Q. I am writing a paper on Chinese literature in English. I am having a lot of trouble in citing Chinese sources. Since I am familiar with both Chinese and English, I prefer to present pinyin as well as English translations. However, I am confused whether to use ( ) or [ ] and I am confused on the general rules.
A. If you are citing a Chinese book in a list of references and wish to add your own English translation of the title, put the English in square brackets [ ] immediately after the Pinyin title. (Chicago style uses sentence caps and roman type for the translation of the title.) If you are citing both a Chinese book and a published English translation of the book, cite the one you are quoting from first, then note the other one. Use a phrase like “Translated as . . .” or “Originally published as . . .” to connect the two citations. Published titles are italic. Please see CMOS 14.99 for examples. If you are citing the book and translation in the main text of your paper, follow the same guidelines but use parentheses instead of brackets.