Interpretation in a general sense

Speaking about the interpretation of dreams (the act of interpreting dreams and the book by Freud), Lacan says,

What thus guides us when we interpret dreams is certainly not, "What does it mean?" or "What does it want by saying that?" but rather, "What, by speaking, does it want?" It apparently does not know what it wants. That is truly where the question lies, and where we must bring in our formulas. [^1]

When I read this, I thought that Lacan was making a general statement about the interpretation of speech, rather than making a specific comment about the interpretation of speech that is specifically contained in someone telling an analyst the content of a dream.

The "it" referred to in the quote above could be read as the split subject ($) or the speaking body (parlêtre).

[^1] Lacan, Jacques, From an Other to the other: The Seminar of Jacques Lacan Book XVI. Edited by Jacques-Alain Miller, translated by Bruce Fink, p. 164