Assessment Of Translation Of Prospectus A Functionalist Approach

The present study makes a quality assessment of current translation of prospectus in Hong Kong based on the Sokopstheorie in functionalist translation theories, with a view to enriching both the application area of functionalism and the research field of legal translation studies and hopefully finding a guiding theory for prospectus translation practice.Following the logic of Skopostheorie, we first make an analysis of the translation brief of prospectus mainly in aspects of sender, receiver, text function, etc., which decide the skopos of prospectus translation. Based on the analysis of translation brief, an assessment of the translation of prospectus is presented with the three rules in Skopostheorie as the criteria, i.e. Skopos Rule, Coherence Rule and Fidelity Rule, at various levels of style, diagrams and figures, syntax and lexis. It is pointed out that skopos rule is the supreme rule in all levels of translation. Coherence rule and fidelity rule are of different applicability in different perspective while both subsume to skopos rule. In the translation of diagrams and technical terms, fidelity rule serves better the skopos while in translation of style, syntax and abbreviations, coherence serves better the skopos. Based on these analyses, the merits and demerits of current prospectus translation in Hong Kong are evident. It is hoped that this study will cast some light upon the prospectus translation practice in Hong Kong.