To italicize or not to italicize...

[Penelope Burt]

Shashlik, kulak, and kvass are also listed in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, which is fairly comprehensive and commonly used—and not as large as the Oxford American. If the word is listed in the (American) English dictionary of your choice, don't italicize it (especially if the word is used more than once or twice, italics can get pretty irritating).

Penny Burt (a freelance editor)

On Sep 13, 2014, at 1:45 AM, Andrea Gregovich wrote:

> 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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