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The following insights shared by our team members look at the two types of hermeneutics, or art of interpretation, and their role in translation and interpretation market place.
Exegesis is a straightforward, factual explanation. It assumes that a text contains fixed and invariant meaning. The exegete is a neutral or objective expositor, a transmitter of meaning that is embedded in a text. A creative exegete develops a critical explanation or analysis, expands the original meanings to new applications or expressions, but maintains the objective, determinable meaning inscribed in the interpreted text.
Eisegesis is an explanation with analysis and incorporates one’s own ideas. Eisegesis keeps the reader’s perspective in mind, considering the reading to be neither a neutral nor an objective activity. The individual performing the eisegesis will have to answer critical questions from academic circles, such as the questioning of his assumptions, citations, orientations, presuppositions, blindness, bias, even preferences, interests, and motives.
If this approach faces so much criticism, why is it still one of the main methods in interpretation of texts? The value of this practice is that it creates a way to look at a text from different angles, transcending what straight word-by-word interpretation would not be able to convey, thus further increasing the complexity of the interpretation.
In the market place, both methods can be applied to various situations in translation and interpretation assignments. For example, the former suits legal and technical subjects, while the latter is most seen in translation of business and marketing brochures. An experienced translator or interpreter knows the value, distinction, and roles between the two and is able to interplay at times between them to bring out the best result in communication.
Authors: Mei-Ling Chen, Emily Frye, Lee Eisenberg, Eric Hsiung
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