If you're a student learning to read French, Italian, or Finnish, odds are you're decoding words with ease within a year. But if you're learning to read English? Expect a much longer road.
The reason lies in something called orthographic transparency—and English ranks among the most opaque languages in the world.
Download the Orthographic Transparency Infographic as PDF.
Orthographic transparency refers to the consistency between how words are written (orthography) and how they are pronounced (phonology).
A transparent language has consistent spelling-sound rules (e.g., Spanish, Finnish)
An opaque language (like English) has many exceptions, irregularities, and silent letters
A more transparent language helps children learn to read faster and more fluently by:
Reducing cognitive load
Improving phonological awareness
Supporting vocabulary development
Lowering the risk of reading difficulties and dyslexia
English has:
Only 26 letters, but 44+ phonemes
Over 1,100 grapheme-phoneme correspondences
Rules with many exceptions: one, gone, cough, love, give
As a result:
English learners take 2–3 years longer to reach reading fluency
Correct word reading after one year of instruction is lower than in more transparent languages like Finnish, Spanish, or Italian (Seymour et al., 2003)
Readable English transforms English into a phonetically transparent system using a simple markup:
Unmarked letters = make usual sounds
Grayed letters = are silent
Glyphs = indicate when a letter makes an unusual sound
Syllable breaks = help chunk words for easier decoding
Based on research from Seymour et al., orthographic transparency and syllabic structure impact how quickly students can learn to read. English ranks as:
One of the most opaque and complex languages
Slowest for developing fluent readers
Most cognitively demanding for early learners
With Readable English, that complexity is removed—bringing English closer to the decoding simplicity of Spanish or Finnish.
Faster decoding
Improved fluency
Lower cognitive load
Greater equity in literacy
Whether you're working with early readers, English language learners, or students with dyslexia, making English more transparent can change lives.
Want to see how Readable English works in action? Contact us or schedule a demo today!