Terminology
When translating any document, it’s important to compile a glossary first (or read an existing glossary carefully if there already is one). Translation of terminology in a document should be consistent; specialized vocabulary, including titles and field-specific terms – things like, for example: spirit beings, supernatural other being, invisible other – should be rendered clearly and identically throughout the translation.

When dealing with pronouns, translators usually translate word by word. But if this approach results in an awkward translation, translators need to add, delete or replace words in order to make it sound natural in the target language.

Context
It’s important to refer to context, as this may give some clues as to how to translate, and which translation strategy should be adopted. Translators need to not only retain the meaning of the original text, but also the tone of the source.

Take this sentence, for example: “in very limited circumstances, it may be acceptable to pay for travel and lodging expenses.” “In very limited circumstances” and “it may be acceptable” are two key parts in this sentence. These two elements have certain tonal implications, and translators should highlight these two parts accordingly in the translation in order to stress the tone.

Long Sentences
Documents with very long sentences require translators to recreate the meaning of the original and write in a way that is concise and easy to follow. The solution is to identify the appropriate target-language sentence structure first, and then add the different necessary elements in it. Also, translators, of course, need to repeat what’s been said in the source text in order to avoid meaning shifts or mistranslations.

Here’s an example of a long sentence where we can use this strategy: “No employee, subcontractor, or joint venture partner is authorized to provide payment in any form, or to agree to provide payment in any form, for such expenses without the prior written approval of the Company’s legal counsel for the region within which such payment would be made.”
This is a very long sentence, and a very important one. The first thing to do is to set the sentence structure in our target language (in this case, Chinese), which is “……如果没有……，无权……。” Also, while frequent repetition of the same word or words is sometimes thought to be bad style, it may be necessary in serious legal or other specialized documents which uses standardized language.

Monterey Language Services is committed to bridging the world’s languages by providing quality, professional and efficient translation & interpretation services in over 175 languages.

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