と、小数

[staren]

アメリカのＧＭ＝ゼネラル・モーターズは、去年、世界で９２８万８２７７台の自動車を売っ たと１４日、発表しました。これはおととしより２．９ ％多い数です。

Two small questions. the と after 売った is that just a quotation particle right?

Secondly how do I read 2.9? I don't know if I just don't remember or if I have never read it but I currently would read that as にてんきゅう is that correct? What about for example 45.78? I would read it as よんじゅうご てん しちじゅうはち but I am not sure about the decimal part.

 

[Toritoribe]

Yes, for と.

にいてんきゅう and ごうてんななはち
2 and 5 right before the decimal point tend to be pronounced as a long vowel.
Numbers in decimal places are read just one by one.

 

[staren]

Yes, I thought that they might be read one by one. I think I might have heard that somewhere but was not sure. I was not aware of the long vowel though.
Now I can read numbers better!

As always, thank you very much for your help!

 

[Toritoribe]

More accurately to say, 2 and 5 after the first decimal place are also pronounced as a long vowel. As for the first decimal place, if there is no number after it, it's a short vowel, whereas if there is number(s) after it, it's a long vowel.
e.g.
２％
に パーセント

２．２％
にい てん に パーセント

２．２２％
にい てん にいにい パーセント


Numbers that are read one by one (e.g. telephone number, postal code) are also pronounced as a long vowel.
e.g.
３２－２３４５
さんにい の にいさんよんごう

 

[staren]

Ok. Thank you for an even more detailed explination!

I dont really get why the last ２ in ２．２％ and ２．２２％ are pronounced differently. Just because it's more than one number in the second example I guess?

 

[Toritoribe]

Yes, I think so. Numbers other than 2 and 5, including てん, are all two morae, so they are pronounced as a long vowel, i.e., two morae due to the rhythm when it's read one by one.

 

[staren]

Yes, that makes sense, to it make read more smoothly

Thank you very much for your help!