Journal of Research in Peace, Gender and Development (ISSN: 2251-0036) Vol. 2(8) pp. 176-184, August, 2012
Available online@ http://www.interesjournals.org/JRPGD
Copyright ©2012 International Research Journals
Full Length Research Paper
The Relationship between Interpersonal, Visual-Spatial
Intelligences and Technical Translation Quality
Bi Bi Maryam Mostafavi, Omid Akbari and Fateme Masoominezhad
English Language Department of Imam Reza, International University
Abstract
This study tried to investigate whether there was any significant relationship between technical
translation quality of the senior English translation students and their levels of interpersonal, visualspatial intelligences. To achieve this, two research questions and two hypotheses were postulated. In
order to investigate the research questions, the researchers selected hundred senior English
translation students from Tabaran, Khayyam and Imam Reza universities of Mashhad. One technical
translation production test which was taken from a user manual and multiple intelligences tests were
carried out. Upon scoring of the interpersonal and visual-spatial intelligence tests, and evaluating the
production test, it revealed that senior English translation students with high interpersonal and visualspatial intelligences were better in translating technical texts and the results showed that there was a
significant relationship between students’ interpersonal, visual-spatial intelligences level and the
quality of technical translation. The issue of multiple intelligences and their application in the field of
translation studies is new and it is considered as a new invention. Translator-training institutions,
companies and other sources of power such as people involved in education and translator training
curriculum, university administrators, teachers and authors can benefit from the findings of this study.
Keywords: Interpersonal Intelligence, Visual-Spatial Intelligence, Technical Translation, Quality of
Translation.
INTRODUCTION
Overview
Translation may be assumed as a simple phenomenon at
first. But experts in translation studies believe that
“translation is a complex activity, involving expertise in a
number of areas and skills” (Waddington, 2000:2).
Whenever a text is given to two translators for translation,
the two translated texts will not be exactly identical. This
is because of individual differences (Darwin, 1859). No
two people are exactly alike; then no two translators may
produce identical translations of the same original text.
According to Schaffner (1998:1) in discussion about
translation (as product) the question of quality has always
been one of top priority. This study examined translators’
interpersonal, visual spatial intelligences and their
*Corresponding Author E-mail: maria_paiizan@yahoo.com;
Tel: +98)09387122263
possible relationships with the quality of the translation
they would produce.
Statement of the Problem
“Translators and interpreters have long been trained
informally, basically through trial and error, unstructured
apprenticeship arrangements, or any of the various
translating activities that accompany the study of a
foreign language and culture within the Liberal Art
traditions”(Baker, 2004:280). There are lots of questions
about why one translator succeeds, but the other does
not. This matter may even be true between two good
translators in technical translation. It means that one of
them may be successful in translating technical texts
while the other one may not. This study tried to
investigate whether senior translation students’ interper-
Mostafavi et al. 177
sonal and visual-spatial intelligences level would have
any effects on their technical translation quality.
been divided into five categories: spelling, grammar,
lexical items, text and style.”
Significance of the Study
Accuracy in Translation
The issue of multiple intelligences has been presented in
teaching and their application has been used a lot in
planning education programs, methods of teaching,
learners’ placement tests, etc., but this issue is new in the
field of translation and it can highly influence this field of
study. Translator-training institutions have to program
their activities and instructions, because the demand for
advanced study in translation and interpreting is growing;
the trend towards globalization is continuing to open up
new markets, providing multilingual job opportunities for
translation professionals in numerous fields, and
businesses and governments are increasingly looking to
hire professionals with cross-cultural communication
skills as well as experience in translation and interpreting.
Then if translator-training institutions want to have
programmed instruction and learning, the results of this
study can be effective and useful. The results and
findings of this research may be helpful in giving some
insight to the practitioners of the field in terms of
translator training curriculum. And it may also be useful
for customer care centers to pay attention to different
intelligences and according to this point the choice of
translator is done and different workshops are held to
improve technical translation. As a whole the companies
and customer care centers such as LG, Samsung, Sony,
Gosonic, etc. may benefit from the findings of this study
to know how to translate their manuals more effectively.
Based on Gardner’s multiple-intelligence theory,
intelligence level may change and become better and
higher by practicing (Kline, 1991), therefore they should
accept individual differences of their technical translators
and improve their multiple intelligences level by holding
different workshops.
