I came across this post and thought it was interesting. I understand the argument – italicizing makes foreign words stand out and is not how we speak – but I think it will take a while for the slow-moving literary world to come around to this thinking.
I think it would be fine to drop the italics, especially if the foreign words are used throughout the text. The reader will figure it out.
What do you think?
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The practice can sound unnatural, and reinforces a monolinguistic culture of othering…
Source: When to use italics with foreign words in fiction — Quartzy
by Thu-Huong Ha
CKBooks Publishing 
I read the post and watched the video and yes, I’m convinced! Italics should really just be used for words that are emphasized, no longer for non-english speaking words. Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Christine.
Makes sense, I think.
I always assumed they did it so that the reader knows it’s not a typo.
LOTR did it a lot with their own languages. As a bilingual (English/Spanish), this has never bothered me, but I haven’t come across a book that did it too much. Thanks for sharing!
I think that is part of it, but maybe readers are getting smart enough that it doesn’t have to be done any more. Something good to ponder.