Lecture 1 英汉计数差异在线视频

Hello everyone

Welcome to this online course

Interpreting: Theory and Practice

I’m your lecturer Catherine

This is Unit 5

In this unit

we’ll face a challenging task: Interpreting Figures

Figures are everywhere in our lives

They’re on vehicles

phones

price tags

financial statements

cheques

government report etc

Nearly none of us can avoid numbers

Figures are important

because they reflect facts that are objective

specific and significant

That’s why they must be transferred

precisely and faithfully

Any misinterpreting may result in severe outcomes

Yet figures are also regarded

as the most difficult part of interpreting

because there is a vast difference

between Chinese and English in reading numbers

In Chinese

digits including “个、十、百、千” are grouped in four

while in English

digits are grouped in three

namely “个 十 百” as you can see from

these two tables

Here’s another table for you

to get a clearer understanding

In Chinese

we have a series of numerical characters

to express particular figures

For example

“十、百、千、万、十万、百万、千万、亿、十亿……,”

but in English

there are no equivalents for “万” and “亿”

Relevant figures have to be converted

based on “thousand” “million” and “billion”

As a result

interpreters

especially beginners often frown at numbers

Thus

interpreters must take specialized training

in order to grasp the rules of conversion

To achieve fast conversion

you need to memorize the following skills

1万 ten thousand

10万 one hundred thousand

1000万 ten million

1亿 one hundred million

100亿 ten billion

1000亿 one hundred billion

Now

let’s take some practice

Please read these numbers

in English and Chinese respectively

七千三百五十二

Seven thousand three hundred and fifty two

一万六千八百三十四

Sixteen thousand eight hundred and thirty four

八万九千五百二十

Eighty nine thousand five hundred and twenty

七十万六千四百四十

Seven hundred and six thousand four hundred and forty

How do you think of it?

A little bit challenging

right?

You may have found the longer the numbers

the more difficult it is to read

Don’t worry

Next

I’ll introduce the trick of converting numbers

between English and Chinese

To covert numbers

we can follow a skill called “点三杠四法”

To put it simply

we put every three numbers into a group in English

and every four numbers into a group in Chinese

For example

when you hear the Chinese number “七千三百五十二”

you can first write down all the numbers

and then group the number in three with a comma

Remember?

In English

digits are grouped in three

So the conversion is supposed to be done like this

By grouping the number in three

we can quickly read it in English

“seven thousand three hundred and fifty two”

Got it?

Another thing I want to remind you is that

when you write numbers

leave some gap between digits

as you can see from my example

Then

add a comma between “7” and “3”

because “352” forms a group in English

let’s try a longer one “一万六千八百三十四”

Please convert it into English

It’s the same step

Write down all the numbers

leave some gap for every group

and then add a comma for each group

This number can be written down like this

Here’s a seven-digit number

“五百九十万九千八百三十四”

This one is a bit complicated

because it contains two groups

so we need to add a comma for each group

Now

let’s convert English numbers to Chinese

First one

three thousand six hundred and twenty

3620

In Chinese

four digits form a group

That means the number “3620” itself is a group

Second

eighty nine thousand five hundred and twenty

8,9520

The four numbers “9520” form a group

Last one

seven hundred and six thousand four hundred and forty

70,6440

The four numbers “6440” form a group

After all these practices

I believe you’ve got an idea of how to convert numbers

between English and Chinese

Now

let’s try something a little bit challenging

Listen to the numbers

and convert them to English or Chinese

Have you got all of them?

Here’re the answers for you to check

In this lecture

we learned the rules of converting numbers

between English and Chinese

The key is to keep in mind the differences

between English and Chinese in reading numbers

Don’t forget that three numbers

form a group in English

and four numbers form a group in Chinese

To become skillful

you need to develop the consciousness

of converting numbers in real life

When you see a number

convert it consciously into a target language

Apart from this

you can also invest some time

in training numbers every day

This website is recommended for you

In next lecture

I’ll introduce some common expressions for figures

Don’t forget to come back