PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Translated book

How to Cite a Translated Book in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for a translated book starts with the author's last name and first name, then the title of the translation in italics and title case. After the title come the words Translated by and the translator's name in normal order, then the publisher and the year of the edition you read. You may add the year the book first came out, right after the title. The in-text citation is the author's last name and the page, with no comma: (Frankl 66).

The format

Last Name, First Name. Title of the Book. Original Year. Translated by First Name Last Name, Publisher, Year.

PERRLA MLA Experts · Updated October 27, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

In PERRLA, choose Book, then Book, e-book, or audiobook, then the kind Foreign language or translated book. PERRLA adds a translator to the contributors for you. Fill in the author, the translator, the title, the publisher, and the year of your copy in Publication Year.

Read it in English? Type the English title, as your copy prints it, in Original Book Title, and leave Translated Book Title empty. If you want the year the book first came out, type it in Original Publication Year; PERRLA puts it right after the title. Leave it blank to skip it. PERRLA writes Translated by before the translator's name, adds the italics and the title case, and keeps your in-text citation to the author's name and the page.

Read it in its original language? Type the title as printed in Original Book Title and its English title in Translated Book Title, and leave the translator and Original Publication Year blank. PERRLA puts the English title in square brackets after the original.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Author

The person who wrote the book goes first, not the translator: last name, a comma, and the first name as the title page prints it, with any middle initial. End with a period.

Frankl, Viktor E.

Two authors: invert only the first name, then write and and the second author's name in normal order. Three or more: the first author, a comma, and et al.

2. Title

Give the title of the version you read, in italics, followed by a period. Read an English translation? The title is the English one, in title case.

Man's Search for Meaning.

3. Original publication date (optional)

MLA lets you add the year the book first came out, right after the title, followed by a period. It tells your reader the work is older than your copy. Use the year it appeared in its original language, not the year of the first English translation.

1963.

Foucault's book came out in French in 1963 and in English in 1973, so the original year is 1963. If you can't find the year, or it doesn't matter to your paper, leave it out. The entry is complete without it.

4. Translator

Write Translated by, then the translator's name in normal order, first name first, followed by a comma. Translated by starts with a capital letter because it follows the period after the title. MLA 9 spells it out: no trans.

Translated by Ilse Lasch,

Two translators are joined with and: Translated by Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier,. Three or more: the first translator and et al. If the book also has an editor, list both in the order the title page gives them, separated by a comma.

5. Publisher

Give the publisher of the translation you read, with no city. Leave off business words like Inc. or Company, and shorten University Press to UP.

Beacon Press,

6. Year

End with the year of the edition you read, from its copyright page, and a period.

2006.

7. A book in another language

If you read the book in its original language, there's no translator. Write the title as printed, capitalized the way that language capitalizes titles. For French, Spanish, Italian, and most other languages, that means only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns. Then add the English title in square brackets, so your reader knows what the book is.

Naissance de la clinique: Une archéologie du regard médical [The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception].

If the book has a published English translation, use that translation's title in the brackets, in italics. If it has none, translate the title yourself. The publisher follows the same shortening rule as English ones: MLA writes Presses universitaires de France as PU de France.

Examples

A book translated into English

Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, first published in German in 1946. The Beacon Press edition credits Ilse Lasch with the translation of Part One, so she goes after Translated by.

  • In-text citation(Frankl 66)
  • Narrative citationAs Frankl writes, … (66).

When the first English translation came later

Michel Foucault's The Birth of the Clinic. It was published in French in 1963, translated by A. M. Sheridan Smith for Pantheon in 1973, and reissued by Vintage Books in 1994. The year at the end is the Vintage year, and the original year is the French one. A quote from the book's preface takes the page number as printed, in roman numerals.

  • In-text citation(Foucault xii)
  • Narrative citationFoucault argues that … (xii).

A book you read in its original language

The same Foucault book in the original 1963 French edition from Presses universitaires de France. There's no translator and only one year, and the English title goes in square brackets after the French one.

  • In-text citation(Foucault 12)
  • Narrative citationFoucault describes … (12).

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation for a translated book is the author's last name and the page of the translation you read, with no comma between them. The translator and the dates stay out of it.

