This study compared the linguistic difficulty of legal translated texts with the syntactic complexity of native English legal writings. It used features of syntactic complexity to show that translated texts are less complicated than their originals, demonstrating how plain English translation can improve legal communication. The findings from legal translations in three regions reveal patterns consistent with previous research, showing that complex structures increase cognitive processing demands. The study is the first large-scale quantitative analysis of legal jargon accessibility, emphasizing the effectiveness of plain-language initiatives in legal translations.

Xiaowen Lin, Muhammad Afzaal, Hessah Saleh Aldayel