In the process of making China known to the outside world, Chinese-English guide interpretation plays an irreplaceable role which is never just the transference between two languages but an intercultural communication. But invalidity of translation in practice constantly prohibits the smooth understanding of target receivers. The functionalist theory appeared just in response to the need of giving a strong theoretical support.
Skopostheorie considers translation as a purposeful action, that is, produced for a given purpose and should serve this purpose. This is the very theoretical foundation of the functionalist theory. The term Skopos always refers to the purpose of the target text which is determined by the addressee, the main factor, who is the intended receiver or audience of the target text with their culture-specific world-knowledge, their expectations and their communicative needs.
Apparently, the interpretation strategy utilized here is a target-language-oriented one, which means that the target culture power, not the source culture one, is a more important parameter in the interpreting process for a functionalist interpreter to weigh in his mind.
In accordance with the conclusion drawn in the previous chapter, Chapter Five embarked on the analysis of specific interpreting strategies adopted in the practice of guide-interpretation.