Translation Models and Their Applicability to Technical Texts

Reiß and Vermeer’s elusive 6-step-theory is little helpful, as it is a confusing collection of mathematical formulae; their idea of skopos is, however, one clear basis for any kind of translation. / Holz-Mänttäri’s ways of describing a message’s course via a translator and/or “Botschaftsträger” and its reception in different “worlds” serves well for the topic of localization but is not necessarily the best theoretical basis for a translation as her complex notion of “Botschaftsträgerkonzeption”, even if with a clear aim, is not easy to elaborate. / Nord’s point of view that a text does not have a function before it is received shows clearly that each reader understands a text differently, and her appeal to loyalty is commendable and more “open”. However, her sometimes confusing models needed improving and further explanation. / House’s differentiation between overt and covert, her introduction of discourse worlds and readerships and the model for analyzing texts are one step further, even if only parts of it will ever be needed for a proper technical translation, as my further analyses show.