See also Foreign Words
When defining foreign words and terms, the translation should not be in italics; do not translate articles (preceding proper nouns) into English. The English translation should follow English conventions for capitalisation. Translations can be given either within brackets or within quotation marks. If brackets are used, quotation marks will be necessary only if the translation is accompanied by other explanatory words.
The mercado (market) is a great place to pick up a souvenir.
Maa noi actually means ‘little dog’ but don’t let that put you off; it’s a tasty vegetarian dish.
Franschhoek (literally ‘French Corner’) is a must-see for architecture buffs.
Translations should not be expressed in the form ‘You can get nasi goreng, or fried rice, from the abundant street stalls’ (this could be taken to mean there are two dishes, not two names for the one dish). Instead use ‘You can get nasi goreng (fried rice) from the…’
Full punctuation is used with English and other languages, but no capitalisation or punctuation other than exclamation points and question marks is used with transliterations (ie renderings in the Roman alphabet of languages written in script or using a different alphabet), as the transliteration is for pronunciation only. The exception is Pinyin – start Pinyin phrases with a capital and end them with a punctuation mark.
put’ ak hamnida (Korean)
reua jà àwk kìi mohng? (What time does the boat leave?) (Thai)