Vermeer has constructed a comprehensive and nearly inarguable theory in his article “Skopos and Commission in Translational Action” (1989). I found his argument that all translation has an aim or function fairly impenetrable, and I did spend a significant amount of time trying to find issues in it. The statement that stuck out to me as the most problematic was when he says that “[i]t goes without saying that a translatum may also have the same function (skopos) as its source text” (Vermeer 1989, 223). In my opinion it is actually impossible for a translation to have the same skopos as the original. A translation is never produced in the same context as its source text; there are always different cultural, political, economic etc factors at play, however insignificant they may be and these will always affect the skopos. In addition to this, the mere fact of being a translation means that part of the skopos is providing access to the work to a broader audience.
I also found myself slightly uncomfortable with Vermeer’s use of “function” and “aim” as interchangeable English definitions of skopos. To me “function” implies an actual purpose for a thing while “aim” is closer to a hoped-for function and doesn’t have the same connotation of realizing that intention. Perhaps this is simply a case of my having a differing opinion from that of Vermeer on the connotations of these two terms. However, I would argue, based on Jakobson’s article, that they are not interchangeable, as “synonymy, as a rule, is not complete equivalence” (Jakobson 1959, 115). In my opinion, in order to truly define skopos, Vermeer ought to pick one or the other of these words, unless he wishes to encompass both meanings (intended and fulfilled function) in his definition. This may actually be an accurate definition as it allows for the skopos to change during the translation process.
Works Cited
Jakobson, Roman. (1959) 2000. “On Linguistic Aspects of Translation.” In The Translation Studies Reader, edited by Lawrence Venuti. London; New York: Routledge, 114-118.
Vermeer, Hans J. (1989) 2000. “Skopos and Commission in Translational Action.” In The Translation Studies Reader, edited by Lawrence Venuti. London; New York: Routledge, 221-232.
Translation Studies 5100 
Thank you, I agree completely with your point on the interchangeable use of “function” and “aim”. When I am teaching this course face to face, this is one of the points I always emphasize. I think he would be much better off to use the term “intended function”. Not problematizing the notion of function also goes against the strong target oriented perspective of Vermeer.
As for whether a translation can never have the same function as the source text, I guess this depends on how broadly you define function and how exact you wish to be in including the contexts of reception and production.
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Thank you for your interesting ideas on Vermeer’s Skopostheorie, Laura!
The issue of a translation and an original having (or not having) the same skopos sounds very engaging and debatable at the same time. I believe it is important to consider the concept of translation’s status, when discussing the function of the original and its translation.
Andrew Chesterman distinguishes four possible variables of the status in his Default Prototype Concept: autonomous, equal, parallel or derived (Chesterman 1997). He argues, that in such texts as university information brochures for foreign students, translation has an autonomous status. The Law of European Union in different EU-languages has an equal status. Whereas, instructions for use or product inscriptions are argued to have a parallel status. All the other cases are described to have a derived status.
Given that EU Law, as a system of rules operating within the member states, was collectively agreed by the governments and is consistently imposed in the member states, it is essential that the translations as well as the original have the same function, the same skopos. I would also like to emphasize that translations of user’s manuals have the same skopos as their source texts: they aim to provide the user with the basic knowledge about equipment operation and maintenance.
Therefore, it is possible to outline that translations, which have equal and parallel status to the source text, have the same skopos as their originals.
References:
Chesterman, Andrew. Memes of Translation: The Spread of Ideas in Translation Theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1997.
Vermeer, Hans J. “Skopos and Commission in Translational Action.” Translated by Andrew Chesterman. In The Translation Studies Reader, edited by Lawrence Venuti, 191-202. 3rd ed. London and New York: Routledge, 2012.
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