Katharina Reiss (17 April 1923 – 16 April 2018) was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
and
translation scholar.
Her works are important in the field of
translation studies
Translation studies is an academic interdiscipline dealing with the systematic study of the theory, description and application of translation, interpreting, and Language localisation, localization. As an interdiscipline, translation studies borr ...
. She is widely seen as a co-founder of the
Skopos theory
Skopos theory (German: ''Skopostheorie''), a theory in the field of translation studies, employs the prime principle of a purposeful action that determines a translation strategy. The intentionality of a translational action stated in a translati ...
.
Life
Katharina Reiss was born in
Rheinhausen
Rheinhausen () is a district of the city of Duisburg in Germany, with a population of 78,203 (December 31, 2020) and an area of 38.68 km². It lies on the left bank of the river Rhine.
Rheinhausen consists of the neighbourhoods: Rumeln-Kald ...
, a small town on the left bank of the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
, and across the river from
Duisburg
Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...
into which, for administrative purposes, it has subsequently been subsumed. She passed her
school finals exam (''"Abitur"'' - loosely translated in English language sources as ''"diploma"'') in 1940 and went on to study between 1941 and 1944 at the Institute of Simultaneous Translation (''"Dolmetscher-Institut"'') of
Heidelberg University
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
, where she received her first degree as a "professional translator".
She taught at the institute's
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
department between 1944 and 1970. She combined her teaching work, between 1951 and 1954, with the study of
Philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
, receiving her doctorate in 1954 for a piece of work on the Spanish author-journalist
Leopoldo Alas (also known as "Clarin").
Between 1965 and 1970 she headed up the institute's Spanish department before transferring to
Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzburg is ...
where in 1971 she took up the post of Academic Director at the Romance Languages Seminar. Reiss received her
habilitation (higher academic qualification) from the
University of Mainz
The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 stu ...
for her research and development work involving so-called "Operative text types" (''"zum operativen Texttyp"''). A year later she accepted a teaching contract on translation studies at the university's
Germersheim
Germersheim () is a town in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, of around 20,000 inhabitants. It is also the seat of the Germersheim (district), Germersheim district. The neighboring towns and cities are Speyer, Landau, Philippsburg, Karlsru ...
campus, close to
the border with
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
. By this time she had been speaking on her translation studies speciality at academic conferences and similar events at various universities in Germany since at least as far back as 1967.
Later, during the Winter term of 1994/95 Reiss served as a guest professor at
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, presenting a lecture series for translation and simultaneous interpretation training.
Katharina Reiss died on 16 April 2018, one day before her 95th birthday.
Her former student
Christiane Nord contributed an appreciation in which she described Reiss as "a strict but fair teacher with a very subtle sense of humour".
[
]
Work
With almost 90 publications and lectures in more than 20 countries Katharina Reiss can be seen as one of the leading contemporary scholars of Translation science. She is widely identified as the co-founder, with Hans Vermeer, of the so-called Skopos theory
Skopos theory (German: ''Skopostheorie''), a theory in the field of translation studies, employs the prime principle of a purposeful action that determines a translation strategy. The intentionality of a translational action stated in a translati ...
of translation.
In order to establish a standard terminological structure for Translation Sciences, in her habilitation dissertation she proposed classifying each text for translation (''"The Operative Text"'') into one of four text types. Extrapolating from Karl Bühler
Karl Ludwig Bühler (27 May 1879 – 24 October 1963) was a German psychologist and linguist. In psychology he is known for his work in gestalt psychology, and he was one of the founders of the Würzburg School of psychology. In linguistics he i ...
's Organon model
The organon model is a model of communication by German psychologist and linguist Karl Ludwig Bühler (1879 – 1963). It was published in German in 1934. and not translated into English until 1990. In it he defined the functions of communicat ...
, the texts should be differentiated according to their respective functions, which she defines as "informative", "expressive" or "operative". She proposes a fourth type: "audio-medial", which covers texts that communicate using not just language, but also some other communications method such as acoustic or graphic or other technical.
Output (selection)
* ''Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Übersetzungskritik: Kategorien und Kriteren für eine sachgerechte Beurteilung von Übersetzungen''. Munich, Hueber, 1971. Translated into English by Erroll. F. Rhodes as ''Translation Criticism: The Potentials and Limitations. Categories and Criteria for Translation Quality Assessment''. St. Jerome Publishing Ltd, 2000.Translation Criticism
* (with
Hans Vermeer) ''Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie''. Tübingen, Niemeyer, 1984.
Bibliography
*
Holz-Mänttäri, Justa: ''Textdesign -- verantwortlich und gehirngerecht''. In: Holz-Mänttäri, Justa/
Nord, Christiane, eds.: ''Traducere Navem. Festschrift für Katharina Reiß zum 70. Geburtstag''. Tampereen yliopisto, Tampere 1993, pages 301-320. .
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reiss, Katharina
1923 births
2018 deaths
German translation scholars
German women writers
Linguists from Germany
20th-century German translators
20th-century German women