-
If an action is intentional, it surely
bears a purpose. More often than not does it
indicate that
there are at least two
possible forms of behavior for people to make a
choice. For achieving the
Skopos, one
is generally considered to be more appropriate
than the other. (Nord,2004:27)
For a
translational action, due to various agents and
factors involved, there must be more
than one purpose to achieve. They are
divided into three major groups by Nord:
“
The general purpose aimed
at by the translator(perhaps to earn a living);the
communicative
purpose
aimed
at
by
the
target
text
in
the
target
situation(perhaps
to
instruct
readers)and
the
purpose
aimed
at
by
a
particular
translation
strategy
or
procedure(perhaps
to
enrich
the
target
language)”.(ibid.)
Most
frequently,
Skopos
refers
to
the
purpose
of
the
target
text.
It
once
again
places
the
emphasis on the target text. Though
most translational actions have a variety of
Skopoie to realize,
they
usually
follow
a
hierarchical
order. The
translator,
as
a
decision-maker,
should
judge
what
particular Skopos should be the most
important for him to realize in a translational
process. It also
gives
the
translator
a
new
perspective
to
decide
what
strategy
will
be
employed
in
the
whole
process.
The
translator’s
task
is
to
a
scertain
and
then
apply
suitable
strategies
to
realize
his
Skopos.(Nord,2004:29)As
V
ermeer puts it:
“
What
the
Skopos
rule
means
is
that
one
must
translate,
consciously
and
consistently,
in
accordance
with
some
principle
favorable
to
the
target
text.
The
theory
does
not
state
what
the
principle is and this must be decided
according to the particular
case.”(Nord,2004:29,30)
Nord
also
gives
a
clear
distinction
between
intention
and
function.
When
“intention’’is
mentioned, the focus is mainly on the
sender, who wants to realize a certain purpose
with the text.
However, the best
intention cannot necessarily produce a perfect
result, particularly in cases where
the
situations of the sender and the receiver differ
greatly. The receiver usually uses the text with a
certain function, depending on his own
expectations, needs, previous knowledge and
situational
conditions.
In
an ideal situation the sender’s intention will
realize
its aim, in which case
intention
and function would be similar
or even identical. Vermeer considers the
teleological concepts aim,
purpose,
intention
and
function
to
be
equivalent
and
subsumes
them
under
the
generic
concept
Skopos. (Nord,
2004:28)
In
the
functionalist
translation
theory,
the
top-
ranking
rule
for
any
translation
is
the
Skopos
rule, which says that a translational
action is determined by its Skopos;
that is,”the
end justifies
the
means”. (Nord, 2004:29)Vermeer
explains the Skopos rule as follows:
“…
translate/interpret/speak/wr
ite in a way that enables your text/translation to
function in the
situation in which it
is used and with the people who want to use it and
precisely in the way they
want it to
function.”(ibid.)
2.2.1.1
Translation Brief
In Skopos, there is a
very important term, translation brief, which
originates from a German
word
Ubersetzungsauftrag
. It
implicitly compares the translator with a banister
who has received
the basic information
and instructions from his client but is then free
(as a responsible expert)to
carry out
those instructions as he sees fit(Nord
2004:30).Although translation brief does not tell
the translator how to embark on the
translating job, what methods should be applied
and how to
solve quantities of
problems, it gives him a general idea how a source
text should be translated.(
郭
丽梅
,2004:19)Nord gives her idea as
follows:
“
The translation
brief specifies what kind of translation is
needed. This is why the initiator or
the
person
playing
the
role
of
initiator(who
might
also
be
a
translator)actually
decides
on
the
translation Skopos, even though the
brief as such may not be explicit about the
conditions”.(Nord
2004:30)
Therefore, every translation task
should be accompanied by a translation brief that
defines the
specific conditions under
which the target text reaches its pre-determined
functions as closely as
possible.
(
郭丽梅
,2004:19)
In
many
cases,
an
experienced
translator
is
able
to
infer
the
Skopos
from
the
translational
situation
itself. Unless otherwise indicated, a technical
article about some astronomical discovery
is to be translated as a technical
article for astronomers and a business letter will
most probably be
translated for
business use. (ibid.)
2.2.1.2 Adequacy
Reiss proposes a new term
“adequacy”
to evaluate the
quality of a translated text in terms of
the
translation
brief:
The
translation
should
be
“adequate”
to
the
requirements
of
its
translation
brief. In the framework of the Skopos
theory, adequacy is a dynamic term related to the
process of
translational
action
and
refers
to
the
“goal
-oriented
selection
of
signs
that
are
considered
appropriate for
the c
ommunicative purpose defined in
the translation assignment”.
That is to
say,
if
the
translated
text
fulfills
the
Skopos
set
in
a
translational
action,
it
is
afunctionally
and
communicatively adequate target text.
Otherwise, it is not an adequate one in the
context of the
functionalist
translation theory. In this sense, the Skopos
theory is one with its emphasis solely on
the
translating
purpose,
which
determines
translation
strategies
and
methods
taken
by
the
translator.
Compared
with
the
new
term,
the
traditional
criterion
of
equivalence
is
a
static
and
result-oriented concept which describes
the relationship of
“equal
communicative value”
between
the
source
text
and
the
target
text,
or
at
even
lower
levels,
between
words,
phrases,
sentences,
syntactic
structures,
etc.
The
new
criterion
of
adequacy
offers
insights
into
translation
criticism
and is more
scientific.(Nord,2004:34-37)
2.2.2
Coherence Rule
The coherence rule is
also called as the intra-textual coherence by
functionalists.
It requires
that the translated text should make
sense in the communicative situation in which it
is received. It
specifies that a
translation should be acceptable to the extent
that it is coherent
with the receiver’s
situation.
Being
“coherent
with”
is
synonymous
with
being
“par
t
of
the
receiver’s
situation.
Therefore,
in
the
translating
process,
the
translator
should
take
the
target
culture
into
careful
consideration and make appropriate
domestication in order to make the translation
comprehensible.
Otherwise,
he
translated
text
may
lose
its
meaning
and
become
meaningless
in
a
target
culture.(Nord,2004:31,32)
2.2.3 Fidelity Rule
Since
translation
is
the
offer
of
information
in
the
source
text,
the
translated
text must
bear
certain relations with the source text.
Vermeer called this relationship
“inter
-textual
coherence”
or
“fidelity”
.This kind of
coherence exists between the source text and the
target text and what form
it
takes
depends
both
on
the
translator’s
interpretation
of
the
source
text
and
on
the
Skopos.
A
faithful imitation is one
possible kind of inter-textual coherence. A
faithful imitation of the source
text
can
be
considered
as
a
case
in
which
the
inter-textual
coherence
is
carried
out
maximally.
(ibid.)
The
functionalist
translation
theory
includes
these
three
rules.
Among
them,
inter-textual
coherence
is
regarded
subordinate
to
intra-textual
coherence,
but
both
are
subordinate
to
the
Skopos rule. (Nord,
2004:32, 33)