Foreign Language Citation

[bigdgp]

Hey guys, so I am writing a term paper right now on Bede's metrical Life of Saint Cuthbert, which has never been translated into English. Thus, I have to include my own translations in the paper, and I am having trouble figuring out how to do this correctly according the the MLA guidelines. I am definitely using MLA, so please don't respond by telling me how great APA is and how I should use that instead. I'm just wondering if anybody knows offhand how to do this. Do I put the Latin in quotation marks and then put the English translation in brackets? Do I put the Latin in italics and then the English in quotation marks? Please help! Thank you!

[Medievalmaniac]

MLA Handbook, seventh edition, 3.7.8 (pg. 104):

If you believe that a significant portion of your audience will not be familiar with the language of a quotation you present, you should add a translation. If the translation is not yours, give its source in addition to the source of the quotation. In general, the translation should immediately follow the quotation whether they are run into or set off from the text, although their order may be reversed if most readers will not likely be able to read the original. If the quotation is run into the text, use double quotation marks around a translation placed in parentheses following the quotation but single quotation marks around a translation that immediately follows without intervening punctuation.

Generally, in having done a lot of research in the area of medieval studies in which Latin texts figure prominently, I see more often the translation and then the Latin original in articles dealing with such, FWIW.

Good luck with your paper.