Bibliography Styles Handbook     

MLA Format: Translated works in a bibliography entry

When a work has been translated, typical bibliography entries will appear as follows:

Bourdieu, Pierre. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Trans. Richard Nice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.

Deleuze, Giles. Foucault. Trans. and Ed. Sean Hand. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1986.

Macaroni, Elbow. Firm Pasta Tips. Trans. A.P. Spaghetti. Ed. Basil Pesto. Milan: Al Dente Press, 1934.


In general, if you reference an author's work directly, the author's name should appear first in the entry. "Trans.", followed by the translator's name, should appear after the title of the work (and should be listed as it appears on the title page). If the translator also edited the work, both "Trans. and Ed." should precede his or her name. If a person other than the translator edited the work, the title of the text should be followed by: "Trans." with the translator's name, a period, and then "Ed." with the editor's name and a period. The rest of the entry continues after two spaces.

If you mainly reference the specific comments and work of the translator, then the translator's name (reversed) should appear first, followed by a comma, "trans.", and a period. The author's name (in normal order), preceded by "By", should appear after the text's title. In this case, a typical entry will appear as follows:

Nice, Richard, trans. Outline of a Theory of Practice. By Pierre Bourdieu. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.