Translation Theories and the Strategy of Interpretation in the Chinese Translation of José Martí’s Ismaelillo

The present study investigates the translation theories employed in the process of translating Jose Marti’s Ismaelillo into Chinese as 《我兒，以實瑪利》 (Soang, 2020). The translation theories investigated in this study include the strategies of poetry translation developed by Andre Lefevere and the theories of Charles Sanders Peirce, Ferdinand de Saussure, Jacques Derrida, and Roland Barthes. Further, it is important to examine the differences between the source language and the target language in relation to cultural issues. Lastly, some practical suggestions for the future study of poetry translation are discussed.


Introduction
The translator is, metaphorically speaking, a solitary navigator who travels through infinite oceans. Discussing the translator's identity, Zaixi Tan (2012) used images of social persons to describe what a translator is or should be like.
Tan provided a list of "categories" of metaphors depicting the translator's iden- tity: painter, actor, musician, mediator, bridge-builder, matchmaker, photographer, competitor, transformer, traitor, slave, traveler, merchant, reporter, pass keeper, and a morning star (Tan, 2012: p. 19). Based on my experience of translation, I am particularly interested in the metaphor of the translator as a "traveler" since there are many unknown things waiting to be discovered in the journey of words. Charles Batteux also viewed the translator as a "traveler": "He Greek literature" (Herder, 1766(Herder, -1767. Translation is never an easy task. In Taiwan, most research on translation has focused on comparative studies of the texts of novels translated from English to Chinese. Little is known about the methodological problems encountered in poetry translation, especially in the works of translation between Spanish and Chinese. Three works of translation of Spanish contemporary poetry that have received the most attention by Chinese readers are Juan Ramón Jiménez's Platero y yo (1914,1917), Pablo Neruda's Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada (1924), and Octavio Paz's Piedra de Sol (1957). These poets shared the same honor of being a Nobel Prize winner in World Literature. Their poetic works have been translated either directly from Spanish to Chinese or indirectly from English to Chinese.
Another significant Spanish-language poet was José Martí, who wrote Ismaelillo (1882), considered the first work of modernism in Latin American Literature. Martí was not only a great man in Latin American history but also an advocate for children's education. In my attentive study of Ismaelillo, which consists of fifteen poems focusing on a father-son relationship, I was amazed by the powerful images and innovative language used by the poet. Although the poetic style is not complicated, the number of aphorisms used and the length of complex sentences make the reading difficult. Martí references historical figures and events and makes constant allusions to literature, current affairs, and cultural matters to illustrate and render convincing his ideas and "advanced" notions. For this reason, Héctor Hernández Pardo suggested that Martí may be difficult to read and translate (Hernández Pardo, 2000: p. 146). Translations of Martí's work that can be found in World Literature have indeed been scarce.
My present research is an investigation of the theoretical works on poetry translation applied to the translation of Martí's Ismaelillo. First, I will examine André Lefevere's seven strategies of poetry translation; the strategy of interpretation will be included in my discussion. Further, I will examine the theories of semiology created by Ferdinand de Saussure, Charles Sanders Peirce, and Roland Barthes and develop a model of translation to explain more clearly the processes of translating Ismaelillo into Chinese. Finally, I will discuss some practical matters, such as problems in the process of translation.

Translation Theories
Susan Bassnett (2002: p. 84) suggested an analysis of poetry translation should include an investigation of Lefevere's seven strategies of poetry translation (1975), which were based on his study of the English translation of Catullus' six-

Interpretation
The strategy of interpretation is divided into two subcategories, i.e., versions and imitations. Bassnett explained that "Lefevere discussed what he calls versions where the substance of the SL text is retained but the form is changed, and imitations where the translator produces a poem of his own which has 'only title and point of departure, if those, in common with the source text'" (Bassnett, 2002: p. 84). "Versions" represent an SL-oriented approach, whereas "imitations" represent a TL-oriented approach. Based on Lefevere's strategy of interpretation, a basic model of poetry translation processing (PTP) was developed as illustrated in Figure 1.
In the process of deconstruction, several situations, such as rhyming problems and semantic issues, need special attention. When the translator attempts to recompose a poem, he/she has to tackle the problem of selecting the proper vocabulary by employing the addition, deletion, and recreation of words, i.e., a  Derrida interpreted or translated in his own language the myth of the "tower of Babel" 4 in his article, "Des Tours de Babel" (1985), arguing that the SL text is not original; instead, it is the elaboration of an idea from another foreign language. Therefore, the assumption of viewing the TL text as a product inferior to the SL text should be abandoned. According to Derrida, a translation contract is a "marriage contract in the form of a seminar": "Benjamin says as much, in the translation the original becomes larger; it grows rather than reproduces itself-and I will add: like a child, its own, no doubt, but with the power to speak on its own which makes of a child something other than a product subjected to the law of reproduction. This promise signals a kingdom which is at once 'promised and forbidden where the languages will be reconciled and fulfilled'" (Derrida, 1985: p. 191).

