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Updated: Jun 27, 2026
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Published on: September 19, 2012
Quantifying risk: verbal probability expressions in Spanish and English
Lawrence D Cohn1, Miguel E Cortés Vázquez, Adolfo Alvarez
1Department of Psychology, University of Texas, El Paso, TX 79968, USA. Lcohn@utep.edu
Objective:
To investigate how Spanish- and English-speaking adults interpret verbal probability expressions presented in Spanish and English (eg, posiblemente and possibly, respectively).
Method:
Professional translators and university students from México and the United States read a series of likelihood statements in Spanish or English and then estimated the certainty implied by each statement.
Results:
Several terms that are regarded as cognates in English and Spanish elicited significantly different likelihood ratings. Several language equivalencies were also identified.
Conclusions:
These findings provide the first reported evaluation of Spanish likelihood terms for use in risk communications directed towards monolingual and bilingual Spanish speakers.
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