A Hybrid Translation from Two Source Texts: The In-Betweenness of a Homeless Orphan

＂A Homeless Orphan＂(無家的孤兒), translated by Jian Jinfa during the Japanese colonial period, is a story based on Hector Malot's Sans Famille. Jian translated his version from two source texts: A Child without a Home (家なき兒), which had been translated into Japanese by Kikuchi Yuho from the French original, and The Story of a Poor Vagrant Boy (苦兒流浪記), Bao Tianxiao's Chinese translation of Yuho's version. In addition to using two source texts, Jian used two translation techniques, intralingual and interlingual. This complexity makes Jian's text worth studying. His adoption of two source texts reflects Jian's in-betweenness when dealing with his two motherlands-China and Japan. His choice of story may also seem to imply that Taiwan was to him like an orphan looking for a home. In this study I show how a translator can handle two source texts and two languages, and I explore the ambivalence and conflict embedded within this hybrid translation that mediates two source texts and two motherlands.