Language Matters: The Autism-Spectrum Quotient in English, Mandarin and Bahasa Malaysia

The autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) measures autistic traits and has been studied in different countries, sometimes with the English version, and sometimes with translated versions. However, the language of the questionnaire might influence non-native English speakers' answering tendency. In the current study we compared the responses on the AQ of multilingual Malaysians (96 participants filled out the AQ in English and Mandarin, and 79 participants filled out English and Bahasa Malaysia). Participants scored higher on the English AQ compared to the Mandarin AQ, whereas there was no difference between the English and Bahasa Malaysia AQ score. Analysis of the response style suggests the same person might display discrepant response styles in different languages, which seems to be related to language proficiency.

Automated summary

The study revealed that multilingual Malaysians showed different responses on the English and Mandarin versions of the AQ, indicating that language proficiency might influence individuals' answering tendencies in different languages.