Effects of a VR-enhanced Translation Continuation Task on Modal Verbs Translation: A Subjective Equivalence Perspective

Modal verbs constitute one of the primary subjectivisation devices for expressing individuals’ subjectivity, which is closely associated with the intensity of their embodied experience. However, there is a paucity of research on subjective equivalence in modal verbs translation where embodied experience is reinforced via a VR-enhanced translation continuation task. This paper, using source text and experts’ translated text as baseline, compared the frequency of explicit use and omit of modal verbs between the VR enhanced and non-enhanced translation continuation group. It intends to see whether enhanced embodiment can arouse more subjective equivalence. It was found that 1) the enhanced group showed more alignment with the expert’s translation which was much closer to the source language in their use of modal verbs, and 2) different modal verbs were different in their translated frequency in both the enhanced and the non-enhanced group though both groups showed less use of modal verbs as compared to the source and the expert’s translated text. The results suggest that in a translation continuation task, VR embodied experience can enhance the equivalence of subjectivity, whose specific forms of subjectivisation may be subject to the collocational, syntactic and pragmatic contexts of the modal verbs.