According to Waddington (2001: 313) “Accuracy deals
with understanding of the source text; it has been into
eight categories: correctness, faux sense, nonsense,
addition, omission, unresolved extra linguistic references,
loss of meaning, and inappropriate linguistic variation.”
Definition of the Terms
Multiple Intelligences
Richards and Rogers (2001:115) claim that “multiple
intelligences (MI) refer to a learner-based philosophy that
characterizes human intelligence as having multiple
dimensions that must be acknowledged and developed in
education/”
Coherence
According to Waddington (2001: 313) “text coherence is
present in the target text when renderings, which affect
the transmission of either the main function or secondary
functions of source text, have been occurred.
Unit of Translation
Unit of translation based on what Farahzad (1992: 276)
has said is sentence or clause.
Technical Translation
According to Byrne (2006: 8)”Scientific translation relates
to pure science in all of its theoretical, esoteric and
cerebral glory while technical translation relates to how
scientific knowledge is actually put to practical use.”
Research Questions
In keeping with the purpose of the study to see whether
there is any relationship between technical translation
quality and translators’ level of interpersonal, visual
spatial intelligences, the following research questions are
attempted;
Q1: Is there any significant relationship between technical
translation quality of the senior translation students and
their level of interpersonal intelligence?
Q2: Is there any significant relationship between technical
translation quality of the senior translation students and
their level of visual-spatial intelligence?
Research Hypotheses
Appropriateness in Translation
According to Waddington (2001: 313) “It deals with
appropriate expression in the target language. It has
H1: There is no significant relationship between technical
translation quality of the senior translation students and
their level of interpersonal intelligence.
H2: There is no significant relationship between technical
178 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
translation quality of the senior translation students and
their level of visual-spatial intelligence.
Review of the Literature
Overview
Rational and Theoretical Framework
The framework of this research was based on:
1) Psychological Framework
2) Translation Evaluating Framework
This section presents the definition of the term
“intelligence” by different scholars and terminology of
intelligence, and also the emergence of multipleintelligence (MI) theory, MI theory and its theory
components, and initial intelligence tests.
Psychological Framework
Intelligence
The psychological framework of this research was based
on Howard Gardner’s Theory of multiple- intelligence.
According to Gardner (1993, cited in Veins 2005:6)
“Multiple-intelligence theory challenges the widely held
belief that intelligence is a unitary trait that can be
adequately measured by an IQ test.”
In multiple-intelligence theory Gardner has presented
seven forms of intelligences:
1) Linguistic
2) Logical
3) Spatial
4) Musical
5) Bodily kinesthetic
6) Interpersonal
7) Intrapersonal
There are different definitions for intelligence by different
scholars. Humphreys (1975:25) claims that “Intelligence
is our repertoire of intellectual skills.” And also Brown
(1976:38) maintains that “Intelligence, to the psychology,
is the ability to perform certain types of tasks.” In addition
to all these definitions there is another one by Kline
(1991:1) which says that “Intelligence is popularly as the
ability to learn, understand and deal with novel
situations.” At last according to Wechsler (1939:32)
“Intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity of the
individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to
deal effectively with his environment.”
Translation Evaluating Framework
The translation evaluating framework of the present
research was based on translation assessment model by
Waddington, which has three categories. According to
Waddington (2001: 313):
1. Inappropriate renderings which affect expression in
the target language: these are divided into five
categories: spelling, grammar, lexical items, text and
style.
2.
Inappropriate renderings which affect expression
understanding of the source text such as addition,
omission, loss of meaning.
3. Inadequate renderings which affect the transmission
of either the main function or secondary functions of
source text.
Limitations of the Study
No study is without limitations. Time was one of the
limitations of this study. It took a lot of time to gather data
and analyze it and it was impossible to study the
relationship between whole multiple intelligences and
technical translation quality. Then, only interpersonal,
visual-spatial intelligences were investigated in this study.
Terminology of Intelligence
Aiken (1991:153) says; “Intelligence, a common word
today, was almost unknown in popular speech a century
ago. During the latter part of the nineteen century,
Herbert Spencer and Francis Galton, stimulated by
Darwin’s writings on the origin of species differences,
reintroduced the ancient Latin term intelligence to refer to
individual differences in mental ability. They maintain that
there is an inborn human characteristic of general
intelligence, distinct from special abilities.
