Translating English Modal Verbs Into Chinese

Modal verbs are commonly used forms of expression in all languages,as an effective way to express the speaker’s views,attitudes and positions.The ways of expressing modality in English and Chinese are not only similar but also different,which endows the possibility for modality translation on the one hand and constitutes challenges on the other.The source text--Privacy and interoperability challenges could limit the benefits of education technology--is an argumentative text with educational technology as the theme and with rigorous standpoints.It is found that the author’s proper use of modal expressions accurately conveyed his views and attitudes towards the balance between privacy and education technology development.Thus,to precisely reproduce the modal meaning of the original text,the translator needs to understand the original modal expression accurately and then apply a reasonable translation strategy.Based on Palmer’s classification of modal verbs and Halliday’s definition of modal intensity value,the thesis attempts to explore the strategies of modal verb translation with the ultimate goal of achieving semantic equivalence in the translation of modal verbs.It sums up the strategies of modality translation,such as modal form conversion,modal verb ellipsis,and modal form adjustment.It is believed that in the translation of modal meaning,flexible translation strategies should be adopted based on the writing norms and expression conventions of the English and Chinese languages to achieve the equivalent conversion in the expression of modality in English and Chinese,and to reproduce the modal meaning in the translation,so as to achieve the translational effect of dynamic semantic equivalence.It is hoped that the study may provide some reference to the translation of modal verbs in other languages and genres.