Development of Skopos Theory

張可新 于風軍

Abstract：Skopos Theory is the core of German functionalist translation theory. The theoretical system takes purpose as the general principle and emphasizes that translation purpose determines translation strategies. The development of Skopos Theory has gone through four stages represented by Katharina Reiss， Hans Vermeer， Justa Hulz Manttari and Christiane Nord.

Keywords：Functional School;Skopos Theory;Translation Purpose

1.INTRODUCTION

Between 1960s and 1970s， deeply influenced by structural linguistics， Leipzig School represented by A. Neubert and O. Kade and the Saarbrucken School represented by W. Wilss emerged in German translation circle. It is at this time that functionalist translation theory arose and deepened gradually. Aiming at the weak links in Linguistic School， it draws extensively on the ideas of communication theory， behavior theory， information theory， discourse linguistics and reception aesthetics， and turns its research focus from the source language to the target text， becoming the most influential and active school in contemporary German translation studies.

2.Development Periods

2.1 The First Stage

Functionalist translation theory can be traced back to 1971 of Katharina Reisss book， namely Possibility and Limitation of Translation Criticism， in which Reiss introduced functional category into translation criticism， linked language function， text type and translation strategy， and developed a translation criticism model based on the functional relationship between source text and target text， thus putting forward the embryonic form of functionalism theory. However， in practice， she also realized that equivalence is not only difficult to achieve， but also deviating from peoples expectation sometimes. The latter situation is precisely caused by “translational brief”. Therefore， priority should be given to the functional features of the translation instead of the principle of equivalence; The quality of translation should be judged on the base of whether the function has been realized in a certain translation context， rather than on the characteristics of the original text.

2.2 The Second Stage

The second representative master of functional translation theory is Hans Vermeer， Reisss student， who founded the core value of functional translation theory： Skopos Theory. He tried to bridge the gap between translation theory and practice. Skopos Theory has freed translation studies from the shackles of the original-centered theory， the basic framework of which was expounded in the book Principles of General Translation Theory coauthored with his teacher Rice. Skopos Theory is of so profound influence that the Functional School is sometimes called Skopos School. This theory holds that translation is a purposeful and fruitful act based on the original text， which must be completed through negotiation; translation must follow a series of rules， of which Skopos Rule is the first， that is， the translation depends on the purpose of translation. In addition， translation should also follow the “intra-textual Coherence Rule” and “inter-textual Coherence Rule”. These rules are arranged hierarchically， thus the central position of the original text is disintegrated， and “equivalence” is no longer the criterion to judge translation， but the adequacy to achieve the expected goal.

2.3 The Third Stage

Based on the development mentioned above， German scholar Justa Holz Manttari， drawing on communication and behavior theory， put forward the theory of translational action to further develop the functionalist translation theory， which are mainly reflected in the book Translation action-Theory and Method published in 1984. This theory regards translation as a purpose-driven， result-oriented human-to-human interaction， and makes a detailed analysis of the behaviors involved in the translation process and the roles of the participants， namely the initiator/client， the trustee， the ST producer， the TT producer， the TT user and the TT receiver， who do not participate in every translation process， but sometimes one can play several different roles at the same time. Translation Action and Skopos Theory have much in common， and Vermeer later fused the two. However， Manttaris method and conceptual model are obviously more radical than Skopos Theory. She regards translation as the transfer of message-transmitter compounds including text， pictures， sound， body language， etc.

2.4 The Fourth Stage

Christiane Nord is an active advocator of functionalist translation theory. For the first time， she systematically and comprehensively introduced various academic ideas of functionalist in English and put forward her own views on their shortcomings. In her book Translating as a Purposeful Activity： Functionalist Approaches Explained （1997）， she not only combed the theories of the functional school， but also put forward the guiding principle of “functionality plus loyalty” to the translator aiming at the extreme tendency in the theory. Loyalty belongs to the moral category and pays attention to the relationship between the participants in translation activities. Thus， Nord has made great achievements in methodology of translation teaching and interpreter training.