The Emergence of Multiple Intelligences Theory
According to Gardner cited in Richards and Rodgers
(2001:115) “Multiple intelligences theory is based on the
work of Harvard Gardner of the Harvard Graduate School
of Education.” Gardner (1993:115) notes that “traditional
IQ tests measure only logic and language, yet the brain
has other equally important types of intelligence.”
Gardner (1993, cited in Richard and Rodgers 2001:115)
argues that “all humans have these intelligences, but
people differ in the strengths and combinations of
intelligences and all of them can be enhanced through
training and practice. MI thus belongs to a group of
perspectives that focus on differences between learners
and the need to recognize learner differences in
teaching.” As Veins (2005:7) says “MI theory makes
Mostafavi et al. 179
proverbial “apples and oranges” out of intelligence:
Putting everyone on a single line is impossible and
comparison or competition among people is pointless.
With MI theory the question moves from “How smart are
you?” to “How are you smart?”
Interpersonal Intelligence
According to Gardner (1993, p. 9), this intelligence is the
ability to understand other people: what motivates them,
what are their goals and how they work and how to work
cooperatively with them. Those who have the ability to
work well with others are good in this way.
MI Theory
Gardner proposed a view of natural human talents that is
labeled “Multiple Intelligences Model”. This model is one
of a variety of learning style models that have been
proposed in general education and have subsequently
been applied to language education. Gardner claims that
his view of intelligence(s) is culture-free and avoids the
conceptual narrowness usually associated with traditional
models of intelligence. (ibid. 115).
Veins (2005: 9) claims that; “An important aspect of MI
theory is the idea that both nature and nurture have a role
in each individual’s intelligence. It is not simply a matter
of “what you’re born with.” The more time an individual
spends using intelligence, and the better the instruction
and resources, the smarter one becomes within the area
of intelligence. Each of the intelligences is universal, but
how and to what extent intelligences manifest
themselves, depends on a significant degree on the
cultural and individual context. For example, in the case
of linguistic intelligence, writing might domain in one
context and story telling in another. A child in the first
context whose mother is a reporter and whose home is
filled with books, a computer, and writing implements
might have more developed writing abilities than a child
without those environmental supports.”
Visual-Spatial Intelligence
Sometimes this intelligence is called “art smart” or
“picture smart”. According to Lazear (2006,27) a picture
is worth a thousand words!” or “Seeing is believing!” This
intelligence represents the knowing that occurs through
the shapes, images, patterns, designs, and textures we
see with our external eyes, but also includes all images
we are able to conjure inside our heads. If a person is
strong in this intelligence he tends to think in images and
pictures. He is likely very aware of objects, shapes,
colors, textures, and patterns in the environment around
him. He probably likes to draw, paint, and make
interesting designs and patterns, and work with clay,
colored markers, construction paper, and fabric. Many,
who are strong in visual-spatial intelligence love to work
jigsaw puzzles, read maps and find their way around new
places. They probably have definite opinions about colors
that go together well, textures that are appropriate and
pleasing, and how a room should be decorated. They are
likely excellent at performing tasks that require “seeing
with the mind’s of eyes,” such as visualizing, pretending,
imagining, and forming mental images.
Initial Intelligence Tests
MI theory Components
The Legacy of Alfred Binet
According to Aiken (1991: 232), the distinctiveness of
human cognition and information processing involves the
development of various symbol systems involve
characteristics forms of perception, memory, and
learning. Thus a person might be good at memorizing
language, but not at music, the spatial environment, or
events involving interpersonal interactions. Elaborating
on the symbol systems human employ, Gardner makes a
case for seven forms of intelligence s: linguistic, logicalmathematical, spatial, musical, bodily kinesthetic, and
two forms of personal intelligence. Bodily kinesthetic
intelligence is seen more in athletics, crafts men,
dancers, and surgeons. Spatial intelligence is needed by
sculptors and surveyors, and musical intelligence by
composers, musicians, and singers. The two proposal
intelligences include interpersonal (intelligence-being
able to detect the moods of other people and to lead
them), and intrapersonal intelligence (knowledge of one’s
own feelings and understanding how to use that selfknowledge productivity.
According to Witting and Williams (1984:261) “The first
intelligence test for children, the Binet –Simson scale,
had been preceded by a long period during which Binet
had carefully observed differences in the thinking process
of children. In fact, Paris officials decided to try to identify
children who could not learn well in regular classrooms.