Semiology
Signs exist everywhere in our daily life. We communicate with each other either verbally or non-verbally by sending as well as receiving messages. In the world of literature, it is the obligation of the reader/-translator to interpret the SL message by employing multidisciplinary methods with the purpose of "decoding" the signs of the original text and then "encoding" the language into the TL text, ac-2 Walter Benjamin (1892Benjamin ( -1940 was a German Jewish philosopher, literary and social critic, essayist, and translator. Two other essays of his are of great importance as well: "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Preproduction" (1936) and "Theses on the Philosophy of History" (1940).
3 Jacques Derrida (1930Derrida ( -2004 developed most of his ideas about deconstruction in his work, Of Grammatology, first published in 1967 (Derrida, 1997). 4 "The 'tower of Babel' does not merely figure the irreducible multiplicity of tongues; it exhibits an incompletion, the impossibility of finishing, of totalizing, of saturating, of completing something on the order of edification, architectural construction, system and architectonics" (Jacques Derrida, 1985: p. 165). Open Journal of Modern Linguistics cording to Nida's (1964)

1) Sign and Language
According to Saussure (1916), language is a system of signs, and words only carry meaning because of the contrast between these signs. Saussure explained the relationship between sign and language in the following: [W]hen we consider the/sign in its totality, we have something that is positive in its own class. The terms "decoding" and "encoding" derive from Nida's (1964) translation theory. As the "son" image is associated with obedience and filial duty in Chinese traditional thought, Martí's use of the "son" image requires a further explanation for Chinese readers. In Ismaelillo, as a symbol of power, bravery, love, and justice in the context of war and revolution, the "son" is a source of inspiration for the poet as well as the representation of idealization.
In Ismaelillo, the poet names the son after the biblical figure of Ishmael, the first son of Abraham (亞伯拉罕), who was born from Abraham and Sarah's (撒 拉) handmaiden, Hagar (夏甲). Ishmael's name literally means "God has hearkened" (神聽見). 7 He was promised to be a brave fighter who would beget numerous descendants who would become so strong that they would establish a large nation in the future. Ishmael is also believed to be the ancestor of Arabs today. The following passages from the Bible describe Ishmael: The angel of the Lord also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. (Genesis XVII: 20) 至於以實瑪利，我也應允你：我必賜福給他，使他昌盛極其繁多，他必 生十二個族長，我也要使他成為大國。(創世紀 17 章 20 節) According to Jorge Camacho (2006), Martí (1999) employed oracular discourse to reveal the poet's search for a union with the universe through the son's realization of the ascending journey: "El motive de la ascension del poeta al cielo-naturaleza no se reduce a la relación que establece el hablante con el universe, sino que se proyecta en las acciones del hijo y en las escalas ascensionales del poemario" (Camacho, 2006: p. 9).
While the image of the "son" is associated with obedience and filial duty in Chinese traditional thought, the son in Ismaelillo is gifted with the spiritual strength and transcendental ideals to fight against the unjust world. In "Musa traviesa" (Martí, 1999: p. 71 2) Representamen, Object, and Ground As a philosopher and the founder of American semiotics, Peirce (1839Peirce ( -1914 proposed "a complex classification of signs precisely in terms of the different relationship each manifested between signans and signatum, or signifier and signified" (Terence Hawkes, 2003: p. 103). Hawkes's (1977) clear analysis of Peirce's semiotic ideas is as follows: A sign or representamen is "something which stands to somebody for something in some respect of capacity" (ibid., Vol. 2, Para. 228): it is "anything which determines something else (its interpretant) to refer to an object to which itself refers (its object)" (ibid., Vol. 2, Para. 303). A sign thus stands for something (its object); it stands for something to somebody (its interpretant); and finally it stands for something to somebody in some respect (this respect is called its ground). These terms, representamen, object, interpretant and ground can thus be seen to refer to the means by which the sign signifies; the relationship between them determines the precise nature of the process of semiosis. (Hawkes, 2003: p. 103 This relationship between "representamen" (sign), "object", and "ground" is critical to the explanation of the sign system in my PTP-II model. I shall employ these semiotic ideas to formulate and elaborate my process of translating Martí's poetry more specifically. We will take a closer look at the incorporation of the "sign" system from the PTP-I model into the PTP-II model: As shown in Figure 3, the poet plays the role of the interpretant of his poetry based on the language style that he uses. The translator focuses on the sign system to interpret the text. Alternatively, he/she might need to rewrite the poem in the TL. In other words, the translator could be observed as "another" poet or a "half poet" who plays the role of the interpretant, i.e., interpretant i in PTP-III in Figure 4, as well. However, the translator is required to exert significant effort in the connection by decoding and encoding the message of the text during the process of translation. Comparatively speaking, the translator has more responsibilities than the original poet because the translator needs to address every detail in the application of this PTP system. This model of the process of translating poetry is expected to be applicable to not only Martí's poetry and other poetry translated from Spanish to Chinese but also all poetry. A complete procedure of poetry translation using the sign system is illustrated in Figure 4.
Before discussing PTP-III in detail, let us examine again how Peirce defined his idea of "an equivalent sign" created by the interpretant of the first sign. On the topic of the "Division of Signs," Peirce explained his ideas as follows: A sign, or representamen, is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity. It addresses somebody, that is, creates in the mind of that person an equivalent sign, or perhaps a more developed sign. That sign which it creates I call the interpretant of the first sign. The sign stands for something, its object. It stands for that object, not in all respects, but in reference to a sort of idea, which I have sometimes called the ground of the representamen. (Peirce, 2003: p  In my PTP-III model, instead of "a sort of idea", I used a more concrete word, "style". In other words, the poet creates the sign for his poetry, its object, and the meaning represented by the sign generates "an equivalent sign" for the designated person depending on the background that the person possesses or the style that he seeks to adopt. I will use Martí's poem to exemplify the use of the sign system in a cross-cultural situation.
In "Príncipe enano", the first poem of Ismaelillo, Martí uses the word "príncipe" to address his dear son. The image of the son is represented by a "prince", which is socially recognized as a noble and powerful individual. The Spanish word "príncipe" is literally translated into English as "prince". However, European countries. However, in this iteration, a prince is not necessarily the heir to the crown. "Prince" can also be a title of nobility like knighthood. In Spain, the term "infante" is used instead of "príncipe" to address the son of a king.
As the first and second terms, 皇太子 (Huáng tàizǐ) and 皇子 (Huángzǐ), are no longer popular in the usage of modern Chinese language, 王 子 (Wángzǐ) is the appropriate term that is widely used. When translating, the translator would select 王子 (Wángzǐ) to translate "príncipe" in the poem, "Príncipe enano" (小王子).

