Conclusion: skopos theory applied to paratext in Bibles

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4.7 Conclusion: skopos theory applied to paratext in Bibles

In this section I will summarize the findings of the previous sections of this chapter. In the next section I will try to apply them into a model for a translation project that includes careful handling of paratextual features. Paratext is added to a text in order to transform it into a publication. Paratext is added to guide the perception of the reader of the text. In the case of a translation of the Bible, almost all paratext is added by the translator andor editor. These two facts make it opportune when deciding about the paratextual elements to be added to a translation, to look for help from an approach to translation that focuses on the target side. Skopos theory is such an approach. Skopos theory considers translation a specific form of human action. It is an intentional, interpersonal, partly verbal intercultural interaction based on a source text. Attention is given to the communicative situation of the source text and to the communicative situation of the target text. The functions of source text and target text are not necessarily equal; that depends on the intention that one has to produce the translation: the intended function of the translation, its skopos. There are many possible functions, skopoi. Translators normally do not work on their own account; they are commissioned to work on a translation. The commission, or translation brief, should contain detailed information about the goal of the translation, and the conditions to fulfill the task. It can also contain details about the source for the translation, the method of translation and other elements. Important elements are the division of interpretative labour and the degree of interference from the source text De Vries. The specification of some elements can be left out of the commission and left to the responsibility of the expert. The commission should be 81 the result of consultation between the commissioner and the translator as expert in translation. From the translator loyalty is expected Nord. Used in Bible translation, skopos theory helps to have a theoretical foundation for translation that allows translators to take systematically purposeful decisions and to justify their decisions in order to make others translators, readers, publishers understand what was done and why. The central element in the decisions will be the skopos that is established for the translation. The fidelity of a translation is measured in terms of complying with its skopos Vermeer. Bible translation can have many functions: when it is the first translation in a language of which most of its speakers are monolingual, it often will have a missionary function. In situations with established churches in the language area, the functions can multiply; function specialization inevitably takes place De Vries. Possible functions are: liturgical and church function, study function, common language function, secular literary-cultural functions, and private reading functions. The close interrelatedness of a translation and its paratext in serving the skopos of a translation requires that the treatment of paratext be dealt with in the translation commission and that the paratext is prepared at the same time as the translation. Decisions about the paratextual elements that are added to the translation depend from the skopos of the translation. In case there is more than one edition of a translation prepared, one should speak of the skopos of each edition. 158 Each skopos might require its own paratextual features. 158 The skopos of an edition might influence the translation in the edition and require adaptation. For example, in Catholic editions the order of books in the Old Testament sometimes is changed. In the case of an edition of the Dutch Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling, an edition of the Old Testament as the Tanach for a Jewish audience, the personal name of God in the translation was given as ‘YHWH’ instead of ‘HEER’ as in all other editions. 82

4.8 Elements for a model of a Bible translation project including attention for paratext