We have partnered with TradePub to bring you free industry magazines and resources - no coupons or credit cards required!
Visit: englishforums.tradepub.com
This question is Not Answered
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pucca
+
696497
Sat, 11 Apr 09 01:52 AM
Hello all! 
I know that there might be lots of threads regarding numbers. I've been searching but I don't seem to be able to find one about what I want to know.
How do you read this number? "1,23"
One comma twenty-three? (Hehe, I bet it's not like that. That would be Spanish...)
Thanks in advance!
Joined on
Sun, Aug 27 2006
Spain
Senior Member
2,972
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AlpheccaStars
+
696503
Sat, 11 Apr 09 02:35 AM
OH, another European / British versus Americanism!!! In the US, we use the comma as a thousands separator, and a period (full stop) as the division between whole numbers and decimals. In Euorpe, it is just the opposite. [EDIT] In some places. Maybe with globalization, the American system is being more widely accepted now I have seen the number one million written in Europe as 1.000.000,00
Date formats are different, too. In the US, we normally write MM/DD/YYYY, but in Europe, they write DD/MM/YYYY. I learned this the hard way when thinking that the deadline was April 3rd, when in reality is was March 4th....
Joined on
Sun, Oct 12 2008
Senior Member
3,508
The pen is mightier than the sword. Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kooyeen
+
696580
Sat, 11 Apr 09 10:51 AM
 Pucca“How do you read this number? "1,23" ”
That is not a number!  If by that you meant a number between 1 and 2, then it should have been 1.23 <-- You use the point. A comma is used for the thousands, millions, and so on:
1,000 = A thousand 1,000,000,000 = A billion
To read the part after the decimal point, you need to say each number separately, like this: 1.23 => One point two three. π = 3.14 => Pi equals three point one four.
In Italian we would say "one comma twenty-three" and "three comma fourteen" instead, and write 1,23 and 3,14. It must be so in Spain too. (yes, it is so, I forgot you said it in your post, LOL).
EDIT: It's so in the UK too, it seems. I have never seen anything written in English where a comma was used instead of a dot (decimal point). This might be interesing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_point#Countries_using_Arabic_numerals_with_decimal_point
Anyway, several professors in Italy (especially if they are researchers) actually use or try to use the decimal point instead of the comma, because they rely on English for their studies. When you do everything in English, after a while the comma starts to look weird (it already looks weird to me, I just expect the point).
Joined on
Thu, Dec 22 2005
Italy
Senior Member
4,978
Parental Advisory / Explicit Posts
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tanit
+
696624
Sat, 11 Apr 09 03:01 PM
Kooyeen “
To read the part after the decimal point, you need to say each number separately, like this:
1.23 => One point two three.
π = 3.14 => Pi equals three point one four.
”
That's what I would say, either, and what Swann* considers correct: Swann “ We write and say decimals like this: 0.4 nought point four (NOT nought comma four) 0.374 nought point three seven five (NOT nought point three hundred and seventy-five)
4.7 four point seven ”
(yes, I know ... Americans don't say "nought"  )
However, I think I've also heard things like "one point twenty-three" (which I might find myself saying  ), "one and twenty-three" and even just "one twenty-three" (when speaking about money, for instance).
A couple of sites suggest using "hundredths" and "thousandths" (e.g. one point twenty-three hundredths), which I really never heard, not even at my uni in the UK. I wonder whether this is how pupils are taught to read decimal numbers in schools (in English-speaking countries, of course!)
See these pages: LINK1, LINK2, LINK3 and this video:
______________________ * Swann M. (2005) Practical English Usage (3rd edition). Oxford: OUP.
Joined on
Mon, Jul 31 2006
Senior Member
3,037
There is no greater pain than to remember a happy time when one is in misery. (Dante)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pucca
+
696744
Sun, 12 Apr 09 01:14 AM
OH, another European / British versus Americanism!!! In
the US, we use the comma as a thousands separator, and a period (full
stop) as the division between whole numbers and decimals. In
Euorpe, it is just the opposite. [EDIT] In some places. Maybe with
globalization, the American system is being more widely accepted now I
have seen the number one million written in Europe as 1.000.000,00”
I swear I knew it!
Shame on me, I remember reminding myself that you did it the other way round just about 5 minutes before coming to EF to post. 
To read the part after the decimal point, you need to say each number separately, like this: 1.23 => One point two three. π = 3.14 => Pi equals three point one four.”
One point two three? What if it has more than 2 decimals? Can't you say "One point twenty-three"?
Date formats are different, too. In the US, we
normally write MM/DD/YYYY, but in Europe, they write DD/MM/YYYY. I
learned this the hard way when thinking that the deadline was April
3rd, when in reality is was March 4th....”
Hehehe, and when did you find that out? 3rd April?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pucca
+
696745
Sun, 12 Apr 09 01:17 AM
Oh no, I can't edit my post! 
I missed Tanit's post saying that she'd heard people saying "one point twenty-three"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AlpheccaStars
+
696747
Sun, 12 Apr 09 01:19 AM
Pucca “Hehehe, and when did you find that out ? 3rd April? ”
Actually, it was March 5....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pucca
+
696751
Sun, 12 Apr 09 01:28 AM
(At least you did it in time )
|
|
|
|
|
|