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Article published In:
Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts
Vol. 1:1 (2015) ► pp.27–48

Translanguaging aspects of modality

Teaching perspectives through parallel data

| National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

This article explores aspects of modal marker use in English and Greek and suggests that parallel data may significantly contribute to raising learners’ intercultural sensitivity in the FL classroom, as an instance of TOLC (Translation in Other Language Contexts). Parallel data seem to assume a dynamic potential (privileging learner autonomy and developing self-study skills), which other traditional approaches to the use of the modal system lack, leaving important aspects of cross-cultural variation out of the perspective of the learner. The study focuses on two aspects of intercultural variation in the use of the modal systems of English and Greek, namely shifting degrees of possibility-certainty and the shift across epistemic-deontic, as manifested through a 2013–2014 sample of parallel data from newspapers. It offers a set of sample exercises highlighting the potential of translation to contribute valuable insights to L2/additional language learning (ALL) and syllabus design, assuming an ecological ethic in acknowledging the primacy of context, including L1, especially if L1 is a less widely spoken language.

Keywords: deontic, epistemic, modal system, language teaching, parallel data, intercultural sensitivity
Published online: 30 March 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.1.1.02sid
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