On “Skopos and Commission in Translational Action”
Translation is an action. Translation, which is a kind of action, has a purpose. Skopos is the technical word for the aim of translation. Translational action results in a verbal or non-verbal “target text”, whereas translation results in a translatum, which is the resulting target text (Vermeer 2000:221). When the translational action is initiated by the initiator (say, the company who wants a specific advertisement to be translated), the commissioner (say, the coordinator at the translation bureau) who has been informed on the offer of translation calls the expert (ibid 2000:222), which is the translator. All initiator, commissioner and the translator might be the same person as well, and in this case the translator wants to translate a specific text, an even in that case, this action has a purpose, for the translator should explain why he chose to translate this particular text while he could have acted otherwise (ibid 2000:223). If the former example is the case, explaining what kind of purpose s/he has in mind, the initiator should negotiate with the translator on the prospective features of the target text. “A precise specification of aim and mode is essential for the translator” so as for the translator make a good job (ibid 2000:221).The purpose of the source text will direct the translator throughout the process of translation (ibid 2000:222). There might be different purposes in one particular text. In that case the translator will “use the skopos concept with respect to segments of translatum” (ibid 2000:222).
“The source text is oriented towards the source culture” (ibid 2000:222). “Language is part of culture” (ibid 2000:222). “Source and target text may diverge from each other quite considerably”, but in other cases the skopos might also be literal translation of the source text, say for a book of comparative linguistics (ibid 2000:223). “The point is that one must know what one is doing, and what the consequences of such action are” (ibid 2000:223). The action during the process of translating involves decisions: “for an act to be called an action, the person performing it must potentially be able to explain why he acts as he does although he could have acted otherwise” (ibid 2000:223). Cicero argues that “some disadvantage, or some advantage is neglected in order to gain a greater advantage or avoid a greater disadvantage” (cited by Vermeer 2000:223). Tymoczko’s view of translation is similar: “there are many parts that can stand for the whole... which part we pick out determines which aspect of the whole we are focusing on... The metonymic aspects of translation are not random, but systematic” (1999:58) Metonymic here means a part standing for the whole, and its systematicity is no different than the strategy which is determined according to the skopos.
REFERENCES:
Tymoczko, Maria (1999) “The Metonymics of Translation” in Translation in a Post-colonial Context, St. Jerome.
Vermeer, Hans (2000) “Skopos and Commission in Translational Action” in The Translation Studies Reader ed. Lawrence Venuti, New York: Routledge.
“The source text is oriented towards the source culture” (ibid 2000:222). “Language is part of culture” (ibid 2000:222). “Source and target text may diverge from each other quite considerably”, but in other cases the skopos might also be literal translation of the source text, say for a book of comparative linguistics (ibid 2000:223). “The point is that one must know what one is doing, and what the consequences of such action are” (ibid 2000:223). The action during the process of translating involves decisions: “for an act to be called an action, the person performing it must potentially be able to explain why he acts as he does although he could have acted otherwise” (ibid 2000:223). Cicero argues that “some disadvantage, or some advantage is neglected in order to gain a greater advantage or avoid a greater disadvantage” (cited by Vermeer 2000:223). Tymoczko’s view of translation is similar: “there are many parts that can stand for the whole... which part we pick out determines which aspect of the whole we are focusing on... The metonymic aspects of translation are not random, but systematic” (1999:58) Metonymic here means a part standing for the whole, and its systematicity is no different than the strategy which is determined according to the skopos.
REFERENCES:
Tymoczko, Maria (1999) “The Metonymics of Translation” in Translation in a Post-colonial Context, St. Jerome.
Vermeer, Hans (2000) “Skopos and Commission in Translational Action” in The Translation Studies Reader ed. Lawrence Venuti, New York: Routledge.
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