In this article, the starting point is semiosis, that is, the act of signification, which is a central concept and phenomenon both in semiotics and translation. The author adopts a semiotic approach to translation and discusses the translating subject, the translator, through some insights offered by scholars in semiotics, here applied to the practice of translation and to the methodology of translation research. Furthermore, the author discusses some semiotic modalities, as they are presented within existential semiotics, to give a short demonstration of how to approach Italo Calvino’s six memos for our millennium as the qualities of the translating subject, and even as potential guidelines for translation practice.