BACKGROUND: application of an American early language test in Brazilian Portuguese-speaking subjects. AIM: to compare the performance of normal Brazilian Portuguese and American English-speaking subjects on the Test of Early Language Development - Third Edition (TELD-3). METHOD: participants of this study were 120 subjects of both genders, ranging in age from 2:00 to 7:11 years (20 subjects in each age range). Subjects were selected and tested individually by the researcher. A comparative analysis of the subjects' performances with that observed in English-speaking children was made. RESULTS: the results indicated that Brazilian and American subjects presented similar performances until the age of 4:11 years. Portuguese-speaking children of 5, 6 and 7 years presented higher scores on the receptive subtest of Form A when compared to their American pairs. Portuguese-speaking subjects of 5 and 6 years presented lower scores on the expressive subtest of Form B when compared to their American pairs. CONCLUSION: the translation of diagnostic instruments that are already available in other languages can lessen the lack of such resources in countries where these instruments are not yet available. Furthermore, this practice can allow cross-cultural studies which are relevant for researches on child language and language disabilities.
Child Language; Evaluation; Diagnosis; Language Tests
