
YouTube / iTunes / Spotify / Radio Public / Pocket Casts / Breaker / Overcast
Listen to ArtisanEnglish.jp posts & lesson intros here.
Word of the Day: Gerrymander
Some words, such as gerrymandering, are obscure or so rarely used that they are never introduced in a typical English language classroom.
However, gerrymandering may be relevant to the current electoral situation in Japan.
It refers to changing electoral borders to increase the number of people in an electoral district who will vote for an individual or party.
Recently, Japan underwent some electoral boundary changes.
Of course, some people may approve of the changes, while others may not.
Others may feel it is an example of gerrymandering.
I think gerrymandering is an example of a cool, although not-so-often-used word in English language classrooms.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post compares in readability to The New York Times.
It is likely to be understood by a reader who has at least a 10th-grade education (age 16).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 41.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.