To italicize or not to italicize...

[Andrea Gregovich]

Hello folks!

How do you know if a word is established enough to not be italicized if you
are transliterating it rather than translating it? This is for a
translation of a perestroika era novel from a young boy's point of view.
I'm not italicizing rubles, kopecks, and perestroika, and I'm definitely
italicizing *gopniki*. But what about words like shashlik, kulak, and
kvass? They are all three in my Oxford American dictionary, but it's a huge
tome with all sorts of extras in it. How do I decide on words like this?

What I really need here is a rule of thumb as to how to be consistent about
this. There are too many complexities to make it an all or nothing thing.

Thank you!
Andrea Gregovich

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