A Short History of Functionalist TheoriesAbstract: Fuctionalist theory is one of the most influential translation theory in the world. It emphasizes that the scientific method can be applied to translation study translation should meet certain kind of need. In 1970s, it was put forward in German and since then, it develops very fast. The most representative persons in its history is Katharina Reiss, Hans J. Vermeer, Justa Holz M鉵tt鉹i and Christiane Nord. This thesis is a short history of the development of functionalist approaches and will focus on these persons and their theories.Key words: functionalist approaches, text-typology, skopos, translational act