Who would profit from special classrooms? Who was
merely lazy? Binet won appointment to a government
commission investigating the problem. With his associate
Simson, he developed a way to measure a school child’s
ability to judge , reason, and comprehend. The BinetSimson test, published in 1905, was actually many small
tests: The French researchers argued that the nature of
intelligence changed with age, and so their measuring
systems include different tasks for each year of age.
Administrators gave the test to one child at a time. Tests
were scored on the basis of age norms. Three-year-old
who finished the number of problems completed by an
average three-year-old was considered normal. A six-
180 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
year-old with mental age level of four, however, was
identified as related. The test helped teachers to respond
to the need of Parasian children.”
American Versions of Binet’s Tests
Witting and Williams (1984:261-62) claim that “After
Binet’s death in 1911, much of the basic research on
intelligence testing shifted to Sanford University in the
United States. There, Lewis Terman revised Binet’s
testing system to produce the first in a series of SanfordBinet intelligence tests. Terman made major changes in
the work began by Binet and continued by several
Americans. Many of the test items were new; many old
items were changed. Terman’s most significant
contribution was built upon Binet’s idea of mental level,
and a suggestion of the German psychologist William
Stern relating mental age. Terman employed a wholly
new concept. For the first time in any psychological test,
Terman’s revision presented the idea of intelligence
quotient or IQ.
Wechsler Scales: An Alternative to Stanford-Binet
Tyler (1963:45-46) says “Beside Lewis M.Terman, who
devised the original Standford-Binet test, and Maud
Merrill, who worked with him on the 1937 revision and
prepared the 1960 revision, another American has been
particularly important in intelligence measurement –David
Wechsler. In 1939, Wechsler published a standardized
set of individual intelligence tests designed especially for
adults. It was called Wechsler –Bellevue Scale (the
second part of the name honored New York’s Bellevue
Hospital where Wechsler worked). This test immediately
came into wide use because of the demand, with the
unprecedented growth of clinical psychology during and
after World War II, for the evaluation of intellectual ability
in millions of adults.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Participants
The participants of this study consisted of one hundred
Iranian senior translation students of Tabaran, Khayyam
and Imam Reza Universities in Mashhad.
Materials
The tests which were used in this study consisted of one
production test which was taken from a manual, and
multiple-intelligence test (interpersonal and visualspatial).
Multiple-Intelligence Test
Howard Gardner’s test of MI was administered to the
participants. The test covered eight intelligences, but only
two intelligences, interpersonal and visual-spatial was
tested. The test contained sixteen questions.
Production Test
A part of a user manual of installation, maintenance and
use of fixed hobs with gas or mixed supply was chosen
as production and were given to the participants to
translate from English to Persian. The text shouldn’t have
images, patterns, designs, colors and textures seen with
external eyes, because in this way the visual intelligence
plays this role. According to Byrne (2006) technical
translation is considered as a communicative service and
its purpose is to present new technical information to a
new audience in a way that readers can use the
information easily, properly and effectively and technical
translators are considered as technical communicators
who communicate with readers. Then the role of
interpersonal intelligence plays here. The students should
translate the text so that the raters can evaluate them to
specify the technical translation quality of each student.
Procedure
Two production and multiple-intelligence tests were
administered to One hundred senior translation students
of Tabaran, Khayyam and Imam Reza Universities. They
were asked to translate a part of a user manual of
installation, maintenance and use of fixed hobs with gas
or mixed supply from English to Persian as production
test. The translation task based on Waddington’s model
of translation assessment was scored by the researcher
and two other raters. In order to find appropriate answers
to the research questions, the researcher used
interpersonal, visual spatial intelligence scores and
correlated them with each translator’s tests of production
scores. Moving along with research ethical principles, all
the respondents, prior to launching investigation, were
required to sign a written informed consent from which
was attached to the tests to indicate their agreement and
willingness to participate in this study. As Dornyei (2007:
6) pointed out;”The most salient and most often
discussed aspect of research ethics is the issue of
informed consent.”Plus, respondents became assured
that not only would their language and personal
information they provided be disclosed in any way but
also they would be kept confidential and only used for the
purpose of this study. Additionally, respondents would be
informed of the aims and procedures of the investigation,
the potential risks and benefits they would encounter their
withdrawal and refusal to participate at any time with no
Mostafavi et al. 181
Table 1. Correlation between Translation Scores and Interpersonal
Intelligence Scores
Correlations
TR.SCOR
E
INT.SCOR
TR.SCORE Pearson Correlation
1.000
.785**
Sig. (2-tailed)
.
