功能翻译理论

功能翻译理论（functional translation theory）简述

功能翻译理论（functional translation theory）诞生在20世纪70年代的德国，形成这一理论有三个杰出贡献者：Katharine Reiss, Hans J. Vermeer and Christiane Nord。

根据杂志上发表的论文、学术会议上宣读的论文、学术报告和出版的专著，功能翻译理论（functional translation theory）的要点简述如下：1、分析概念段（conceptual paragraph，具有明确主题意义一个或多个自然段）和句子的修辞功能，使修辞功能的形式重现，从形式的等同中求得功能的等值，意义的等值，这种翻译叫做功能翻译。翻译应该是在修辞功能等值的前提下，遵守“信、达、X”规范；文体不同，翻译的目的不一样，X不一样。（张梅岗，《中国科技翻译》，1994，（3）；刘重德，《三湘译论》，湖南出版社，1995；周笃宝，《中国翻译》，2000，（2））

2、功能翻译理论（functional translation theory）强调修辞形式等同和功能等值的一致性，修辞是手段，是形式；功能是修辞产生的结果或达到的目的，是内容的总和。修辞包括概念段内和句内的修辞，即语言语境的修辞，也包括情景语境、文化语境、语用语境的修辞。（《科技英语修辞》，1998）换句话说，在概念段和句子中，语义、语法和语用三者合为一体表达修辞功能。

3、功能是靠结构（structures）来体现的，任何一种语言都是由四种符号元素（词、词标识、词序和语调）构成。语言结构（constructions）的认知图式与其他认知领域的认知图式类似，由简单到复杂，由具体

到抽象，构成语言因果网络。概念段贯穿了一条主题链，或称因果键。这条因果键是命题或语言事件构成的，也是它们的概念化的参考点。（《中国翻译》，1998，（5）此文已被美国Colby Information Center of Science & Culture收录，网上转载。）

4、功能翻译理论（functional translation theory）强调认知图式理论对翻译实践和翻译研究的作用，各种普遍结构和特殊结构的认知图式越具体、越丰富，对翻译研究和实践的能力就越强，是译者形成图式文本的基础。

5、功能翻译理论（functional translation theory）强调，翻译过程是个斡旋推理过程，因果链是逻辑推理的基本结构，利用已知信息，对非语言要素（如情景、文化和语用等语境）的修辞功能进行判断，产生正确的推时结论。（《英汉功能翻译》，1999）

中国传统翻译理论研究局限于翻译原则或者翻译技巧的研究，缺乏真正的理论研究，自然也就缺乏方法论，所以中国的传统翻译理论很难指导翻译实践。本文简略介绍功能翻译理论（functional translation theory），并探究其理论基础，通过关联理论详述功能翻译理论（functional translation theory），从而丰富了功能翻译理论（functional translation theory）的内容。

The functionalist translation theory came into being in 1970s in Germany, and there have been three distinguished contributors to the formation of this theory: Katharine Reiss, Hans J. Vermeer and Christiane Nord.

In 1971, in her book Possibilities and Limits of Translation Criticism, Katharina Reiss put forward a model of translation criticism based on the functional relationship between source and target texts. However, her theory was firmly within equivalence principle. Yet Reiss is aware that there do exist situations “where equivalence is not possible and in some cases, not even desired” and there are “certain exceptions from the equivalence requirement”(Nord 2001: 9). One exception is when the target text has a different communicative function from the source text. “In such situations, she thinks that the functional perspective takes precedence over the normal standards of equivalence. Then translation critic can no longer rely on features derived from source-text analysis but has to judge whether the target is functional in terms of the translation context.”(Nord 1997: 9)

Hans J. Vermeer, the student of Reiss, gave up the source-text centered linguistic translation theory altogether. Based on action theory, Vermeer defined translation as a purposeful human activity that takes place in a given situation. And he made a breakthrough by putting forward his famous Skopostheorie which is regarded as the landmark of functional translation. Skopos is a Greek word for “purpose”, and Skopostheorie means the theory of purposeful action. Skopostheorie includes three principal rules: namely, the Skopos rule, the coherence rule (intratextual

coherence) and fidelity rule (intertextual coherence). Vermeer explains the Skopos rule in this way:

Each text is produced for a given purpose which the text is intended to serve. The Skopos rule thus reads as follows: translate/ interpret/ speak/ write 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. (Vermeer 1989a: 20, cit. Nord, 1997)

Coherence rule specified that a translation should be acceptable in the sense that it is coherent with the receiver’s situati on, that is, the target-text receivers should be able to understand the target text and interpret it as being sufficiently coherent with their own communicative situation and culture. At the same time, we have to note that since the target text is produced according to the formation offered in the source text, it is expected to bear some kind of relationship with the source text. This relationship is what we call “intertextual coherence” or“ fidelity”.

On the basis of Skopostheorie by Hans J. Vermeer, Nord summarized other academic thought and Criticism to the functionalist translation theory. She put forward the loyalty rule, which is the supplement to

Skopostheorie. The loyalty rule repaired the disadvantages and limitation of the skopos rule, eliminate the translation at random and avoid the tendency which thinks translation is just target text writing.

另外附上一篇关于功能翻译理论起源的文章希望对大家研究功能翻译理论有所帮助。