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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36968
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Think what you would do the other way around. If the entire book were in Mandarin Chinese and you had an English speaking character - would you print their English in Latin-based script, it would you convert the sounds into Mandarin Chinese script phonetically?

I don't know the answer to that question, but my guess would be that in order to make it easier for your (primarily) Chinese audience, you would give them the words in the Mandarin Chinese character equivalent. This would give them a better chance of working out the meaning. But, like I said - I don't know.

So, to go back to your question. For me it's all about how easy it would be for me, as an English speaker with very little Mandarin Chinese, and virtually no expertise in Mandarin Chinese script, to find the meaning of those words.

If I were reading a paper copy of the book - because I don't have a Mandarin Chinese keyboard, I would be unable to look up the words printed in Mandarin Chinese on the internet. However, if they were rendered in Latin script as the phonetic equivalents of the Mandarin Chinese, then (provided the spelling was relatively accurate) I could look up the words up on the internet.

If I were reading a digital copy then it wouldn't matter either way, because I could just copy the phrases and paste them into a search engine either way around. Some software even allows you to do that from the book-reader. In that way, I would be able to find the meanings quickly and easily.

So, in conclusion - I would use the phonetic equivalents of the Mandarin Chinese phrases, printed in Latin script in order to give the readers a better chance of finding meaning from the Mandarin Chinese words and thence from the book.

Good luck with your writing - I wish you success whichever method you choose.

Original score: 1