How to Cite a Translated Work

A translation is a distinct edition with a distinct set of people behind it, and the reference has to show both: the author who wrote the work and the translator who made the version you read. It also has to show time twice — when the work first appeared and when the translation did — because a reader who sees only one date cannot tell an 1869 novel from a 2024 rendering of it.

The worked example is a real book, verified on 22 September 2026 in the K10plus union library catalogue (record 1909745111, retrieved through its SRU interface): Han Kang, Greek Lessons, London: Penguin Books, 2024, credited on the title page as "Han Kang ; translated by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won", ISBN 978-0-241-99706-2, 147 pages. The catalogue's note reads: "First published in Korean by Munhakdonge in 2011, first published in Great Britain by Hamish Hamilton 2023."

What to Collect

• The author, as the translation credits them
• The translator or translators, in the edition's order
• The title of the translation
• The publisher, place and year of the translation you read
• The year the original was published
• The original title and language, if your style or your argument needs them
• The edition, where the translation has been revised

Quick Reference by Major Style

APA (7th Edition)

APA's own Common Reference Examples handout has no translated-work entry, so the format below comes from two independent university guides that publish one. The University of Queensland Library's APA 7th guide gives this template, verbatim:

UQ's own example, verbatim, with its in-text note that both years are needed:

In-text, UQ shows: (Ylinen, 2007/2008)

Murdoch University's APA guide publishes the same shape independently. Its example, verbatim:

Applied to the verified example:

In-text: (Han, 2011/2024)

One caution about that entry. Initialising a translator's name means deciding which part is the surname, and that decision is not always safe. The title page credits "Emily Yae Won"; the German National Library's authority record for her (GND 1191113582) gives the single-name form "E. YaeWon" as the preferred heading and records both "Emily Yae / Won" and the Korean form "Lee, Yaewon" among the variants. "E. Y. Won" above follows one of those recorded variants. If you cannot establish which part of a name inverts, give it as the edition prints it, unabbreviated, and say why in a note — an invented surname is a worse error than a long reference.

MLA (9th Edition)

MLA puts the translator in the "Other contributors" slot, after the title, introduced by "Translated by". These three entries are the MLA Style Center's own, verbatim, from its post on citing a work translated into more than one language:

MLA's note on those entries is worth keeping: all three are listed under the author's name, and the in-text citations are differentiated by their distinct titles, not by the translator.

Applied to the verified example. The author's name is in Eastern order, family name first, which the K10plus catalogue record confirms by filing the book under "Han, Kang"; the entry below leaves the name as the title page prints it, and if your department has a rule for names outside Western order, follow it:

In-text: (Han Kang [page])

Chicago (18th Edition)

The free Chicago Citation Quick Guide has a Translated book entry in both systems, and the examples below are Chicago's own, verbatim. Chicago's note on this example is that the author's name follows Eastern order, so it is not inverted in the bibliography and the shortened note reads "Liu".

Notes and bibliography:

Author-date:

Applied to the verified example, whose author's name also follows Eastern order:

Harvard (Cite Them Right)

Cite Them Right is subscription-only, so the templates come from two named university guides. The University of Sheffield Library's translated-item template and examples, verbatim:

The University of York Library publishes the same pattern under "Book (translated to English)", verbatim:

Applied to the verified example:

In-text: (Han, 2024)

IEEE

The IEEE Reference Guide has a section headed "Book (Foreign Publication or Translated)" containing two basic formats. The first is for a foreign publication you read untranslated, where the language goes in parentheses after the publisher — "(in Japanese)", "(in Russian)" — and no translator is named. The second is the one you want for a translation. Its template and two examples, verbatim:

Applied to the verified example:

In-text: [1]

Missing Elements

No translator named. Some editions credit none, particularly older ones and anonymous nineteenth-century translations. Do not supply a name from a later edition or from a reference work; record the edition as it is and note in your text that the translation is uncredited.

No original publication year. Where the edition does not state it, a national or union library catalogue record often does. If you cannot establish it, leave APA's "(Original work published …)" element out rather than guessing, and say so if the date matters to your argument.

A retranslation. If you are comparing translations, MLA's approach — distinguish them by title in the in-text citation and list them all under the author — is the clearest, and it works in the other styles too as long as the reference list makes clear which is which.

The translator is also the author. MLA has a post on this case: where the edition says the author translated their own work, repeat the author's surname in the contributor slot rather than inventing a separate name.

A translation of a translation. Say so. A text that reached English through a third language is a different object, and your reader needs to know which chain you read.

Common Mistakes

• Citing the original publication year as though it were the translation's, so a 2024 book appears to be from 2011
• Leaving the translator out entirely, which credits the author with prose they did not write
• Naming only one of two or more translators
• Silently using a different translation from the one you quoted
• Translating a quotation yourself and presenting it as the published translation
• Putting the translator in the author slot when you are not writing about the translation itself

Sources for These Formats

• K10plus union library catalogue record 1909745111 for Greek Lessons (Penguin Books, 2024), including its statement of responsibility, ISBN and the note on the Korean original
• University of Queensland Library, APA 7th guide, "Translation of a book or ebook", and "Works in non-English languages"
• Murdoch University Library, APA guide, Translation entry
• MLA Style Center, "How do I cite a work translated into more than one language?", "How do I indicate in my works-cited-list entry that the translator of a work is the same as the author of a work?" and "When must I indicate that a translation is my own?"
• The Chicago Manual of Style Citation Quick Guide, Translated book (notes-bibliography and author-date)
• University of Sheffield Library, "Harvard referencing" (based on Cite Them Right), Translated item
• University of York Library, Harvard guide, Book (translated to English)
• IEEE Reference Guide, Book (Foreign Publication or Translated)
• APA Style, Common Reference Examples handout (last updated 3 March 2026), checked for a translated-work entry and found not to have one

Full style rules: APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE.