But here’s an idea: Let’s say you’re writing a novel in which the characters shimmy easily between English and, say, Spanish. Consider not setting the Spanish (or what-have-you) in italics. Use of italics emphasizes foreignness. If you mean to suggest easy fluency, use of roman normalizes your text. (I figured this one out a number of years ago, working on a memoir whose generally English-speaking Filipino American characters’ speech was punctuated with bits of Tagalog, and I’ve suggested the technique to many writers since. Writers seem to find it ingenious, and—bonus—it cuts down on italics,
...more
