摘 要

语气词是一种表示语气的虚词。汉语中，语气词常用在句中或句尾。英语中，语气词常用在句子的开头。在汉语写作中，语气词的使用能让文章妙趣横生，而在翻译英文文章时，尤其是在翻译某些英文文本时，使用一些汉语语气词，则会使译文显得更加地道。因此在做英汉翻译时，语气词的互译和选用是非常讲究的。本文旨在探讨中外语气词在英汉翻译中的互译情况以及使用技巧。全文共分为四部分：第一部分分析中外对英汉翻译中语气词的研究状况；第二部分对中文和英文的语气词进行比较并找出其相同点和不同点；第三部分分析语气词在《京华烟云》英文原版以及中文译本中的使用情况并探讨语气词在英汉翻译中的互译和选用技巧；第四部分为总结。通过本文的研究，希望能给译者在英汉翻译过程中对语气词的互译和选用提供借鉴。

关键词：语气词；英汉翻译；《京华烟云》

Abstract

Modal particles are appended into sentences to indicate some specific moods. In Chinese, modal particles are being the middle or the last word in a whole sentence. In English, modal particles are frequently put at the beginning of a sentence. In Chinese articles, modal particles play a significant role. While translating English articles into Chinese, translators can use Chinese modal particles to make translation more idiomatic. Hence, translators attach importance to the option of Chinese modal particles in English-Chinese translation. The paper discusses the utilization of modal particles in English-Chinese translation by taking Moment in Peking as an example. It aims to find out similarities and differences between English and Chinese modal particles and give suggestions for the transformation of modal particles between the two languages. There are four parts in the paper. The first part analyzes the study situation of modal particles in English-Chinese translation. The second part compares English modal particles with Chinese modal particles. The third part analyzes the application of modal particles in the novel of Moment in Peking, both in the English original novel and the Chinese version, and studies the skills of using modal particles in English-Chinese translation. The fourth part is the conclusion of the paper. Translators can improve translation skills in the use of modal particles in English-Chinese translation from the paper.

Key words: modal particles; English-Chinese translation; Moment in Peking

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Comparison of Modal Particles between English and Chinese 3

2.1 Similarities in English and Chinese Modal Particles 3

2.2 Differences between English and Chinese Modal Particles 4

2.3 Requirements of Using Modal Particles in Translation 4

3 Application of Modal Particles in the Translation of Moment in Peking 6

3.1 Transformation of English Modal Particles in the Translation 6

3.2 Omission of English Modal Particles in the Translation 8

3.3 Addition of Chinese Modal Particles in the Translation 10

4 Conclusion 13

References 14

Acknowledgements 15

On the Use of Modal Particles in English-Chinese Translation:

Moment in Peking as Case Study

1 Introduction

Modal particles are appended into sentences to indicate some specific moods. In Chinese, for example, Ma(吗), Le(了), Ne(呢) and Ba(吧), these kinds of modal particles are being the middle or the last word in a whole sentence. In English, the word “well” is the most common modal particle, which is always put at the beginning of a sentence. In fact, modal particles in different languages have similar functions. For instance, many modal particles are used to express tense, tones and even some potential meanings in some certain situations. How to use modal particles in writing to make articles more colorful and interesting is a kind of art.

In China, modal particle is a popular research topic because of the implied meaning in sentence which is worth of meditation. From the ancient times to nowadays, there are a great deal of studies about the utilization of modal particles in Chinese novels. It is especially the case in Chinese famous classical novels Dream of Red Mansions and Journey to the West. Scholars show not only extensive and profound Chinese language culture but also colorful social background by analyzing modal particles’ magic effects in these two novels. Chinese modal particle plays an important role in Chinese language. On the contrary, study about English modal particles is little, which is attributed to two main reasons. One is that there are fewer modal particles in English. The other is that English rarely use modal particles in articles. Still, functions of the modal particle “well” are often being discussed.