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2. Literature Review
2.1 A Review of Previous Studies on Skopos Theory
Down through the centuries, translators gradually realized that different situations required different translation, particularly many translators held that the process of translation should involve two procedures: a faithful reproduction of formal ST qualities in one situation and an adjustment to the target audience in another (Chen, 2008:6). As a matter of fact, before the formation of the functionalist approaches, many definitions of translation laid emphasis on the linguistic aspect and defined translation as the replacement of textual material in one language by equivalent material in another language (Catford, 1965:20). Therefore, functionalist theorists opened a new perspective for the study of translation which explored translation under the framework of action theory and cross-culture theory.
Like many other well-known translation theories, functionalist translation theory, established in the 1970s, did not come into being overnight. The theory, as we know today, is the precise fruit of the diligence and intelligence of a large number of scholars in the process of its development. The essential founders for the establishment and development of functionalist theory are Katharina Reiss, Hans J. Vermeer, Justa Holz Manttari and Christiane Nord. Their respective theories are functionalist translation criticism, Skopos theory, theory of translational action and theory of loyalty principle.
Functionalist theory was first put forward by Katharina Reiss who introduced a functional category into “objective approach to translation criticism” in the early 1970s in German (Huang, 2009:48). According to Reiss, the ideal translation would be one “in which the aim in the TT is equivalence as regards the conceptual content, linguistic form and communicative function of a ST” (Reiss, 1989:112). Besides, Katharina Reiss focused on the text type. She linked Karl Buhler’s three-way categorization of the functions of language: informative text, expressive text and appellative text to the text type. In other words, the function of text is closely related to its text type. Her study was very important as it paid more attention to how to achieve communicative purpose of translation than previous studies focusing on linguistic levels.
Then functionalist theory was improved by Hans J. Vermeer, a student of Reiss. He was greatly influenced by his teacher’s view and made great contributions to the development of functionalist theory. In 1978, he made a statement in his Framework for a General Translation Theory that he desired to break with linguistic translation theory. He called his theory Skopos theory, a theory of purposeful action. In Skopos theory, Vermeer proposed that the status of the source was much lower than that in equivalence-based theories. In other words, he regarded it as an “offer of information” for the target audience. Skopos is a Greek word which has the meaning of “purpose” in English. Skopos theory holds that “the prime principle determining any translation process is the purpose of the overall translation” (Nord 27). In Skopos theory, it is essential for the translator to know why a source is to be translated and what the target text is used for, in other words, what is the function of the target text (Zhuo, 2012:12). At the same time, Skopos theory is able to help translators free from argument between foreignization and domestication when it comes to translation evaluation as this theory stresses that translation action should base on the intended function of the target text rather than the traditional concept of equivalence between source text and target text. According to this theory, translator should choose the best translation skills and strategies so as to cater to different contexts. Therefore, compared with the traditional equivalence thoery, Skopos theory is often regarded as more practical.