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Functional approaches to translation.

Skopos theory

Etymologically, skops, derived from Greek, is used as a technical term for the
purpose, aim, goal or objective of a translation" (Schffner, 2009: 117). It is self-evident that
it shows multiple connections with the process of translation and the function of the target text
in the target culture to meet the readership expectations/client demands and comply with
quality assurance standards.
It is common knowledge that Vermeer and Reiss (1984) and Vermeer (1989, 2000)
chart new territories into Translation Studies by endorsing Skopostheorie, which interrelates
the purpose of translation/skopos and the result/translational action, thus underpinning
product-oriented and function-oriented views to secure the feasibility of the goal and
functional adequacy. Skopostheorie allows for different translations of one and the same text
according to the purpose of translation, which is target language text-oriented, which
engenders variability.

Reiss and Vermeer (ibid: 119) enlarge on the principles shaping translation:
the target language text production (which the authors label translatum) depends on its
function, i.e. on the purpose of translation;
the target language text largely sticks to the informative content of the source language
text, but the two texts pertain to different cultural contexts;
the function that the target language text does not always coincide with the one that
the source language text had in its context of origin;
the target language text shows internal coherence, i.e. the translator is true to his/her
principles and shows consistency in the use of terminology, orientation, writing style,
etc;
there is coherence between the target language and source texts, i.e. the information is
recovered accurately.

In the translation process the phase of analysis means considering the function of the texts.
I. First the translator should establish the text type and therefore should ask and answer
questions such as: which basic communicative form is realised in the concrete text with the
help of written texts? Is it

II. The second stage is to establish the text variety, i.e. the classification of a given text
according to specifically structured socio-cultural patterns of communication belonging to
specific language communities.

III. The third stage of the analysis means the analysis of style, where strategy and tactics are
directed by type and variety.

After analysing the function of the text, text type and text variety, comes the phase of
reverbalisation. The theory behind this is:

(Ibid, 166)
2

Nord (1991: 72) distinguishes between documentary/exoticizing translation vs.


instrumental/function-preserving translation to highlight that the communicative purpose of
the source text may be preserved or not in translation and in the target culture and that the text
type is of paramount importance in the former case.
Furthermore, Nord (1997) and Schffner (1997) seem to converge in advocating a
translation-oriented text analysis (including both source text and target text) at the microlevel, and the importance of culture-bound items in determining the skopos. Text analysis
engenders the translation brief, which involves the comparison and contrast of the source text
and the target text.
In this climate of opinion, we agree that the source text analysis becomes a pragmatic
analysis of the communicative situation to detect functional (a)symmetries and build a
hierarchy of translation problems, such as the intended function of translation, functional
adaptations, translation method and strategy and translation units.

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