The Effect of Translators’ Emotional Intelligence on Their Translation Quality

Translators differ from each other in many ways in terms of their knowledge, professional and psychological conditions that may directly influence their translation. The present study aimed at investigating the impact of translators’ Emotional Intelligence on their translation quality. Following a causal-comparative study, a sample of 100 male and female professional translators, working in official or non-official translation offices or as freelance translators, were selected using purposive sampling method. Petrides & Furnham’s (2001) Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire – (TEIQue-SF) was administered to collect data on the participants’ emotional intelligence. The participants were then asked to translate a paragraph including 232 words, from Orwell’s 1984 novel, to assess their translation quality. To do this, Waddington’s model D (2001) was used as the marking system. For data analysis, correlation statistical procedure was used in order to investigate the research hypothesis. Results showed that translators’ academic experience significantly affects their translation quality, while no significant relationship was found between their Emotional Intelligence and their translation quality. The results also clearly depicted that the translation quality of translators with academic experience was significantly better than that of those without academic experience.