In English, we can see that it is four letters long. There are a couple of factors to consider when discussing reading speeds in different languages. Why average reading speed varies in different languages? Senior citizens aged 60 to 85 years read at a slow speed. The reading speed picks from childhood to teenager and then gradually declines from young adulthood to old age. Reading speed declines with ageĪge is another factor that determines reading acuity and reading speed. Your reading speed rate is likely to increase the more familiar you are with the content you read. So if what you are reading is technical content, this will impact how quickly you can go through a text. Reading speed increases if the reader is familiar with the contentĪcquaintance with the subject is also critical in achieving a higher reading speed. Overall, reading speed is influenced by one’s education level and time spent reading. This dynamic is common throughout all age groups. Reading speed, therefore, increases with education level, reaching its peak in postgraduate students. College students, for instance, have more books to read and postgraduates even more books. People who read a lot are continually improving their reading skills. Reading speed increases with education levelĮducation level has a substantial impact on reading speed. Reading speed is influenced by various factors, such as education, content type, and age. With a little practice, that can improve. Older participants (60 – 85 years) read about 20% slower than the rest. Researchers also found that reading speeds changed with age. When it comes down to words per minute, English was the fastest at 228, followed by Spanish and Dutch. Compare that number to Slovenian speakers who read only 232 syllables per minute. This is because Spanish has many short syllables. Spanish speakers read the fastest syllables at 526 syllables per minute. Vowels in Hebrew and Arabic are partially written or nonexistent, making their character speed lower than in the other languages. Something else that played a role in the character reading speed was vowels. For nonalphabetic Chinese and Japanese, the characters per minute are similar to syllables per minute for alphabetic languages. Source: Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (iovs)Īccording to this study, it is clear that the various aspects that make up a language play a large role when it comes to reading speeds. Below are the results of the average reading speeds for each of the 17 languages. The researchers presented the text to readers all in the same font size and at the same viewing point distance. The number of words formulated in each text varied, especially when it came to Japanese, but most stayed within the 250-word range. 436 participants ages 18 to 35 years read the text and were timed on how quickly they could do so. To find out the average rate that people read in their native language, a study took one piece of text that was at a sixth-grade reading level and translated it into 17 different languages. Average reading speed in various languages Read on to find out the results for the average reading speed in more languages, as well as the factors that influence reading speeds, considering different languages and their characteristics. At the same time, people who read in Arabic, Chinese and Finnish tend to do so at a slower pace, namely 138, 158 and 161 words per minute, respectively. Have you ever wondered whether language determines reading speed? Some languages seem more complex than others, and presumably, the words per minute will be fewer than the average reading speed in English.Ī study by Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science has found that people read the fastest in English, Spanish, and Dutch, with 228, 218 and 202 words per minute, respectively. But what about a native Italian speaker, or a native Japanese speaker? The average reading speed of most English-speaking adults is around 200 to 250 words per minute. The average reading speed across all languages is 1.42 ± 0.13 texts/min (± Standard Deviation). All rights reserved.What is the Average Reading Speed in Various Languages? Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd.
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