Translating as a Purposeful Activity: Functionalist Approaches Explained

German-language approaches to translation have been revolutionized by the theory of actions (handlungstheorie) and the related theory of a translation's goal or purpose (skopostheorie). Both these approaches are functionalist, they seek to liberate translators from servitude to the source text, seeing translation as a communicative act that must be purposeful with respect to the translator's client and readership.
This survey of functionalist approaches in English explains the complexities o...