On Translation of Modal Verbs in Political Documents from Systemic Functional Linguistics

Abstract

This paper discusses the translation of modal verbs in political papers and the translation strategies used by translators from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics, exemplified by the report of the 19th National Congress. The result shows that the transla-tor’s use of equivalent translation and adaptation for different situations when translating high-value modal verbs can not only reflect the Chinese government’s firmness on matters of principle but also enable the international community to better accept the Chinese gove-rnment’s positions and propositions. Besides, the collocation “we will,” which appears frequently in the strategy of amplification, refle-cts the authority of the information in the 19th National Congress Report and brings Western readers closer, calling on them to answer China’s call on international issues.