3.Three Breakthroughs in Skopos Theory

3.1The Essence of Translation

Skopos Theory holds that translation is a purposeful cross-cultural interaction. Mantali put forward the concept of “translational action”， which defines translation as a “complex act designed to realize the cross-cultural and cross-language conversion of information.” The scholars of this theory follow the definition of behavior given by scholar Geory Henrik Von Wright： “Behavior is purposefully changing or transforming one state of contents into another. If two or more people are involved， the behavior will be interaction. Skopos Theory attaches great importance to the study of the process of translation action and puts forward the criterion of translation process， namely adequacy. Reiss and Vermeer believe that “adequacy” refers to the correspondence between the linguistic units of the source language version of the translated language version， which is the basic parameter the standard of the translation process.

3.2 Participators in Translation Process

General translation theory holds that translation involves three participants： the author of the original text， the translator and the recipient of the translation. Skopos Theory adds sponsors to the translation process. According to Skopos Theory， the client may be an individual， a group or an institution， usually the initiator of translation action; while the commission only requires the translator to translate for a special purpose and a specific recipient. Translator is the most important link in the translation process， controlling the whole translation work and giving full play to subjectivity in the translation process. Skopos Theorys attention to the initiator， translator and receiver of the translation reflects another breakthrough in the study of contemporary western translation theories： Translation is no longer limited to the study of the translated text， nor does it study the faithfulness of the translated text to the original text， instead， it pays attention to the participants in the whole translation process， highlighting the role of sponsors and the subjectivity of translators and recipients.

3.3 Translation Principles

“Skopos Theory” mainly includes four laws： Skopos Rule， Coherence Rule， Fidelity Rule and Loyalty Rule.

Skopos Theory holds that the primary principle followed in all translation activities is the “Skopos Rule”， that is， translation should be able to function in the target language context and culture in the way the target language receiver expects. The aim of translation action determines the whole process of translation， that is， the result determines method. However， translation activities can have multiple purposes， which can be further divided into three categories： （1） the translators basic purpose; （2） the communicative purpose of the translation; （3） the purpose to be achieved by using a special translation method. However， in general， the “purpose” refers to the communicative purpose of the translation， that is “the communicative function of the translation to the target readers in the social and cultural context of the target language”. Therefore， the translator should specify his specific purpose in a given translation context and decide which translation method to adopt—literal or free.

Coherence Rule means that the target text must conform to the standard of intra-textual coherence， that is， the target text is readable and acceptable， enabling the recipient to understand and make sense in the target culture and the communicative context. Fidelity Rule means that there should be inter-textual coherence between the original text and the translated text. Although other translation theories claim to be faithful to the original， the degree and form of faithfulness to the original depends on the purpose of the translation and the translators understanding of the original.

Loyalty Rule was put forward by Nord to solve the cultural differences and the relationship between the participants of translation action. Nord believes that the translator has a moral responsibility to the recipient of the translation and must explain to them what he has done and why he has done so， which is one aspect of the rule of loyalty; the other aspect of this principle is that the translator to be loyal to the original author， that is， the translator should respect the original author and coordinate the target language of the translation with the authors purpose.

4.Conclusion

As an applied theory， Skopos helps us to pay attention to the purpose and function of translation and inspires us to have a broader perspective when analyzing specific versions in specific periods. However， while applying Skopos Theory， we should also see its limitations， which cannot be widely applied to any versions. In addition， while western deconstructive thoughts such as Skopos Theory are flourishing in the Chinese translation circle， important concepts in traditional Chinese translation theories such as “faithfulness， expressiveness and elegance”， “spirit likeness” and “sublimation” are constantly impacted. Many people think that these traditional standards are outdated in theory and do not conform to the trend of contemporary translation studies. This has actually distorted and misled these core concepts that support traditional Chinese translation theories. Take “sublimation” as an example， some opinions in traditional Chinese translation theories still seem to be of great wisdom and research value and of considerable modern significance. Although the theory originated from the traditional Chinese way of thinking and aesthetic concept， it has strong vitality， which is not only the standard of literary translation， but also the highest realm of literary translation. Therefore， Skopos Theory should not be applied mechanically. A reasonable application of Skopos Theory， combined with traditional translation theories， may have certain guiding significance to translation， especially literary translation practice and criticism.

REFERENCES

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