A Study Of The Correlation Between MBTI Personality Types And The Performance Of Simultaneous Interpreters

Simultaneous interpreting is a specialized realm in conference interpreting and requires the technical know-how, the ability to cope with stress and strong mental dexterity. Not all interpreters are mentally and physically well-equipped to work as simultaneous interpreters.The present study examines personality types in relation to the performance of simultaneous interpreters. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a broadly-used and widely-accepted personality assessment tool in education and career counselling, was administered in this study to investigate the type distribution of a sample of simultaneous interpreter trainees. Of all16MBTI types, ISTJs and ISFJs outnumber other types; introverts and judging types dominate the sample, and the preference pairs of NFs and SFs are relatively overrepresented.Empirical evidence is applied in evaluating interpreter performance for identifying quantified indicators of accuracy and fluency in the process of delivery. Gile’s "Effort Model" is set out for supplementary analyses of interpreters’ cognitive process and behavioural preferences. Statistical analysis in this study finds several significant differences among the performance of interpreters with different type preferences on each of the four MBTI dichotomous scales. Sensing-Intuition (S/I) and Thinking-Feeling (T/F) preferences seem to be associated with the accuracy of the message conveyed, whereas paralinguistic factors that affect the fluency of delivery, such as hesitations, false-starts and filler words, seem to be largely associated with Introversion-Extroversion (I/E), Thinking-Feeling (T/F) and Judging-Perception (J/P) preferences. Self-improvement advice for simultaneous interpreters and pedagogical implications are also presented.