3) Signifier and the Signified
According to Roland Barthes, the signifier and the signified belong to systems of signs that have their own complexity. It is thus necessary to analyze and subsequently develop a system of classification by collecting data and conducting the work involved in interpretation. Above all, one should pay attention to the problem of "readership": Who is reading the message? When a message is sent to someone, each message receiver (the reader) may have his/her own interpretation that is different from that of the other. The differences may derive from the reader's education, cultural background, and national identity. Barthes indicated, Finally... we may consider that to each system of signifiers (lexicons) there corresponds, on the plane of the signifieds, a corpus of practices and techniques; these collections of signifieds imply on the part of system consumers (of "readers", that is to say), different degrees of knowledge (according to differences in their "culture"), which explains how the same "lexie" (or L.-L. Soang large unit of reading) can be deciphered differently according to the individuals concerned, without ceasing to belong to a given "language". Several lexicons-and consequently several bodies of signifieds-can coexist within the same individual, determining in each one more or less "deep" readings. (Barthes, 2003: p. 206) To take this into account, we need to examine not only the language itself but also the cultural and historical elements of a text and its readership.
For instance, in Ismaelillo, the frequently recurring images of the father and the son may evoke contradictory interpretations in Chinese readers who believe in Confucianism. In the poetry, the image of the son, Ismaelillo, represents "courage" and "glory"; the son is expected to become a knight, warrior, or even king through his future combats that belong to the world of the spiritual, secular as well as literary imagination. By contrast, in Confucian philosophy, the son's The "son" in Cuban literature in 1882:

Signifier
The Signified Son Courage, glorified king The "son" in Chinese society in 1882:

Signifier
The Signified Son Filial piety, a family model Nowadays, the idea of filial piety is still the gold standard of ethical thinking in modern Chinese society. Therefore, it is necessary to explain the cultural and historical background of Cuba for Chinese readers when translating Ismaelillo into Chinese. In other words, the translator must explain how Martí's poetic son carries a double meaning that refers to not only the son of the father but also the "new blood" (nueva sangre) of his generation who will rule the world with freedom, dignity, and glory.

Conclusion
José Martí's work of modernist poetry, Ismaelillo, is characterized by the usage of hyperbaton, aphorism, long sentences, and biblical allegory, which makes its

Conflicts of Interest
The author declares no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.