This investigation studied the effects of translating French into English and how readability changed following the translation. French works were paired with English translations of the same works. Flesch Reading Ease scores were significantly lower for the French indicating that the English translations were more easily read than the French originals. Different English translations of the same French work were paired and very little difference resulted. The position that readability measures difficulty of style was confirmed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bormuth, J. ( 1968). New developments in readability research. In Bormuth, J. (ed.), Readability in 1968, National Council of Teachers of English, 1.
2.
Feer, U. ( 1956). A study on the application of readability formulas to satirical writing and to foreign language texts. Unpublished honors paper, Ohio Univ.
3.
Flesch, R.F. ( 1948). A new readability yardstick. J. appl. Psychol., 32, 221.
4.
Klare, G.R. ( 1963). The Measurement of Readability (Ames, Iowa).
