Translation Of Occult Text From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Functionalist skopos theory founded in1970s was mainly represented by Katharina Reiss, Hans J. Vemeer, Justa Holz-Manttari and Christiane Nord. Skopos theory put forward by Hans J.Vemeer is regarded as the core of functionalist skopos theory. From his perspective, the whole translating process is determined by its purpose. The third chapter of how to think about weird things translated by the author was written by two American Philosophers, belonging to occult texts. It intends to transmit the objective scientific truth and knowledge to its readers and helps them to struggle against their prejudice and cultivate their critical thinking by using vivid and logic language.This essay aims to translate the occult text from the perspective of skopos theory. By analyzing the text type of this translating material raised by Katharina Reiss, this essay intends to analyze the linguistic form, the text type, the characteristics and the intended functions of the source text and to make a detailed analysis of the main problems confronted by the author in the process of comprehension and expression, making a generalization and summarization of the findings and problems during the process of translating. Guided by skopos theory proposed by Vemeer, this essay emphasizes on giving a detailed explanation on those representative examples which are hard to translate from the levels of words and sentences, comparatively analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of different translations, correspondingly putting forward some translating methods and strategies, combining theory with practice and looking forward to improve the author’s translating skills.