Italian Paragraphs
I don’t know if others have noticed this, and I imagine they have, but many Italian writers construct some of the longest paragraphs I have ever seen. These paragraphs seemingly never ending walls of text tend to put me off reading Italian newspapers and books.
As I understand from my own research into writing skills, psychologists who have studied the way in which Americans and Britons write, have determined that written texts are more readable and easier to understand if they are short. By short I mean around five or so sentences long or around 75 words.
I know at times I write paragraphs which stretch acceptable limits, but I do try to keep my paragraphs quite short. I also leave a line between each paragraph, partially because I think this makes things look a little better, and partially because I have read that this improves readability.
Now what I would like to hear is whether Italians would prefer to see shortish paragraphs and a good amount of space, or whether they prefer paragraphs which are longer than this post.
I have heard it said that Italians are not the world’s greatest readers, and I wonder if the block like walls of text put many Italians off.
Judge for yourselves. Here is the post I have just written, without paragraphs and spaces. See which you prefer:
I don’t know if others have noticed this, and I imagine they have, but many Italian writers construct some of the longest paragraphs I have ever seen. These paragraphs seemingly never ending walls of text tend to put me off reading Italian newspapers and books. As I understand from my own research into writing skills, psychologists who have studied the way in which Americans and Britons write, have determined that written texts are more readable and easier to understand if they are short. By short I mean around five or so sentences long or around 75 words. I know at times I write paragraphs which stretch acceptable limits, but I do try to keep my paragraphs quite short. I also leave a line between each paragraph, partially because I think this makes things look a little better, and partially because I have read that this improves readability. Now what I would like to hear is whether Italians would prefer to see shortish paragraphs and a good amount of space, or whether they prefer paragraphs which are longer than this post. I have heard it said that Italians are not the world’s greatest readers, and I wonder if the block like walls of text put many Italians off.
Just a little more
I think I’m coming to the point where I need to sleep on the rest of my little story. It’s developing quite well and I’m taking it just about where I want it to go. I don’t think I’ll finish this evening, but I do think I will finish it in time for my ‘client’. I hope it goes down well. I’m not sure though, it’s an odd idea. I think it is original, but you never really know. I’ve read so much, that I think sometimes all the images and thoughts floating around in my mind adversely affect my capacity to be creative, in some odd way. This probably sounds daft, and it probably is. But I could just be regurgitating something that I read years ago, without even realising what I’m doing. What an odd thought!
Still writing
The young one is still in the land of nod, and it’s even starting to cool down a little. I’m still scribbling away and the ideas are starting to flow quite nicely now. I’ve even had an idea as to how to bring my short tale to an end. It’s not a bad ending, one of those twists which I think may make my effort a little more memorable. If I don’t manage to finish in time for this person’s competition, I might post this story here, or I might see if anyone else may be interested in it. We’ll see. I might end up hating the thing.
