Plurals of Non-English Words in an English-Language Context
This post describes how to form plurals of non-English terms in English. Read More
Posts related to foreign language
When altering a quotation in a language other than English, should the alteration be in the language of the quotation?
Yes: use the language of the quotation, rather than the language of the surrounding prose, to make necessary alterations to quoted material. The following example… Read More
How do I cite a dictionary entry in a non-Latin alphabet?
Style the headword in your works-cited-list entry as you would style a headword in the Latin alphabet: enclose the term, and an italic abbreviation indicating… Read More
If I use a dictionary to translate a source, do I need to cite the dictionary?
If you use a dictionary to help you translate a source, you do not need to cite the dictionary. Simply indicate that the translation is… Read More
If an author’s name appears in a foreign script, such as Cyrillic, how should the name appear in the works-cited-list entry?
Use either the transliterated or the familiar form of the name in prose, in-text citations, and works-cited-list entries. If an author is likely to be… Read More
Accent Marks in Microsoft Word
There are two basic ways of generating accent marks for text in foreign languages Read More
How do I quote English-language sources in a foreign-language paper?
To quote an English-language source in a foreign-language paper, follow the guidelines in section 1.3.8 of the MLA Handbook on translating quotations (90–91). Let’s say you… Read More
Should et al. be italicized in MLA style?
Only italicize et al., meaning “and others,” if it is referred to as a term, as the examples in this sentence and the question above show. In… Read More
I am writing a paper in English. I have used the French edition of a book originally published in Dutch. Do I need to include both the French and Dutch editions in my works-cited list?
List only the version you are using—in this case, the French edition. You do not need to indicate in your entry the language in which… Read More
Should I italicize titles not written in the Latin alphabet?
No. Note that there are many languages in the world that do not have an italic font—Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Armenian, for example. Arabic sometimes uses a… Read More