Quantifying risk: verbal probability expressions in Spanish and English.

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.