Skopos theory is a theory that applies Skopos theory to translation, and its core idea is that the most important factor in the translation process is the purpose of the overall translation behavior.

Skopos theory is usually used to refer to the purpose of translation, and the word Skopos comes from the Greek purpose "Skopos". Besides teleology, Vermeer also used some related words such as teleology, teleology, teleology, teleology and teleology. In order to avoid conceptual confusion, Nord puts forward a basic distinction between intention and function: "intention" is defined from the sender's point of view, while "function" refers to text function, which is determined by the receiver's expectations, needs, known knowledge and environmental conditions.

In Vermeer's Skopos Theory, one of the most important factors determining the purpose of translation is the audience, who have their own cultural background knowledge, expectations for translation and needs for communication. Every kind of translation points to a certain audience, so translation is a text produced for a certain purpose and target audience in the target language situation. Vermeer believes that for the target readers, the original text is only the source of part or all of the information. It can be seen that the position of the original text in teleology is obviously lower than that in equivalence theory.

The first stage: catherina Rice introduced functional category into translation criticism for the first time, and linked language function, text type and translation strategy to develop a translation criticism model based on the functional relationship between the source text and the target text, thus putting forward the embryonic form of functionalism theory. Rice believes that the ideal translation should be a comprehensive communicative translation, that is, it is equivalent to the original in concept, content, language form and communicative function, but in practice, the functional characteristics of the translation should be given priority.

In the second stage, Vermeer put forward Skopos Theory, freeing translation studies from the shackles of text-centered theory. According to this theory, translation is a purposeful and fruitful behavior based on the original text, which must be completed through negotiation, and translation must follow a series of rules, among which the Skopos rule is the first. In other words, translation depends on the purpose of translation. In addition, translation must follow the "intralingual coherence rule" and "interlingual coherence rule". The former means that the translation must be internally coherent and understandable by the target readers, while the latter means that the translation and the original text should also be coherent. After these three principles are put forward, the criterion for judging translation is no longer "equivalence", but the adequacy of the translation to achieve the expected goal. Vermeer also put forward the concept of translation entrustment, that is, the translator should decide whether, when and how to complete the translation task. In other words, translators should adopt corresponding translation strategies according to different translation purposes, and have the right to decide which contents of the original text can be retained and which contents need to be adjusted or modified according to translation purposes.