[1] The theory first appeared in an article published by linguist Hans Josef Vermeer in the German Journal Lebende Sprachen, 1978.
The function of a translation depends on the knowledge, expectations, values and norms of the target readers, who are again influenced by the situation they are in and by the culture.
The client is the University of NSW; the translations are to be published on the UNSW website as information for prospective international students and their parents.
[19] Thus, it can be seen that although Skopos Theory is more target-oriented, the cultural aspects of the source and target languages play important roles.
[22][23] Many of the factors it adopted from the Action Theory became essential in the late twentieth century due to the growing demand for non-literary text translations.
[24] Specifically, the combination of the general Skopos Theory[2] and Katharina Reiß’s Functional Category model[25] introduced in their collaborative articles in 1984 and 1991.
[20] This combined approach allowed for the extraction of general factors (that affect the translation process) from occurrences found uniquely in individual cultures and/or languages.
The first and principal directive states that the target text will invariably fall back on the function of the translational action in any commission.
[1] The fourth and fifth directives reiterate the general Skopos “rules” concerning the manner of judging success of the action and information transfer.
[5]In other words, under this rule, the receivers of the target text, as well as their cultural background and social circumstances, should all be taken into consideration as major factors to produce meaningful translations.
[5]While this rule is highly similar to the ‘faithfulness’ aspect in previous equivalence translation theories, one significant difference distinguishes them from each other.
[31] This includes the translation of civil and criminal justice systems documents such as contracts, licenses, trademarks and copyrights, litigation agreements, regulations, etc.
There is a need to be explicit in expressions and the transfer of information to avoid misunderstandings on crucial matters such as contracts, which can in turn prevent unnecessary lawsuits.
Another common issue observed in legal translation is the possibility of lexical gaps in terminology and the lack of corresponding phrasing or concepts between the source and target language and culture.
Original legislation:第六十八条 犯罪分子有揭发他人犯罪行为,查证属实的,或者提供重要线索,从而得以侦破其他案件等立功表现的, 可以从轻或者减轻处罚;有重大立功表现的,可以减轻或者免除处罚。犯罪后自首又有重大立功表现的,应当减轻或者免除处罚。English translation:Article 68 Any criminal who performs such meritorious services as exposing an offence committed by another, which is verified through investigation, or producing important clues for solving other cases may be given a lighter or mitigated punishment.
As the target text is determined by its skopos, the translator is required to consider the culture and context of the audience and also possess thorough knowledge of the advertised product.
The New American Standard Bible aims to replicate the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic scripts as closely as possible.
[37] The target community dictates the skopos and influences the translators’ decision as to whether they will take a more literal or liberal approach, and it is often reflected in the introductory section of the Bible.
[38] Cheung raises the fact that while Psalm 84:3a could have been translated as "Birds find nooks and crannies in your house", the version used in The Living Bible is more suitable: "Even the sparrows and swallows are welcome to come and nest among your altars".
[38] The sub-skopos does not support the usage of Anglo-Saxon idioms and a less metaphoric description will be easier for Second Language English users to comprehend.
[12] The new dimension that highlights a purpose can provide translators a faster and clearer direction to attain their goals of the target text.
[12] This promotes innovations through the concrete statement of a function and it does not confine students to a single theory while sociocultural factors evolve in a globalised society.
The flip side of the coin that involves the freedom to choose from different translation strategies based on the element of purpose, is that the theory may be seen as a vague framework that does not provide precise step-by-step orchestration.
Another issue is that literary and religious text involve particularly expressive and stylistic language where translations cannot operate based on the Skopos Theory.
[40] For example, bibles consist of artistic properties that engage prophetic visions, oratorical principles and analogies such as parables.
[41] Delving into the purpose of the translational action and not touching on an underlying linguistic analysis may not necessarily achieve the intended aptitude of the target language.
[19] Thus, Skopos Theory is not fully applicable to the wide stylistic genre of literature that includes literary texts.
[22] Vermeer and Reiß assertively frame disparate types of text relations using a general framework of skopos (purpose).
[1] Nevertheless, the application of Skopos Theory can still be applied to non-literary texts that have established purposes, fulfilling formal equivalence.
[5] The factor of ‘loyalty’ introduced by Nord can reduce this limitation by examining “the interpersonal relationship between the translator, the source-text sender, the target-text addressees and the initiator”.