Marco77 Posted January 10, 2005 at 08:22 PM Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 at 08:22 PM Howdy all I have a serious problem with Chinese numbers - my problem arises when I encouter numbers such as 982.5 million, or 10.9 billion - I get seriously confused with 万 and 亿. Does anybody know an easy way (a little formula maybe) to convert large number into Chinese? thank you Marco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seesaw Posted January 10, 2005 at 08:42 PM Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 at 08:42 PM 1 thousand = 1000 (3 0s) 1 million = 1000 000 (3*2=6 0s) 1 万 = 10000 (4 0s) 1 亿 = 10000 0000 (4*2=8 0s) 但是更大的数字却总是让人迷惑： 1 billion = 1000 000 000 (us?) or 1 billion = 1000 000 000 000(uk?) 1 兆 = 10000 0000 0000 or 1 兆 = 1 百万 = 100 0000 = 1 million, as a native Chinese speaker, I'm confused too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmontelatici Posted January 10, 2005 at 10:27 PM Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 at 10:27 PM 1 万 = 10000 (4 0s) 1 亿 = 10000 0000 (4*2=8 0s) Precisely. 1 兆 = 10000 0000 0000 or 1 兆 = 1 百万 = 100 0000 = 1 million, as a native Chinese speaker, I'm confused too In the UK: 1 billion = 1000 000 000 000. In the US: 1 billion = 1000 000 000 and 1 trillion is 1000 000 000 000 (equals a UK billion). Nowadays, 1 兆 = 1 百万 = 1 million. But according to my dictionary, it formerly sometimes meant billion[uK] (= trillion[uS]). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nnt Posted January 11, 2005 at 07:18 AM Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 at 07:18 AM There is an interesting link : http://www.e-paranoids.com/c/ch/chinese_numerals.html For numeral characters greater than wan4, actually there were three systems in ancient records: ... Modern Chinese and Japanese use only the second system. The usage is consistent throughout all Chinese communities. Intestingly, Vietnamese system use the first system : 兆 triệu : 1000 000 (million) 秭 tỉ 1000 000 000 (1000 million) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xiaocai Posted January 11, 2005 at 08:42 AM Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 at 08:42 AM 我感觉，如果在是有关计算机或者科技的文章里面，“兆”等于“百万”。但是在日常生活中说“兆”的话，大部分的人都会认为是指“1，0000，0000，0000” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashiriKata Posted January 11, 2005 at 08:56 AM Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 at 08:56 AM I haven't looked at the link but just to confirm that in Japanese, a "million" is referred to as 100万 and a "billion"(British) as 1兆 or 10億. (The confusion seems to be mainly due to the difference between the British and American systems.) For nnt or rmontelatici: Could you please confirm whether the name of the Vietnamese poet Phạm Thiên Thư (Đưa Em Tìm Động Hoa Vàng, Em Lễ Chùa Này) is written in Chinese as 范天书 ? Tôi thích nhà thơ này nhưng không biết tên ông ấy bằng chử Hán. Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nnt Posted January 11, 2005 at 10:13 AM Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 at 10:13 AM Phạm Thiên Thư ... is written in Chinese as 范天书 ? The family name Phạm is 范 . The usual transcription of "Thiên Thư" are indeed 天书. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashiriKata Posted January 11, 2005 at 10:41 AM Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 at 10:41 AM Cảm ơn nhiều, nnt! And sorry to the rest for distracting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmontelatici Posted January 11, 2005 at 02:36 PM Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 at 02:36 PM Intestingly, Vietnamese system use the first system : 兆 triệu : 1000 000 (million)秭 tỉ 1000 000 000 (1000 million) What about vạn, the vietnamese loan for 万 ? Is it still of frequent use ? Could you please confirm whether the name of the Vietnamese poet Phạm Thiên Thư (Đưa Em Tìm Động Hoa Vàng, Em Lễ Chùa Này) is written in Chinese as 范天书 ? Tôi thích nhà thơ này nhưng không biết tên ông ấy bằng chử Hán. Tôi không biết nhà thơ này Ổng nổi tiếng không ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashiriKata Posted January 11, 2005 at 03:25 PM Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 at 03:25 PM What about vạn, the vietnamese loan for 万 ? Is it still of frequent use ? You can find it in written materials but I think "mười ngàn" is more often used in spoken language. Tôi không biết nhà thơ này Ổng nổi tiếng không ? I asked you and you asked me! Yes, he's very well-known. He's a monk poet but known mostly for his love poems (the 2 songs I quoted are from his poems). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dav-X Posted January 12, 2005 at 05:03 AM Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 at 05:03 AM >> 982.5 million, or 10.9 billion I was often confused with these huge number too. Now, I automatically translate 900 million into 9 亿. (skip '00 behind 9) And 10.9billion ---> 109 亿. (just make 10 times the number.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IVYtony Posted January 12, 2005 at 08:18 AM Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 at 08:18 AM I'm also confused sometimes by the large numbers in Chinese. I have to count how many zeros are there. Sometimes, the large numbers are frustrating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithsgj Posted January 14, 2005 at 01:31 AM Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 at 01:31 AM All you have to do is remember that 一百萬 is a million, 一億 is 100 million, and a billion is a thousand million (nobody uses those old UK billions any more). Remember those 3 rules and you'll never hesitate again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco77 Posted January 14, 2005 at 03:30 PM Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 at 03:30 PM Thank you for all your help! Marco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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