Turkish readability analysis
Measure how easy a Turkish text is to read with the Ateşman, Çetinkaya-Uzun and Bezirci-Yılmaz formulas, and see which sentences to simplify.
Why does readability matter?
A reader's mind works with limited working memory. Long sentences and many-syllable words fill it quickly; by the end of the sentence the reader has forgotten the beginning. Readability formulas measure two visible traces of this cognitive load: sentence length and word length.
Simplifying a patient information leaflet, a product page or a blog post is the cheapest way to get the same information to more people.
Formulas and levels
Turkish is an agglutinative language, so English formulas such as Flesch make Turkish texts look harder than they are. This tool uses three formulas developed on Turkish texts:
| Formula | Calculation | Levels |
|---|---|---|
| Ateşman (1997) | 198.825 − 40.175 × (syllables/word) − 2.610 × (words/sentence) | 90–100 very easy · 70–89 easy · 50–69 moderate · 30–49 difficult · 1–29 very difficult |
| Çetinkaya-Uzun (2010) | 118.823 − 25.987 × (syllables/word) − 0.971 × (words/sentence) | 51+ independent reading (grades 5–7) · 35–50 instructional (grades 8–9) · 0–34 frustration level (grades 10–12) |
| Bezirci-Yılmaz (2010) | √(words per sentence × (H3 × 0.84 + H4 × 1.5 + H5 × 3.5 + H6 × 26.25)) | 1–8 primary · 9–12 high school · 13–16 undergraduate · 16+ academic |
In the Bezirci-Yılmaz formula, H3–H6 are the average numbers of words with 3, 4, 5 and 6 or more syllables per sentence. Note the very high weight (26.25) of words with six or more syllables: a single word like “değerlendirilebileceğinden” raises the score noticeably.
How to use it
- Paste your Turkish text into the box. Results update as you type.
- Look at the results of the three formulas and the suggestions.
- Split the sentences in the “Long sentences” list and look for shorter alternatives to many-syllable words.