed XML into their publishing workflows, so this would be a viable option for most individuals. (Of course, your styling, such as fonts, et al., is all handled separately, but once the copy is set, there ought not be many problems.) if you can get by with XML and a separate style, then plain text should be enough to get the copy hammered into a final state.
— Robert Cameron
Re: Problems Exporting RTL languages to Word
Thanks for those suggestions! I'll ask the publisher about using XML instead, or other alternatives.
It does seem, however, that MS Word is the preferred format for most of my colleagues and publishers, so if there's a way to successfully export documents using RTL languages to Word, I'd love to find it.
It does seem, however, that MS Word is the preferred format for most of my colleagues and publishers, so if there's a way to successfully export documents using RTL languages to Word, I'd love to find it.
