Are you intelligent enough to be a translator? A better question might be: how are you intelligent? If you subscribe to the current wisdom of the nine types of intelligence, you know that everyone is proficient in at least two types of intelligence. So how smart you are is less important than how you are intelligent.
These nine types of intelligence are:
- Musical Intelligence
- Visual Intelligence
- Logical Intelligence
- Verbal Intelligence
- Bodily and existential Intelligence
- Social/ interpersonal Intelligence
- Naturalistic Intelligence
- Intrapersonal Introspection
- Critical Reception
To learn a new language, a degree of verbal intelligence is required. People with a high verbal-linguistic intelligence are good at reading, writing, telling stories and memorizing words. Having this intelligence makes it easier for them to learn languages other than their own.
Interpreters and certified translators can manifest a facility with words which an average person usually cannot. For this reason, many bilinguals cannot become translators. A person with an average verbal intelligence can learn another language but cannot master it beyond a certain level. To translate a text in its true letter and spirit, a high level of verbal intelligence is required. For that skill, a high verbal skill is a prerequisite.
Tips to know if you have Linguistic Intelligence
Have you ever been told that you have a way with words? Maybe you enjoy writing and giving public speeches. Are you good at persuading people to see your point of view through spoken or written language? If so, you have demonstrated Linguistic Intelligence. Verbal/Linguistic is one of several multiple intelligences.
People with Linguistic Intelligence love words. They enjoy reading and writing. Linguistic people are often gifted at learning languages. They appreciate the complexities of sentence structure, word structure, meaning and sound. They savor convoluted words and are quick at learning them. They possess rich vocabularies.
School is an area in which people with Linguistic Intelligence often do well. They enjoy lectures and taking notes. They also have the ability to teach others and communicate complex concepts. Besides, they are adept at communicating through the written word and seek to hone their skills.
Developing linguistic intelligence
- Tell stories, jokes and anecdotes.
- Play memory games.
- Buy a book of word games (anagrams, acrostics, etc.) and experiment with them.
- Learn (and use!) a new word every day.
- Listen carefully for similes, metaphors, amusing turns of phrase and oxymorons (verbal contradictions).
- Listen to talk-radio more often - and "join in" by expressing your own point of view.
- Make deep conversation.
