Cover not available

In:Exploring and Exploiting Parallel Corpora of Spanish: The PaCorES corpus collection in language and translation education and research
Edited by Irene Doval and M. Teresa Sánchez Nieto
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 129] 2026
► pp. 267–286

German sollen and Spanish deber

A corpus study of mutual correspondence and translation bias based on the PaGeS corpus

 | University of Innsbruck
 | University of Innsbruck
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
This chapter examines the relationship between the German modal verb sollen and the Spanish verb deber through a corpus-based analysis of mutual correspondence (MC) and translation bias (TB). Using a dataset of 200 aligned sentences from the German–Spanish Parallel Corpus (PaGeS), it analyzes the extent to which both verbs function as translation equivalents and assesses the adequacy of the selected translations. The results show a moderate degree of intertranslatability, but also a clear asymmetry between the two translation directions. While sollen is frequently rendered as deber, this solution is not always accurate or idiomatic in Spanish. The findings have implications for contrastive analysis, translation practice, and translator training.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.State of the art
    • 2.1Mutual correspondence and translation bias in corpus studies
    • 2.2Translation errors and their evaluation
    • 2.3Communicative functions of German sollen and Spanish deber
      • 2.3.1Communicative functions of German sollen
      • 2.3.2Communicative functions of Spanish deber
    • 2.4Former studies of the translation of sollen and deber between Spanish and German
  • 3.Our study
    • 3.1Propositions
    • 3.2Material and methodology
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Calculation of MC and TB
    • 4.2Translating German sollen into Spanish deber
    • 4.3Translating Spanish deber into German sollen
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Author queries
  • Notes
  • References
References (35)
References
Altenberg, B. (1999). Adverbial connectors in English and Swedish: Semantic and lexical correspondences. In H. Hasselgård & S. Oksefjell (Eds.), Out of corpora: Studies in honour of Stig Johansson (pp.249–268). Rodopi. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). The correspondence of resultive connectors in English and Swedish. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 6(1). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ammann, M. (1993). Kriterien für eine allgemeine Kritik der Praxis des translatorischen Handelns. In J. Holz-Mänttäri (Ed.), Traducere navem: Festschrift für Katharina Reiß zum 70. Geburtstag (pp.433–466). Tampereen Yliopisto.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Banášová, M. (2013). Deutsche Modalverben und ihre Äquivalente im Slowakischen. Logos.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blas Arroyo, J. L. (2011). Deber (de) + infinitivo: ¿Un caso de variación libre en español? Factores condicionantes en un fenómeno de alternancia sintáctica. Revista de Filología Española, 91(1), 9–42. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Doval, I., Fernández Lanza, S., Jiménez Juliá, T., Liste Lamas, E., & Lübke, B. (2019). Corpus PaGeS: A multifunctional resource for language learning, translation and cross-linguistic research. In I. Doval & M. T. Sánchez Nieto (Eds.), Parallel corpora for contrastive and translation studies: New resources and applications (pp.103–121). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Drugan, J. (2013). Quality in professional translation. Bloomsbury.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ebeling, J., & Ebeling, S. O. (2015). An English-Norwegian contrastive analysis of downtoners, more or less. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 14(1), 62–89. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ebeling, S. O., & Hasselgård, H. (2024). Combining mutual correspondence and textual variation in a study of English GO and Norwegian GÅ. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 23(2), 6–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fundación del Español Urgente. (n.d.). Deber + infinitivo y deber de + infinitivo, usos. Retrieved on 5 January 2026 from [URL]
Guzmán, J. (2016). La traducció de la modalitat deòntica i epistèmica del verb modal ‘sollen’ en el corpus COVALT. Zeitschrift für Katalanistik, 29, 135–162. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
House, J. (1981). A model for translation quality assessment. Narr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hu, K. (2016). Introducing corpus-based translation studies. Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lefer, M. A. (2020). Parallel corpora. In M. Paquot & S. T. Gries (Eds.), A practical handbook of corpus linguistics (pp.257–282). Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martínez Melis, N., & Hurtado Albir, A. (2001). Assessment in translation studies: Research needs. Meta, 46(2), 272–287. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mas Álvarez, I. (2022). Estudio contrastivo a partir de la correspondencia mutua de traducción: Sentir(se) — (sich) fühlen. In B. de la Fuente & I. Holl (Eds.), La traducción y sus meandros: Diversas aproximaciones en el par de lenguas alemán-español (pp.343–358). Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Milan, C. (2001). Modalverben und Modalität: Eine kontrastive Untersuchung Deutsch-Italienisch. Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Millán Vidal, J. M., & Schmidhofer, A. (in press). Die Übersetzung des deutschen Modalverbs sollen ins Spanische mit generativer KI und MT. Studia Translatorica.
(in preparation). La traducción de la función citativa de sollen al español con traducción automática neuronal e inteligencia artificial generativa.
Montero Küpper, S. (2004). O comportamento traductivo do alemán ó galego: Análise da traducción dos verbos modais alemáns (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Universidade de Vigo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nord, C. (2011). Funktionsgerechtigkeit und Loyalität: Theorie, Methode und Didaktik des funktionalen Übersetzens. Frank & Timme.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paredes García, F. (2024). Forma y sentido de las construcciones con deber (de) + infinitivo en Madrid. Variación. Revista de variación y cambio lingüístico, 1(1), 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Real Academia Española, & Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española. (2009). Nueva gramática de la lengua española. Espasa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2026). Nueva gramática de la lengua española [en línea]. Retrieved 16 January 2026, from [URL]
Real Academia Española. (n.d.). Diccionario de la lengua española. [URL]
Real Academia Española. (n.d.). Diccionario panhispánico de dudas. [URL]
Reiß, K. (1971). Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Übersetzungskritik: Kategorien und Kriterien für eine sachgerechte Beurteilung von Übersetzungen. Hueber.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1989). Übersetzungstheorie und Praxis der Übersetzungskritik. In F. G. Königs (Ed.), Übersetzungswissenschaft und Fremdsprachenunterricht: Neue Beiträge zu einem alten Thema (pp.71–93). Goethe-Institut.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reiß, K., & Vermeer, H. J. (1991). Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie. Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schäffner, C. (2004). Übersetzungsbewertung: Wo, wie und warum? In I. Müller (Ed.), Und sie bewegt sich doch ... (pp.305–318). Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmidhofer, A. (2015). La didáctica de los verbos modales en alemán y español: Una perspectiva contrastiva y funcional. Linguae: Revista de la Sociedad Española de Lenguas Modernas, 2, 247–265.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmidhofer, A., & Millán Vidal, J. M. (2025). La traducción del verbo modal alemán sollen al español: Un estudio de corpus. Hikma, 24(1), 1–28. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmitt, P. A. (1997). Evaluierung von Fachübersetzungen. In G. Wotjak & H. Schmidt (Eds.), Modelle der Translation — Models of translation: Festschrift für Albrecht Neubert (pp.301–332). Vervuert. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Siever, H. (2015). Übersetzungswissenschaft. Narr Francke Attempto.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue