ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the ways of translating tones in K-E and E-K translation. It focuses on how the speaker's attitude and the speaker-hearer dynamic are realised through particles. The chapter discusses so-called good-citizen particles in Korean and how best they can be translated into English. It also discusses the issues of translating emoticons. The chapter also focuses on particles that reflect the speaker's benevolent attitudes towards hearers. These particles include so-called honorific particle -si, politeness particle -yo and softening or indirectness particle -kess. The particle -kess is used when the speaker wants to add his or her will or guess to the utterance. Politeness is an important virtue and trigger of language use. In face-to-face communication, speech, prosody and gesture can convey such meanings and also disambiguate the meanings, but in writing such a disambiguating or softening strategy can be lacking. Emoticons are used to fill pragmatic gaps such as these, making the dialogue flow without misunderstanding or unnecessary conflict.
