Italics be damned…or not.

ByByron John

Let’s clear the air first. I like foreign languages. I’m bilingual. Spanish is my second language, and I used to teach it. I can get the gist of an article written in Italian, but I can’t speak it. Same with French. I often listen to artists like Marisol or Indochine while at work. So, yes, I like foreign languages. Scratch that, I love them. Not all of them mind you. Some do not interest me at all. Is that horrible? I don’t think so. What is it that people say? I’m keeping it real.

That’s what italics do for us. Keep things real. They emphasize something. When it comes to foreign languages, that emphasis is on the other. Something different. Something from someplace else. I know. So xenophobic, right?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Let’s take a look at this through a different lens. Emphasizing something different is not always fearful or hateful. That should not be the default perception. It can be a celebration. It can be natural. When it comes to style or fashion, we appreciate contrast. Opposites attract. For the sake of producing offspring, most men are attracted to women. A father feels a unique tenderness for his daughter. A mother for her son. Everywhere we appreciate the different.

The other.

Let’s take a look at the other side shall we? Thu-Huong Ha writes in Quartz that there are authors who prefer not to italicize foreign-language words. Ha explains “the practice reinforces a monolinguistic culture of othering”. I’ve already explained how I do not believe this is such a bogeyman, but stay with me here. As much as I don’t see things their way, I don’t think their approach should be dismissed out of hand. Watch Daniel José Older’s video. He has a point. And it’s funny. It’s not a natural way to speak.

But we’re not speaking. We’re reading. I know what you’re thinking. Hold on Mr. John, what about dialogue? Yes, I have the character’s imagined voice speaking in my head when I read dialogue. In Dead May Dare, I follow Older’s example when my villain says, “La crise has made the world nervous, none more so than your Zionist friends in Jerusalem.” This is what prompted my interest in this topic. I thought of placing the French term in italics, but I chose to leave it alone. I didn’t think his voice would take on a French accent for only a word or two.

I do the opposite earlier in the novel. Consider the following exchange:

She finally looked up at him. “I see little has changed. You speak at length but without purpose.”

“Au contraire. Our default in this instance should be to choose The Inquisitor.”

I italicized the phrase because the character exaggerates a French accent as part of his response.

In other parts of the novel, I place certain words in italics even in dialogue if they’re from a foreign language that we don’t hear a lot. This applies to Russian. I follow the practice of italicizing the word only when it first appears but not in the rest of the text.

I’m curious as to what you prefer. Do italics bother you? Do you prefer foreign language words to be italicized even in dialogue? I’ll hang up and listen.

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35 Comments

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  35. I don’t think the title of your article matches the content lol. Just kidding, mainly because I had some doubts after reading the article.

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