On The Translation Of Consumers' Guides To Cosmetics From The Perspective Of The Skopostheorie

The paper draws upon the Skopostheorie represented by Hans J. Vermeer and Katharina Reiss's text typology as a main source of theorization.Consumers' guides fall within the category of pragmatic writings which always display their own stylistic features. Generally speaking, a consumer's guide to cosmetics contains seven parts, viz, directions on using the product, descriptions of ingredients, results, warning, information on storage, expiry date and batch number, and each of them tends to have different functions. In the light of Reiss's text typology, they are classified into three text types as follows: the descriptions of ingredients, expiry date and batch number belong to the content-focused texts which function as information providers; The results belong to the form-focused texts intended to fulfill the expressive function; and directions on using the product, warning and information on storage are the appeal-focused text endowed with the operative function.A consumer's guide to a given commodity is a kind of purposeful text which, on the basis of its promotional effect through advertising, is aimed at persuading the readers to buy the commodity directly. In translation, the target readers' expectations of the functions of the text types should be considered. On the basis of the application of the Skopostheorie, particularly the three rules, to some specific examples, two translation approaches will be put forward, one is factual approach and the other is emotional approach.