FOREIGN TERMS

Foreign words and phrases that have not yet become anglicized (not found in Webster's) are italicized on first appearance in text and legends. Use roman type on subsequent appearance: 

Called cirit, the game was played. . . .
In cirit the object is. . . . 

If the second use, however, is different in number or gender and not readily recognizable, it too may be italicized: e.g., misíon, misiones. Retain diacritical marks if original is in the Latin alphabet. 

Personal names, place-names, peoples and tribes, institutions and organizations, holy days, festivals, and titles of persons are in roman, initial caps, and retain diacritical marks if original is in the Latin alphabet.

Foreign terms that have become anglicized are in roman, lowercase, though italics may sometimes be used for unfamiliar words or to give flavor. In general follow Webster's.

Do not italicize foreign titles of works of art, short stories, poems, etc., that appear within quotation marks.

1. Type Styles

Capitalization in foreign languages may differ from English style. Use your judgment in determining whether to follow the rules of the foreign language or to make a foreign term conform to English rules. For instance, common nouns in German are capitalized, and for flavor may maintain the caps; however, if a German word is used often in a text, you may not want to capitalize it:

            Denning calls his plaques stolpersteine, or stumbling stones.

            People have requested stolpersteine for friends.

Conversely, in Spanish the term for a resident of a geographic place is lowercase, but to make its meaning clear to the reader of an English text, it may be capitalized:

            The Viequenses protested the military use of their island.

Note that if the term is lowercased, then it should also be italicized:

            viequenses, puertorriqueña.

2. Translation of Common Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Expressions, Phrases

a. Simple apposition: When the foreign term and the translation are juxtaposed, with the use of commas, the word "or," dashes, parentheses, or brackets, do not use quotation marks around the translation, which is in roman: the table was zaniat—reserved; a snatch of juoigos, or folk songs, made popular by. . . ; the Megali Idea,the Great Idea.

b. Translation made explicit: With phrases such as which means, translated as, or literally, the translation is in quotation marks and in roman: known as raunwara—pidgin English for "round water." The Gimi phrase is kotu onek, meaning "river eddy."

c. Quoted speech: A foreign term in quoted speech may be handled several ways, depending on the particular circumstance:

            He motioned me back: "Mayinlar! Mines!"

            We said, "Pozhaluista, sadites—Please, sit down."

            "Allah akbar—God is most great."

            "We call it kaynana-dili," he volunteered, "tongue of mother-in-law."

            "Harru, harru," he called out. "Go left, go left." "Atsuk, atsuk. Go right, go right."

In Spanish, note introductory question mark and exclamation point:

            "¿Cuánto vale?—How much is it worth?"

             "¡Bueno!—Good!"

3. Translations of Proper Nouns

The translation, like the original, is roman.

a. Place-names: If a translation is itself used as the place-name in subsequent references, use initial caps and no quotation marks. Otherwise, lowercase and place the translation within quotation marks.

            The Rio Chico (Little River) lay before us.

                        We traveled up the Little River.

             Paddan Aram, or "field of Aram," bustled. . . .

             Mahn-a-wau-kie, meaning "gathering place by the rivers."

             Halab Shahba—"to milk the white cow"—was nearby.

             Cloaca Maxima ("great drain")

b. Personal names: The translation of the name of a person or organization generally preserves the aura of a name. It is then capped and not quoted.

            Müller translates into English as Miller.

            Their names meant Snow, Soul, Rose, and Forest.

            Hsu Yuen-yue—Miss Cloudy Jade Hsu.

            but: Her name was Aziza, which means "dear."

c. Scientific names: Put the translation of a scientific name within quotation marks: Carcharodontosaurus, or "sharp-toothed reptile"; Oviraptor, Latin for "egg stealer"; Maiasaura, or "good mother lizard."

4. Mottoes and Slogans

Enclose within quotation marks. The foreign phrase is italic; translation is roman. Capitalize the translation as appropriate; long slogans need not carry all initial caps:

            "Semper Fidelis—Always Faithful."

             They shouted, "Harambee!" meaning "Let us pull together!"

             "Long live the great, glorious, and absolutely correct Communist Party" reads

                        a red billboard on Chang'an Avenue.

             Under Marx's slogan, "Feja është opium per popullin—Religion is

                        the opium of the people," the director . . . .

5. Explanations

attush, a cloth made from the inner bark of the elm

the small Baltic herring called silakka

Turkokratia, the nearly four-centuries-long rule of the Ottoman Turks

6. Translations of titles of books, newspapers, and ships remain in the same typeface as the original reference:

La Divina Commedia—The Divine Comedy

Hawlati (The Citizen), Kurdistan's largest circulation newspaper

Zëri i Popullit—Voice of the People—the party newspaper

Nuestra Señora de los Milagros—Our Lady of Miracles—sank.

7. Plurals of Foreign Words

Words from languages written in a Latin alphabet follow their native plurals: Frau, Frauen; l'eau, les eaux; portal, portales; oeil, yeux. For anglicized words, follow the spelling in Webster's: château, châteaus.

To form the plural of a transliterated foreign word, follow Webster's. Otherwise add roman s to the italic word: kibbutz, kibbutzim, nyet, nyets. A word and its translation should agree in number: maama, mother; bamaam, mothers.

8. Pronunciation

Indicate pronunciation of a foreign term within parentheses, roman, no quotes. Use small caps to show stress: young Rhys (Reece); inau (pronounced EE-now); Ceske Budejovice (CHEH-skeh BOOD-yeh-yo-VEE-tseh).

9. Foreign Phrases as Adjectives

Foreign terms used as adjectives are not hyphenated, even when roman and preceding a noun unless hyphenated in Webster's: a dolce far niente vacation, ex post facto laws, per capita income, status quo regime, but laissez-faire policy.

10. Diacritical Marks    

a. Languages with Latin alphabets: Retain the original diacritical marks (accents, apostrophes, dots, cedillas, glottals, etc.) in unanglicized words in the following languages: Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hawaiian, Hungarian, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. Exception: Vietnamese. Some anglicized terms from these languages also retain their accents (follow Webster's).

Modern style is to retain accents on French capital letters, especially in French place-names, as in Île de la Cité. The word à does not carry an accent when capitalized.

In Spanish retain accents on capital letters.

Use accents on American Indian and other indigenous languages written in the Latin alphabet.

b. Languages with non-Latin alphabets: Do not use diacritical marks in text or on page maps even if they appear on supplement maps or in the National Geographic Atlas of the World. Non-Latin scripts do not equate letter for letter with English; different authorities use different systems of transliteration. It is best to consult an authority. The preference of the individual should control the anglicizing of a personal name. The following languages are among those that do not have Latin alphabets: Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian.

See ACCENT MARKS and DIACRITICAL MARKS.

See also    ARABIC LANGUAGE, TRANSLITERATION OF, CHINESE NAMES AND TERMS, RUSSIAN LANGUAGE, TRANSLITERATION OF.