Towards a General Theory of Translational Action

Katharina Reiß, Hans J. Vermeer, Christiane Nord, Marina Dudenhöfer

• 0. Introduction0.1 Preliminary remarks0.2 General epistemological considerations0.3 The purpose of T&I studies0.4 General remarks on terminologyPart I. Theoretical groundwork1. Terminological distinctions1.1 The need for a generic term1.2 The advantage of neologisms1.3 Formal distinctions1.4 Summary 11.5 Other definitions2. Of worlds and languages2.1 Framework for a theory of translational action: an overview2.2 The concept of ‘language’2.3 Forms of transfer2.4 Summary: ‘Transfer’ as a generic concept2.5 Language and culture2.6 What is translated?3. Translational action as an ‘offer of information’ (functional definition)3.1 Different translation strategies at work3.2 Translation seen as a two-phase communication process3.3 An ‘information’ theory of translation3.4 In search of a consistent theory: five examples3.5 Another short note on terminology3.6 Translation as an IO about another IO3.7 Types of ‘information offers’ about texts3.8 The benefits of our theory3.9 Translation as ‘imitatio’4. The priority of purpose (skopos theory)4.1 Introductory remarks4.2 The priority of functionality4.3 Summary4.4 The skopos rule4.5 The sociological rule4.6 Phases in decision-making4.7 Skopos hierarchies4.8 Source-text skopos vs. target-text skopos5. Summary of the theoretical groundwork (3, 4)6. Some further considerations regarding the theoretical groundwork6.1 Success and protest6.2 Intratextual coherence6.3 Intertextual coherence (fidelity)6.4 Types of coherence7. General rules for translational action8. Taxonomy for a theory of translational action8.1 Preliminary remarks8.2 Models of translational action8.3 TaxonomyPart II. Specific theories9. The relationship between source text and target text10. Equivalence and adequacy10.0 Preliminary remarks10.1 Towards a definition of equivalence10.2 Origin of the equivalence concept10.3 On the fuzziness of the equivalence concept10.4 Defining the scope of the equivalence concept10.5 The concept of adequacy10.6 Equivalence vs. adequacy10.7 Equivalence as a dynamic concept10.8 Text and textual equivalence10.9 Equivalence criteria10.10 Achieving textual equivalence in the translation process10.11 The text10.12 Hierarchies of equivalence requirements10.13 Discussion of examples10.14 Conclusions11. Genre theory11.0 Introduction11.1 The concept of genre11.2 Genre definition11.3 Genre conventions and genre classes11.4 The role of genre in the communicative event11.5 The role of genre in the translation process11.6 Summary12. Text type and translation12.0 Preliminary remarks12.1 Text status12.2 Text function12.3 Text types12.4 Hybrid forms12.5 Identifying signals12.6 Amplification of the typology12.7 The relevance of text types for translationEpilogue