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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25393
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25393
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Well, whatever you do, don't convolute the the sentences around those words. Voices don't greet. People greet. `"Konnichiwa!" greeted a voice.` is grating and unnatural.

There are at least four things you can do that will not sound artificial and grating:

1. Just use the word. People can deduce the meaning from context or look it up if they don't get it. `"Konnichiwa!" a voice said.`

2. Translate the word and tell us what the original language was: `"Hello" a voice said in Japanese.`

3. Establish the use of formatting, such as italics, as an indication of the use of Japanese. Then use the English word in italics for all Japanese conversation from then one: "_Hello!_" a voice said in Japanese. 

4. Use the Japanese word and provide the translation: `"Konnichiwa!" a voice said. Konnichiwa is hello in Japanese.` You are telling a story and there is absolutely nothing wrong with explaining things like this to the reader occasionally. Obviously this does not work for extended conversations in the foreign languages. Only option 3 really works for that. 

Original score: 2