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@White whirlwind is the issue with the {{zhi}} template merely the order of terms and separators? I've been trying to use it because theoretically, it's nice to format the characters/transliteration/gloss into one unit, and all you have to do to consistently change the style/presentation is change the template, but I don't want to be too cavalier in my application if people have issues with it. Remsense聊 21:13, 13 October 2023 (UTC)
So: I'm already working on tweaks to the {{lang-zh}} template (for which {{zhi}} is an alias that doesn't add labels), and I do think it would be a good idea to have a flag that formats text for inline presentation in the format
'Chinese characters' (汉字; 漢字; hànzì)
since it would be nice to have, and also I understand people dislike having the characters inline in text, as is presently proscribed in MOS:ZH, though I personally don't mind.
If this got added to the template, would that be amenable or helpful for you? Remsense聊 21:25, 13 October 2023 (UTC)
We cannot have Chinese characters (or any foreign text) in running prose, regardless of our personal preferences. It's too jarring and confusing to the vast majority of readers. No reputable academic publisher would do so, and that's the level of quality for which we strive. The Chinese characters need to be in parentheses. Whether the pinyin or the English translation (with quotation marks) goes in the prose should depend on context. I hope that's helpful. White Whirlwind 02:59, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
I've read many texts that have characters inline in such a style, but I do understand that on the whole, it is better to have them bracketed in the vast majority of articles, basically every article that isn't about the Chinese languages themselves. Remsense聊 03:03, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
and i've done it, hopefully it can get integrated into the main template soon.
