Golgo_13
先輩
- 27 Nov 2003
- 2,001
- 37
Native Japanese people whom I have helped out in the past please help me out.
First, some background material for others:
Look at the number 1,000,000.
Now quick, what number is that in English?
It's one million, of course. It's easy to see that because there's a one followed by three zeros, a comma, and three more zeros. From the RIGHT side, the first three digits represent numbers 1 to 999; a comma, then the next three digits represent the thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands, respectively; another comma, and the next three digits represent the millions; and so on. It's an easy system in the west.
In Japanese, on the other hand, it's a nightmare, because the numbers don't work in sucession of three digits separated by commas, even though THEY DO USE a comma between every three darn digits! I still have trouble with very large numbers--pull what ever little hair I have left.
1 thru 10 are ichi, ni, san, . . . , ju.
20, 30, 40, etc. are ni-ju, san-ju, yon -ju, etc.
100 is hyaku
1,000 is sen (issen= ichi + sen)
But what is 10,000? It's NOT ju-sen.
Ten thousand is simply called "man" or ichi-man.
100,000 is ju-man (ten times ten-thousand),
1,000,000 (one million) is hyaku-man (hundred x ten-thousand), and
10,000,000 (ten million) is issen-man (one thousand x ten-thousand)
You still with me? You can't have an "ichi-man man" ("man man" - repeat of a unit), so
100,000,000 (one hundred million) is the next unit called "oku" or "ichi oku"
1,000,000,000 (one billion) is ju oku (i.e., 10 x oku),
10,000,000,000 is hyaku oku (100 x oku),
100,000,000,000 is issen oku (1,000 x oku), and
you would expect the next unit to be called "ichi man oku" for 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion)
NOW here's what I'm having trouble with . . .
The dictionary says 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) is the next unit called "chou".
But I can swear I have heard Japanese people say "[so and so] man oku."
Is "______ man oku" a valid unit, before going up to "chou"?
First, some background material for others:
Look at the number 1,000,000.
Now quick, what number is that in English?
It's one million, of course. It's easy to see that because there's a one followed by three zeros, a comma, and three more zeros. From the RIGHT side, the first three digits represent numbers 1 to 999; a comma, then the next three digits represent the thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands, respectively; another comma, and the next three digits represent the millions; and so on. It's an easy system in the west.
In Japanese, on the other hand, it's a nightmare, because the numbers don't work in sucession of three digits separated by commas, even though THEY DO USE a comma between every three darn digits! I still have trouble with very large numbers--pull what ever little hair I have left.
1 thru 10 are ichi, ni, san, . . . , ju.
20, 30, 40, etc. are ni-ju, san-ju, yon -ju, etc.
100 is hyaku
1,000 is sen (issen= ichi + sen)
But what is 10,000? It's NOT ju-sen.
Ten thousand is simply called "man" or ichi-man.
100,000 is ju-man (ten times ten-thousand),
1,000,000 (one million) is hyaku-man (hundred x ten-thousand), and
10,000,000 (ten million) is issen-man (one thousand x ten-thousand)
You still with me? You can't have an "ichi-man man" ("man man" - repeat of a unit), so
100,000,000 (one hundred million) is the next unit called "oku" or "ichi oku"
1,000,000,000 (one billion) is ju oku (i.e., 10 x oku),
10,000,000,000 is hyaku oku (100 x oku),
100,000,000,000 is issen oku (1,000 x oku), and
you would expect the next unit to be called "ichi man oku" for 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion)
NOW here's what I'm having trouble with . . .
The dictionary says 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) is the next unit called "chou".
But I can swear I have heard Japanese people say "[so and so] man oku."
Is "______ man oku" a valid unit, before going up to "chou"?
