In this study, a functional model for translation quality assessment is developed, based on two fundamental elements: a set of instruments enabling one to compare source and target texts, and a specific view on the relationships between the two texts, which determines the method of analysis. The main focus here is on the target text as an independent entity, whereas the study of the relationships between it and the original has a secondary position. The practicability of the approach is demonstrated by the analysis and comparison of four pairs of Spanish non-literary texts and their translations into Dutch. An extensive account is given of the current state of the applied branches of Translation Studies as well as discourse analysis and text linguistics.