This is cool. A link I got from Random Connections led me to The Blog Readability Test.
I usually try to use the simplest words as I can and favour short sentences (damn, I wrote that sentence so self-consciously that I reviewed it three times for simpler words and shortness!). I’m glad that high schoolers can read my blog!
Hmm. It just occurred to me that this application is probably American, so high school is equivalent to Years 9 to 12. I wonder what it would take to make my blog readable by 14 year olds? Maybe I need to put more ‘lol’ and ‘tonite’ in. (Did you see the strategic first sentence in this post?)
For those not in Australia or who don’t watch TV, the title of this post refers to the new TV show on Channel 10, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? The show is interesting in its concept but duller in execution.
Oh, I’ve just found out that there are versions of this show all over the world.
P.S. Here is a link to a random Opinion article I got from The Age website. I put it into the readability test application and it came out as ‘junior high school’. It’s managed to capture the 14-year-old market that I want! I wonder what the difference is between it and my blog?
Maybe you’re just being silly (like usual? 🙂 when you say you’re targeting the 14 year old market.
But, in seriousness, the question “How well can non-native English speakers read this” is a lot more important than “What reading level must a native English speaker have achieved to read this”. Especially on The Blinternet.
I did the test. Mine fell under the College (postgrad) level. I don’t believe it.I thought it should be primary school!
hmmm.. I’m elementary school.. definitely NOT a market I’m targeting.. I wonder why that is? maybe because my posts are quite short and i use lots of photos?
mo told me he did the test with our blog and we’re elementary school level too. strange..
elementary school for me as well…
maybe the measure tells you more about readability? perhaps ‘college’ level means that what you’ve written is so strange and obfuscated that you need a college-level education to be able to deciper it?
or maybe they just measure the average length of the words…
mine says elementary school!!
gosh im so not taking this well. does this mean im not writing as well as i thought i should? dang!
I like this, Joan. My professional blog got a ‘Genius’ rating (I doubt this is a good thing, really)! I share a ‘high school’ rating for my travel blog.