  • Parenthetical: (Frankl 66)
  • Name in your sentence: give the page alone at the end: Frankl argues that meaning can be found even in suffering (66).
  • Front matter: use the page number as printed, roman numerals included: (Foucault xii)
  • Your own translation: if you quote a book in another language and translate the passage yourself, add my trans. after the page: (Foucault 12; my trans.)

When your paper is about the translation itself, like the translator's choices or notes, the entry can start with the translator instead: Lasch, Ilse, translator. Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl, Beacon Press, 2006. Then the in-text citation uses the translator's name: (Lasch 66).

Common mistakes

  • Lasch, Ilse, translator. Man's Search for Meaning.Frankl, Viktor E. Man's Search for Meaning. 1946. Translated by Ilse Lasch,The author keeps the author spot. The translator goes first only when your paper is about the translation.
  • Translated by Lasch, Ilse,Translated by Ilse Lasch,Only the first name in the entry is inverted. A translator's name is written first name first.
  • Trans. Ilse Lasch.Translated by Ilse Lasch,MLA 9 spells out Translated by. A comma follows the name, because the publisher comes next in the same part of the entry.
  • (Frankl, 1946/2006)(Frankl 66)That's APA. MLA in-text citations give the name and the page, never the years.
  • The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception. 1973.The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception. 1963.The original year is when the book first appeared in its original language, not when the first English translation came out.
  • Naissance de La Clinique: Une Archéologie Du Regard MédicalNaissance de la clinique: Une archéologie du regard médicalMLA capitalizes English titles headline-style, but titles in other languages sentence-style: the first word, the first word after the colon, and proper nouns.

Quick checklist

  • The author, not the translator, first
  • The title of the version you read, in italics
  • Optional: the original-language year after the title
  • Translated by and the translator's name, first name first
  • The publisher and year of your copy
  • A book in another language: its own capitalization, English title in square brackets
  • In the text: the author and the page: (Frankl 66)

Questions students ask

Where does the translator go in an MLA 9 citation?

After the title, as Translated by and the translator's name in normal order: Translated by Ilse Lasch,. MLA treats the translator as another contributor, so the name never replaces the author's and never appears in the in-text citation.

Do I need the original publication date for a translated book in MLA?

No, it's optional. If it helps your reader to know the book is older than your copy, put the original-language year right after the title, followed by a period. If you skip it, the entry ends the same way, with your edition's publisher and year.

When does the translator go first in MLA?

When your paper focuses on the translation itself, such as the translator's word choices or notes. Start with the translator's name, inverted, and the word translator, then the title, by and the author's name, the publisher, and the year. Your in-text citations then use the translator's last name.

How do I cite a book I read in another language in MLA?

Cite the edition you read, with its title as printed and capitalized the way that language does it. Add the English title in square brackets right after it, then the publisher and year. There's no translator, because nobody translated your copy.

How do I show that I translated a quote myself?

Put your translation in your sentence and add my trans. to the parenthetical citation, after the page and a semicolon: (Foucault 12; my trans.). MLA lets you skip it for a word or short phrase that's easy to translate.

What if the author translated the book themselves?

If the book says the author translated it, repeat the author's last name after Translated by: Samuel Beckett's own English version of Waiting for Godot reads Translated by Beckett,. If the book doesn't present itself as a translation, leave the translator out.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (the core elements and supplemental elements, including section 5.108 on original publication dates) and chapter 6 (in-text citations, including section 6.75 on my trans.), and the MLA Style Center's posts on supplemental elements (translators must be named), capitalized labels before contributors, a translator who is also the author, translator-led entries, reprinted books, capitalization of titles in other languages, and when to use my trans. Example sources are the ones verified for the APA 7 page: Library of Congress catalog data via Open Library for the 2006 Beacon Press Frankl (Viktor E. Frankl; part one translated by Ilse Lasch), the 1994 Vintage Books Foucault (translated by A. M. Sheridan Smith; first published by Pantheon, 1973), and the 1963 Presses universitaires de France original; the Beauvoir translators in the Translator part come from the Library of Congress record for the 2010 Knopf edition (LCCN 2009023164).

PERRLA places the translator after the title, adds the original year if you have it, and keeps your in-text citation to the name and the page.

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