.000
N
100
100
INT.SCOR Pearson Correlation
.785**
1.000
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
.
N
100
100
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
penalty, availability of the principal investigator to answer
their questions regarding the procedures, and having the
right to ask to receive a copy of results.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
confirmed and the relationship was statistically
significant.
By looking at the first simple and matrix scatterplots,
it’s revealed that the slope of regression line was highly
increasing then the degree association between two
variables was a highly meaningful positive correlation
coefficient (Figure 1 and 2).
Overview
Since this study was basically a quantitative type of
research and each quantitative research calls for using
statistical method, techniques and analysis (Dornyei,
2007; McKay, 200; Richards & Schmidt), some advanced
correlational procedures was employed to achieve the
purposes mentioned earlier in the present study. In order
to test research hypotheses which were null hypotheses
and the assumption behind the null hypotheses was that
the correlation coefficient between the variables had a
value of zero (r=0), numerous Pearson product-moment
correlation coefficient , via the latest version of Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), would be run to
test these claims.
Investigating the First Research Hypothesis and
Question
Q1: Is there any significant relationship between technical
translation quality of the senior translation students and
their level of interpersonal intelligence?
H1: There is no significant relationship between
technical translation quality of the senior translation
students and their level of interpersonal intelligence.
There was a meaningful relationship between
interpersonal intelligence and the technical translation
quality of the senior translation students.
According to Table 1, the Pearson correlation was
0.785, then the null hypothesis of no relation was not
Investigating the Second Research Hypothesis and
Question
Q2: Is there any significant relationship between technical
translation quality of the senior translation students and
their level of visual-spatial intelligence?
H2: There is no significant relationship between
technical translation quality of the senior translation
students and their level of visual-spatial intelligence.
There was a meaningful relationship between visualspatial intelligence and the technical translation quality of
the senior translation students.
According to Table 2, the Pearson correlation was
0.715, then the null hypothesis of no relation was rejected
and the relationship was statistically significant.
By looking at the first simple and matrix scatterplots,
it’s revealed that the slope of regression line was highly
increasing then the degree association between two
variables was a highly meaningful positive correlation
coefficient (Figure 3 and 4).
CONCLUSION
With an understanding of Gardner’s theory of multiple
intelligences and using it in the field of translation,
translator-training institutions, companies and other
sources of power such as people who involved in
education and translator training curriculum, university
182 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
22
20
18
16
14
12
INT.SCOR
10
8
6
4
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
TR.SCORE
Figure 1.
Simple Scatter1,
Interpersonal Intelligence Scores
Translation
and
TR.SCORE
INT.SCOR
Figure 2. Matrix Scatter 1, Translation and interpersonal
Intelligence Scores
Table 2. Correlation between Translation Scores and VisualSpatial Intelligence Scores
Correlations
TR.SCORE
VIS.SCOR
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
TR.SCOR
E
VIS.SCOR
1.000
.715**
.
.000
100
100
.715**
1.000
.000
.
100
100
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Mostafavi et al. 183
30
20
VIS.SCOR
10
0
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
TR.SCORE
Figure 3. Simple Scatter2, Translation
Intelligence Scores
and Visual-Spatial
TR.SCORE
VIS.SCOR
Figure 4. Matrix Scatter 2, Translation and Visual-Spatial
Intelligence Scores
administrators, teachers, authors and publishers can
benefit from the findings of this study. Based on
Gardner’s multiple-intelligence theory, intelligence level
may change and become better and higher by practicing
(Kline, 1991) and as it was proven by the output of our
data analysis and with regard to the confirmed first and
second hypotheses , translator-training institutions,
companies and other sources of power should accept
individual differences of their technical translators or
English translation students and they can improve their
translators or English translation students’ multiple
intelligences level by holding different workshops. As a
result, the quality of their translation would become
higher. In another words, it could be calculated that a
translator or English translation student with high degree
of interpersonal and visual-spatial intelligences would be
more successful in translating technical translation.
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