A bilingual edition invites the eye to travel across the opening, matching a line on one page with a line on the other. That visual convenience can become misleading when translation changes sentence length or rearranges information.
Begin with a clearly identified passage, using its section marker rather than the height of the line on the page. Find the start and end of the corresponding unit in both languages before comparing individual words.
For an invented example, one language may express a relationship in a short compound, while the translation uses a phrase. The extra words occupy more space without necessarily adding a new claim. Elsewhere, a translator may divide a long sentence into two for readability.
Make a temporary alignment using complete clauses. Mark uncertainty where you cannot establish the correspondence. It is better to leave one connection open than to assign each printed line a false partner.
Consult the translator’s explanation of the edition where available. It may describe whether the presentation aims at close verbal correspondence, readability or another purpose. Keep that stated method separate from your judgment of a particular sentence.
This approach helps when discussing a historical concept that appears to disappear in translation. The relevant meaning may occur earlier or later in the translated passage. Comparing complete units first gives the word-level question a fairer starting point and prevents page design from becoming an unintended theory of translation.
The accompanying visual is an editorial illustration.