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Part of
Innovation and Expansion in Translation Process Research
Edited by Isabel Lacruz and Riitta Jääskeläinen
[American Translators Association Scholarly Monograph Series XVIII] 2018
► pp. 77–103

Chapter 5
Do translation professionals need to tolerate ambiguity to be successful?

A study of the links between tolerance of ambiguity, emotional intelligence and job satisfaction

Being a successful translator can often mean perceiving ambiguous situations as desirable. In this paper, I report on a study of 85 professional translators, which was carried out to examine the relationships between Tolerance of Ambiguity (TA), trait Emotional Intelligence (EI) and job satisfaction. Participants were surveyed with trait EI and TA measures adapted to cross-cultural contexts. The analysis revealed that translators’ TA scores are positively and significantly linked to their trait EI scores and, more specifically, to the factor of self-control. TA, however, was not significantly correlated to job satisfaction. This is the first study to examine empirically TA in the translation profession on such a large scale. The paper concludes with training recommendations.
Keywords: professional translators, tolerance of ambiguity, emotional intelligence, job satisfaction, self-control
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Translation research on ambiguity tolerance
  • Tolerating ambiguity: The psychological trait
    • Definition
    • Applications in the workplace
    • Language learning and emotional skills
  • The study
    • Procedure
    • Participants
    • Instruments
    • Analysis
  • Results
    • TA and EI
    • TA and job satisfaction
    • EI and job satisfaction
  • Discussion
    • Controlling ambiguity and emotions
    • TA, EI and job satisfaction
    • Learning to tolerate ambiguity: Some recommendations
  • Limitations
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 1 February 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ata.18.05hub
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