Grade level?

[rsr]

I wish you had given the GL of the NASB in your list.

If I recall it is about 5th to 6th grade, but I am probably very wrong.

That passage in Romans is 11.8. As a point of comparison, the ESV is 7.7.

You can look up the passage in both versions and I daresay you will not find one significantly easier to read than the other. The difference? How the versions use colons, commas and periods. The ESV uses shorter sentences, so it gets a lower score. The language, aside from punctuation, is very similar.

Look at Romans 8:3-4.

NASB: For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

That comes in at Grade Level 23.8.

Here's the ESV:

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

That's Grade Level 11.5

Both are formal English and, truthfully, the ESV is easier to read, but not on a factor of two.

For kicks again, I made a minor change to the NASB:

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Guess what? The simple change of punctuation (replacing a colon with a period) lowered the score to 11.6, virtually identical to the ESV. (Although I like the ESV better stylistically.)

 

[agedman]

That passage in Romans is 11.8. As a point of comparison, the ESV is 7.7.

"Snipped to shorten."

Thank you, I wondered how it would stack up.

It has been a long time ago that I was part of a team establishing reading level of books. The major criteria was the use and frequency of multi syllabic words, length and structure of sentences, structure of paragraphs and size of print. That last one may seem strange, but the smaller the print, the higher the readability.

Now, I suppose that it is all done electronically.

 

[agedman]

Using Readability-Score.com

I just copied and pasted this from Matthew (NASB):

But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.​

Came up with a reading level of 11.0

Then I revised the punctuation, only, so the sentences would be shorter:

But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him. Then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him. And, He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.​

Came up with a reading level of 5.6

Now, the typical reading level of an adult is about 5th to 6th grade in America.

I understand that some say the average reading level of college freshmen is about 7th grade, but most Americans barely made it out of high school!

It seems to me that publishers would use do diligence to address the issue of how they structure sentences. By shortening the length of sentences, the readability reaches far more of the common person's needs.

 

[Rippon]

Then I revised the punctuation, only, so the sentences would be shorter:

Why the commas?

I have reworded your sentence:
Then I revised the punctuation so the sentences would be shorter.

But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him.
​

That's an incomplete sentence.

Then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him.

And, He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

The 'and' is unnecessary. The comma is certainly unnecessary after the first word.

And He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

You seem to be comma-happy.​

Now, the typical reading level of an adult is about 5th to 6th grade in America.

You don't need a comma after the first word.

I will reword your sentence:
The average adult reading level of Americans is about the 5th to 6th grade level.

It seems to me that publishers would use do diligence to address the issue of how they structure sentences.

Publishers should use due diligence when it comes to sentence structuring.

But usually the term due diligence is concerned with contracts and things of a legal nature.

By shortening the length of sentences, the readability reaches far more of the common person's needs.

If sentences are shortened; they are more readable.

There, I pared your sixteen words down to eight.

 

[robycop3]

The whole subject is just another KJVO attempt to justify their false doctrine. I'm no paragon of intelligence, but I've liked to read since early childhood, and had no trouble with the KJV even then, but i must admit I was thrown by some common words whose meaning has changed over 400 years. And for years, I wondered why the Bible wasn't published in OUR English.

Glad we now have such translations!

 

[Salty]

I suppose the KJV is the best ENGLISH translation.
BUT
what is the best AMERICAN translation

 

[Rippon]

I suppose the KJV is the best ENGLISH translation.

By that, do you mean British? If so, I think the Revised English Bible would rank at the top.

What is the best AMERICAN translation

By that do you mean the way in which a translation uses the English language more artfully than other versions? Or do you mean the most accurate translation?

 

[McCree79]

I suppose the KJV is the best ENGLISH translation.
BUT
what is the best AMERICAN translation

That is funny! Not sure if you meant it as a joke, but I found it humorous.

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

 

[JonC]

I don't know that the issue should be about understanding the words (e.g., composed of one and two syllable words) as much as it is conveying the meaning in a mode the target audience can apprehend. IMHO it is not necessarily what grade level the translation is written. They all seem to claim to be of a 6th to 12th grade level, yet many of us have completed graduate school and still argue about the meanings of specific texts.

 

[Salty]

That is funny! Not sure if you meant it as a joke, but I found it humorous.

NO - I was NOT trying to be funny. Though (true) English and American English are very similar - there are many differences. And then we are talking about a translation some 250-400 years old.
Thus we do have the AMERICAN Standard and the New AMERICAN Standard Version, ect..
In addition, when translating - do we go for word-for-word or for phrase and/or thought.

Keep in mind - how many times have you heard "it lost something in the translation". This often is true when telling a joke.

 

[Rippon]

when translating - do we go for word-for-word or for phrase and/or thought?

The latter; as most translations of necessity have to.

 

[Yeshua1]

Or, to reword the above:
Actually, I think the KJV and NASU are about the 11th to 12th grade level. Both translations require a good grasp of English grammar and word usage in order to get the most out of them.

And BOTH of them would require a higher reading level then presuppossed by either the Niv or the HCSB...

 

[Rippon]

And BOTH of them would require a higher reading level then presuppossed by either the Niv or the HCSB...

Stated simply: The KJV and NASU are at a higher reading level than the NIV and HCSB.

 

[JonC]

I always wondered about these "grade levels." For those wanting a real example, "Because of Winn Dixie" is a 6th grade level read. That is, if our average adult reads at a 5-6 grade level, on the upper end of average for adults. That is lower than a news article, and than many popular magazines.

 

[robycop3]

I wouldn't be concerned with 'grade level" ratings; 'tis much ado about nothing. One either understands a given Bible translation, or doesn't. And one can learn to understand one, as I did with Wycliffe's.

 

[JonC]

I wouldn't be concerned with 'grade level" ratings; 'tis much ado about nothing. One either understands a given Bible translation, or doesn't. And one can learn to understand one, as I did with Wycliffe's.

Much depends on whether or not (or how much) one desires to understand.

 

[Salty]

The grade level is an average. There are sections that would be on a 3 or 4th grade lever. Other sections would be post-grad. Overall, the KJV is about 12th grade.

Not only do we need to understand each word, but the meaning of the passage, in context.
Bottom line, if a 4th grader can fully understand the KJV - then there would be no need to attend Bible College.