The Application Of Chinese Modal Particles In English-Chinese Translation

This paper is intended to explore the application of Chinese modal particles in English-Chinese translation. Since the Chinese modal particles have no equivalent part of speech in the English language, it is worthwhile to study their application in E-C translation as a compensatory technique as the target of a good translation is to translate the subtle nuances of the original text correctly and vividly.Chinese modal particles are meant to add supplementary meanings to the affective meaning of a sentence. In literary works, modal particles can reflect the colloquial style of the language, especially when they are used in dialogues and conversations. Besides, they can also reflect the unique features of the characters and the emotion and psychological state of the speaker in particular situations. When it comes to translating English texts into Chinese, the application of modal particles can act as a compensatory technique when the situation is appropriate. In the light of the importance of context in the process of translating, this paper comes up with two principles to deal with the application of Chinese modal particles in E-C translation: personalization and situationality. A contrastive analysis of sample sentences is provided as evidence of the feasibility of these two principles.