MLA Style for Modern Languages

As the 7th edition of the MLA Handbook says, start by citing a book published in a language other than English like any other book: it's the elements of the title, author, and location which are rendered differently.  

• In most cases, the French de is not used with the last name alone.
  • Balzac (Honoré de Balzac)
  • Saint-Exupéry (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
• However, when a French last name is used often in English-language contexts, the de can be retained.
  • De Quincey (Thomas De Quincey)
• When a last name has only one syllable, the de is also usually retained.
  • de Kock (Charles Paul de Kock)
• d' before a last name beginning with a vowel also remains.
  • d'Urfé (Honoré d'Urfé)
• Du and des, the French combination of de with le and les, are always used with last names and capitalized.
  • Du Gard (Roger Martin du Gard)
  • Des Périers (Bonaventure Des Périers)

Use these rules to alphabetize your Works Cited.

• If you'd like to clarify the meaning of a title, provide a translation in square brackets:
  • Genganere [Ghosts].
  • L'Hôte [The Guest].

• Per the 7th edition of the MLA Handbook, there are two widely-accepted methods of capitalizing French titles and subtitles of works.
  1. Capitalize the first word in titles and subtitles, and all proper nouns in them.  (This is the MLA standard.)
     • Du côté de chez Swann
     • Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran
  2. When a title or subtitle begins with an article, the first noun and any preceding adjectives are also capitalized.  In this system, all major words in a journal title would be capitalized.
     • L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
• Whichever system you follow, make sure you're being consistent.

• Many foreign cities go by a different name in English. To clarify, you can give the city's English name in [brackets], or use the English name if it's more appropriate.  Even though newer editions of MLA style don't require a location of publication, including one can be particularly helpful for resources published outside of the United States.
  • Firenze [Florence]
  • Bruxelles [Brussels]