The functional approach presented in this paper rests on two pillars: a communication-oriented concept of textuality, on the one hand, and a target-oriented concept of translation, based on the principle of loyalty to cooperation partners, on the other. The model is claimed to be valid for all fields of oral or written intercultural communication and for any culture and language pair. The application of the mode to various text types (including literary texts) shows that there are a large number of translation problems which can and should be dealt with in a general matter.