Construction Of Translation Process Under The Principles Of Functionalism

Functionalism first came into being in the 1970s in German, with its focus on the text function, translating action as well as its Skopos. According to the functionalism, the whole translating process, including its choices of translation strategies and techniques, is decided by the Skopos that the translating action is to achieve. This thesis intends to illustrate which translation strategies and translation techniques can be adopted under the guidance of the Skopos so as to construct a complete translation process under the functionalism.In the first chapter, we have a brief historical review of the German functionalism. Functionalist ideas can be traced back to very early stage of translation practice, while the German functionalism summarizes and sorts out these ideas in a more systematic way. The appearance of German functionalism has its theoretical and social background. The functionalism liberates the translation theory from the impasse of equivalence, breaks the bond of source text and gives priority to the target text function. As for its social background, in modern times, when translating and transmitting the substantive information, the translators need a more pragmatic theory to guide their practice, thus the development of the functionalism. Subsequently the thesis illustrates the origin and development of functionalism and introduces these four representatives of German functionalism and their major contribution, i.e. Katharina Reiss and her Text Typology, Hans.J.Vermeer and his Skopos Theory, Justa.Holz-Manttari and her Translation Action as well as Christiane Nord and her Function plus Loyalty.In the second chapter, we construct a framework of translating under the German functionalism. We distinguish the concept of translation action, translating and translation. The Skopos Rule guides the whole translating process, and during this process, there are different agents who play different roles. What needs to be mentioned is that the status of the translator is greatly enhanced and thus plays an important role in the translating process. We also anticipate some translation problems that may come up in the following steps of this process. The third chapter explains the translating process in detail. First, the translator identifies the Skopos of translating through the analysis of the translation brief, and then decides on the translation strategy according to the analysis of the communicative function of the texts. We illustrate different translation strategies of four translation approaches: the traditional approach, the sociosemiotic approach, the polysystem approach and the functionalist approach. The translation strategies proposed by these four approaches have their differences and overlaps, and the translator can flexibly choose the translation strategy according to the Skopos.After the translation strategy is confirmed, the translator comes to the decision of the general translation techniques---translation proper and translation variation, and under them there are various specific translation techniques that can be adopted when processing a specific text. For example, there are amplification, omission and transformation under the translation proper; and selected translation, edited translation and adaptation under the translation variation.The last chapter, as the conclusion, summarizes the whole thesis that under German functionalism, the translating is a top-down process. The Skopos should be first identified and under its guidance, the translator should choose the proper translation strategies, general translation techniques and specific translation techniques in turn.