How to Translate Substack From Chinese to English (Step-by-Step)

Substack newsletters are easy to subscribe to but hard to read when they are in a language you are still learning. You like a writer, the ideas are worth your time, and then the usual choice appears: copy the text into a translator and lose the layout, or read slower than you would like.

This guide shows a third option — translate the newsletter in place with bilingual translation. The Chinese stays and the English meaning appears right beside it, so you can skim a point quickly and then check the original for any word, name, or phrase you are unsure about.

Demo note: the screenshots below are built in a real Substack article layout to show exactly how BothLang displays a bilingual newsletter — the original paragraph on top and the translated text directly beneath, with a hand-drawn arrow pointing at the translation.

What you need

• BothLang installed in Chrome, Edge, or Firefox — see the download page.
• The extension pinned to your toolbar.
• A Chinese Substack newsletter open in a tab.

Step 1 — Open the newsletter

Open the Chinese Substack post you want to read.

Step 2 — Set English as your target

Click the BothLang icon. Set Translate into to English (en) and Page display to Bilingual.

Step 3 — Translate the page

Click Translate Now. BothLang places an English translation directly beneath each Chinese paragraph, leaving the Chinese intact. A hand-drawn arrow marks the first translated paragraph.

Step 4 — Switch reading modes

• Bilingual — source and translation together, ideal for learning.
• Translation only — fastest when you just need meaning.
• Original only — back to clean Chinese.

Step 5 — Hover one paragraph

Hold your shortcut (Shift, Alt, or Ctrl) and point at a paragraph. Only that passage is translated.

The short version

1. Install and pin BothLang.
2. Open a Chinese Substack newsletter.
3. Set Translate into: English, Page display: Bilingual.
4. Click Translate Now.
5. Read the English with the Chinese original underneath.

Try it on your next Chinese Substack newsletter.