Dear Geist,
Why do English-language style guides tell us to italicize words in other languages when they appear in English running text? Ours is a fast-moving, cosmopolitan world, with thousands of “English” words and terms borrowed from languages around the globe, and vice versa. Wouldn't it be easier to read, and less suggestive of a hierarchy in languages, if we treated all text the same?
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Dear Rose,
For “non-English” terms whose meanings are clear—in running text or anywhere else—we agree with you, and so do a growing number of writers, editors, translators and lexicographers. (Words or phrases that aren't clear from context should of course be explained, as per current practice.) The usage preference has long been to italicize “foreign” words in English text, to signal their foreignness. When a word or phrase became so embedded in written and spoken English that it was second nature, it shed its italic cloak and stood up straight with all the other English words, sometimes taking its accent or hyphen with it. We admire lexicographers who have the skill to judge mass familiarity of particular words, but our hunch is that for non-English text whose meaning can be inferred, the language-loving dictionary people would be glad to leave it alone and rejoice in the free flow of expressions—and therefore cultures—around the world. Visit Quartzy for a
on this subject.
—The Editors