[shutupalready]

> When conveying nuanced ideas, I believe they will be much closer in length, with perhaps a small advantage for French.

I've looked in bookstores at expert translations of French novels to English, and English novels to French, and in either case, the English is shorter. This seems contrary to your claim.

[murbard2]

1) It could be the translator's choice to drop a connotation rather than go through a cumbersome periphrasis to express it faithfully.

2) English words tend to be much shorter, which is reflected in the book's length.