10. Translational purpose – skopos theory Lingua Inglese 2 LM

Papa/Scalfari - genre analysis part 1 1. COMMUNICATIVE PURPOSE OF THE ST the source the writer the readers ANALYSE THESE ON THE HANDOUT

Scalfari/Papa – communicative purpose THE SOURCE What is the Repubblica Magazine? How is it different from the newspaper? What kind of articles does it write? What is its attitude to religion? What is its attitude to translation; what gets translated and why?

Scalfari/Papa – communicative purpose THE WRITER Who is Scalfari? What is his attitude to religion? Is the article about Scalfari or about Papa Francesco ?

Scalfari/Papa – communicative purpose THE READER Who reads the Repubblica magazine? Who is likely to click on and read this article?

Papa/Scalfari -genre analysis part 2 2. TEXT ANALYSIS OF THE ST the text type the lexis the grammar the discourse organisation

Papa/Scalfari – text type JOURNALISTIC TEXT TYPES Informative texts – news report with factual description of events Interpretive – reportage in which info is selected, interpreted and narrated by the journalist Argumentative genres The author’s style prevails – the “opinion” article WHICH TEXT TYPE FOR PAPA/SCALFARI?

Papa/Scalfari – text type INTERVIEW (not a typical celebrity interview nor a typical political one) A MIXTURE - DOESN’T FIT THE USUAL PARAMETERS Informative texts – news report with factual description of events (NOT MUCH OF THIS) Interpretive – reportage in which info is selected, interpreted and narrated by the journalist Argumentative genres The author’s style prevails – the “opinion” article INTERVIEW + NARRATIVE, REPORTAGE, OPINION

Papa/Scalfari - lexicogrammar a lot of translation of speech mix of formal and informal registers present and past tenses

Papa/Scalfari - discourse organisation introduced as an interview in the present narrative in flashback (present and past) narrated interview questions and answers

Translating the Scalfari text We have analysed the source text The Repubblica also provided a translation of the Italian text for its “English version” We need to analyse the purpose of the translation?

Two purposes Analysing the purpose of a text is an important part of genre analysis. There are 2 kinds of purpose. the communicative purpose of the ST the purpose of the translation itself The purpose of a translation often decides the strategy and method of translation

Skopos theory adds to genre analysis Genre analysis – 3 stages 1. COMMUNICATIVE PURPOSE OF THE ST the source the writer the readers 2. TEXT ANALYSIS OF THE ST the text type the lexis the grammar the discourse organisation 3. PURPOSE OF THE TRANSLATION ITSELF translation commission (function)

Analysing the purpose of a translation Skopos theory (Reiss & Vermeer (1984) The purpose of the translation is paramount Rules a TT is determined by its overall purpose (skopos) a TT is a message in a target culture/TL concerning a message in a source culture/SL a TT is not clearly reversible a TT must be internally coherent a TT must be coherent with the ST

Implications of skopos theory The source text is dethroned. The same text can be translated in different ways for different purposes. All strategies are legitimate if they achieve the purpose. The purpose of what translators do (“translatorial action”) may be to produce equivalence to various aspects of the source text, or to engage in rewriting, or to give advice, as required. The translator is an expert who decides on the basis of the client’s instructions (commission).

Translator-client relationship In the last analysis, the purpose of the translation is defined by the individual translator, working in relation with all the other social actors involved A key factor in defining the purpose of the translation are the instructions given by the client or negotiated with the client. A good working relationship between translator and client is very important; translator needs to advise the client on translation and explain what he/she is doing with the translation

Strong points of skopos translation The “skopos-purpose” paradigm recognizes that the translator works in a professional situation, with complex obligations to people rather than to texts. It liberates the translator from theories that would try to formulate linguistic rules governing every decision. It forces us to see translation as a project, involving many factors, rather than as work on just one text. It can address ethical issues in social terms.

Weak points Difficulties in translation are often questions of conflicting purpose Skopos theory cannot resolve cases of conflicting purposes. Hard to apply to literary translation. Do poems have a purpose?

Papa/Scalfari – what is the purpose of the translation You need to make a hypothesis about the commission What did the editor tell the translator to do?

Scalfari/Papa - client/translator commission INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE CLIENT Keep the readers happy Keep it interesting Keep it accurate QUESTIONS FACING THE TRANSLATOR Yes, but who reads the English version of the Repubblica magazine? Ok, but what is interesting for the readers OK, but how free can I be?

Other important questions for the translator The Pope is speaking in Italian – it’s not his native language. Is there any sense of “foreignness” in the ST? What kind of Italian speaker has he been represented as being in the ST? What kind of English speaker should the translator represent the Pope as? For Catholic readers the Pope’s words are the word of God so the translator has to be 100% accurate !