Publishing
How to Make a Bilingual Question Paper in Hindi and English
A teacher's guide to making a bilingual question paper in Hindi and English: layout, fonts, maths equations, marks and exporting a print-ready PDF.
By Cloord Team · · 2 min read
In short
A bilingual question paper needs a tool that handles Hindi (Devanagari) and English on the same page, a consistent pattern for every question, a visual equation editor for maths and science, and print-ready PDF export so the Hindi text prints exactly as you designed it.
Many boards and schools in India set papers in both Hindi and English. Teachers often type the English paper in one document and the Hindi version in another, then spend hours aligning them. The result is still prone to mismatched numbering and broken fonts at the printer.
Here is a cleaner way to do it.
Choose a layout pattern before you type
Decide how each question will appear, and use the same pattern throughout the paper. The two common patterns are:
| Pattern | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| English line, Hindi line below | Most subjects; easy to read | Papers get longer, so plan page breaks |
| English and Hindi side by side | Language papers and short questions | Needs a two-column layout with equal widths |
Whichever you choose, keep question numbers and marks aligned to the English line so students and examiners can scan the paper quickly.
Use a tool that supports both scripts natively
Hindi text breaks most often when it is copied between tools or when a font is missing on the printer's computer. To avoid this:
- type or paste Hindi directly into a tool that supports Devanagari,
- set the book's language so the right fonts are used throughout,
- and always export a PDF instead of sending an editable document to the printer.
Add equations without retyping
Maths and science papers in both languages share the same equations. A visual equation editor lets you insert fractions, powers, roots, summations and integrals from templates, so the equation is built once and appears identically in both versions. Avoid pasting equations as images: they blur when printed.
Structure sections and marks
A typical paper has sections (A, B, C), each with a type of question and marks per question. Use reusable question blocks for MCQs, fill-in-the-blanks and matching questions so every section looks the same. Put total marks and time in the header on every page using a master page.
Export a print-ready PDF
When the paper is ready, preview every page and export a print-ready PDF. A vector PDF keeps text selectable and sharp. An exact-appearance export matches the editor pixel for pixel, which is useful when you are unsure which fonts the printer has.
Making bilingual papers in Cloord Publisher
Cloord Publisher is a browser-based studio for question papers, workbooks and textbooks. It supports English, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada and more, lets you mix scripts on the same page, and includes a visual equation editor, activity and question blocks, master pages and print-ready PDF export. Colleagues can be invited as editors or viewers to review the paper before it goes to print.
For a full walkthrough of building a paper section by section, read Publisher's guide: How to Make a Question Paper Online.