Think about the last time you read a book and a non-English word was set in italics. How did that change your reading experience? Was the italicization helpful or distracting?
English is a mish-mosh language salad.
It’s not news to us that the English language is made up of a jumble of other languages. Open up your handy copy of Beowulf (what do you mean, you don’t have Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf with you at all times?) and compare the Old English to the modern text.
(For those of you who don’t have Beowulf handy, here’s the first page.)
Can you read any of it? Unlikely. The only words I can pick out are “God,” “Beowulf,” and I guess “faeder,” which later became “father.”
So what happened in the last millennium that changed English so radically?
Well, mostly, the French. The Norman Conquest got conquesty, and the French brought their latinate language with them. English got a big helping of French added into it and the language changed dramatically.
By the time we get to the Canterbury Tales in the late 14th century, we’ve hit Middle English, which, although still weird to our modern eyes, is actually legible. My Medieval Literature prof (cheers, Dr. Cawsey!) advised us to have a glass of wine and then read Chaucer like we were trying to read a five year old’s writing. If you can read your five-year-old niece’s writing, you can read Chaucer.
Now, I’m not a linguist, but if you want to learn more about the varied origins of the English language, it’s fascinating. Check out, for a start, Britannica’s overview of the English language, Merriam-Webster’s explanation of the origins of English, or Oxford International English Schools’ brief history of the English language.
English is full of words from other languages.
Because, as we’ve now established, English is a hodge-podge language full of words from other languages, we don’t even notice when we use words that originated in other languages. Dictionary.com suggests that up to 80% of English words were borrowed from other languages. For example, we send our children to kindergarten, take in fine art at the opera, sing karaoke, and on and on. Some of these words we recognize as being non-English, but many we don’t. Did you know that “bandana,” “pyjamas,” and “shampoo” are words that come from Hindi? I didn’t until I wrote this.
I’m Jewish, and I love pointing out Yiddish words that have become part of English. We schlep to the car and kvetch about the groceries and about the schmutz on the windshield. Maybe those are newer words to you, but how about “klutz” or “ditz” or “shpiel” or—wait for it—“bagel”? (Imagine your life with no bagels. You’re welcome, everyone.)
How do we deal with non-English words in writing?
For a long time, the general rule was to italicize all non-English words that were not commonly known in English. In V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic trilogy, the word “antari” is italicized every single time it appears, which is often, since the main character is one. As a reader, I find this distracting. After the first use of the word, I know what it is, so the repeated italics are an annoyance rather than an aid.
As I’ve learned from the internet, the word “antari” comes from Sanskrit, and means “to go between,” which works perfectly in Schwab’s book. It’s not a word that many English-speakers would recognize, though, so Schwab and her editor made the right choice according to standards at the time.
Given the multilingual nature of English, however, it’s difficult to decide where the line falls between “foreign” and “recognizable.” In The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon doesn’t italicize any of the Yiddish words, even if they’re not words you’d find in English. Chabon doesn’t care that the words are not common in English; in the society he has imagined, Yiddish is the standard and everyone knows what a “schlemiel” is.
Italicizing non-English words “others” them unnecessarily.
In today’s literary world, there’s a long-overdue push to celebrate and bring forward authors who aren’t just white, anglo, and North American or European. Encouraging diverse authors to write their stories also means encouraging them to include cultural words that are not common in English.
In Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, Korean and Japanese words are italicized throughout the book. Why does “Appa” need to be singled out as “foreign” when “Papa” would never be? Why is “sushi” left in roman while “taiyaki” is in italics?
Strict italicization of non-English words creates barriers in language where none should exist. For a diverse and inclusive book industry, ditch the italics. We don’t need them.
Should you ever italicize non-English words?
My approach, as an editor, is to italicize words if they are being explained or discussed as vocabulary.
In a recent essay, one of my clients recalled “learning the names of pizza toppings en français—fromage, l’ananas, champignons.” In this case, the italicized words are all being treated as vocabulary, not simply used in a sentence. If Mel had gone on to say “I personally love fromage on my pizza,” I’d style it without italics.
If defining a word is critical for your readers’ understanding, I suggest italicizing the word the first time you use it, followed by a definition, and then leaving the word styled in roman (without italics) for any following appearances.
(Note: For academic writing, you should re-define important non-English words the first time they appear in each chapter, as readers are likely to read chapters out of order. This is also true for acronyms, initialisms, industry-specific terminology, and so on.)
Do you need help styling non-English words in your text?
If your writing has non-English words, whether from a real language or a fantasy one, a careful editor can help you find the best way to make your writing clear. If you’re working with a real language, consider finding an editor with cultural familiarity or fluency in that language. For most languages, that’s probably not me. Use organizations like Editors Canada or the Editors Freelance Association, or post on the EAE Ad Space on Facebook, to find an editor with the expertise you need.
If your writing has Yiddish or fantasy words (weird combination, I know), look no further! Rookwood Editing is here to help. Get in touch today!
Molly Rookwood is an editor, reader, tea drinker, and cat mum in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She loves Jane Austen and epic fantasy, and her bookshelves are forever overburdened. When she’s not playing D&D or taking turns about the room, she can be reached at [email protected] or by following @RookwoodEditing on Twitter.
Pingback: "Oytmeal Middaht Milk": Accents and Dialects in Writing – Rookwood Editing