Jiang - 将

Grambers

May 11, 2012, 11:03 AM posted in I Have a Question

I'm really hoping someone can help me get my head around the usage (or usages!) of the word 将. I was browsing the Guangdong newspaper 信息时报 today and came across a story about a killer being extradited to China from Laos.

“期待将凶手早日绳之以法”，在得知谋杀中国船员疑凶金三角毒枭糯康由老挝正式移交中方后，遇难者家属文代香在电话里这样对记者说.

Not feeling particularly busy today, I translated the (quite convoluted) sentence as thus....

“I look forward to the killer being dealt with by the law as soon as possible,” said Wen Dai Xiang, a family member of the deceased, speaking to journalists on the telephone after learning that chief suspect Nuo Kang, a Golden Triangle drug trafficker, had been extradited to China.

The accuracy, or otherwise, of the translation is moot. The point is how the word ‘将’ is used in the quote. 期待 is to 'look forward to' or 'expect', right? And so, a direct translation of that opening quote would be something like....."[expect] [will] [killer] [early] [restrain] [using] [law]" - or something like that. It's the placement of the word 'will' (将) which looks very strange to me and that I can't properly figure out.

In trying to translate this, I also realised that I've come across the word countless times that, though I am aware of its function (it referencing 'the future), I can't really explain it, or properly use it myself. Can anyone help?!?! I'm particularly interested in the PLACEMENT of the word in any particular sentence. The word order puzzles me greatly.