Counting in numbers millions+

[bluesofa]

I'm not sure if this is strictly a Thai language query, or a UK>US English one.

 

There's a news topic running at the moment: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1149856-three-major-new-motorways-set-to-be-built-in-central-thailand-starting-next-year/

 

The image includes the text "7.9 หมื่นล้านบาท" Below it, the English says "79 billion Baht"

 

Now if I use google translate and enter in English "Seventy thousand million" it translates as "เจ็ดหมื่นล้าน" (I used seventy rather than seventy-nine to make it simpler).

However, if I click to swap the two languages (from EN>TH to TH>EN), using the text already there, it then shows "เจ็ดหมื่นล้าน" translated to "Seventy billion".

 

How much is เจ็ดหมื่นล้าน in English, and is there a difference between UK and US English for this amount?

[karibu]

In British English, a billion used to be equivalent to a million million (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000), while in American English it has always equated to a thousand million (i.e. 1,000,000,000).

 

we all use the American calculating now 

[karibu]

In pounds 79.000.000.000 baht  is approximately  is 2 billion I Think? 

[tgeezer]

One billion is nine naughts พันล้าน  but there is no word for a billion because every multiple of ten uses a new word. In English we don't  have equivalent words for 10,000 and 100,000 and  Thai does not have a word for more than 1000,000. 

เจ็ดหมื่นล้าน   = 7X10,000X 1000,000 seven ten-thousand millions.  

70X10,000 becomes เจ็ดแสน seven one hundred - thousands. 

7.9หมื่นล้าน is written เจ็ดหมื่นเก้าพันล้าน or 79,000,000,000 mixing figures and words mixes me up!   

 

 

 

 

[KhunBENQ]

All said, but not again simplified with 7. I use "'" to separate thousands.

 

เจ็ดหมื่นล้าน

เจ็ด = 7

หมื่น = 10'000

ล้าน  = 1'000'000

-> 70'000'000'000 (7*10¹⁰)

70'000 million

In US it's 70 billion.

In some other languages there is a "milliard".

In German it would be 70 Milliarden.

Always a source of mistranslation/calculation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales

 

Additionally Thai (as some other languages) has words for 10'000 (muen) and 100'000 (saen) which English does not have.

 

70'000'000'000 Baht ~ 2,200,000,000 USD (2.2 billion US).

 

 

Edited February 24, 2020 by KhunBENQ

[bluesofa]

1 hour ago, tgeezer said:

One billion is nine naughts พันล้าน  but there is no word for a billion because every multiple of ten uses a new word. In English we don't  have equivalent words for 10,000 and 100,000 and  Thai does not have a word for more than 1000,000. 

เจ็ดหมื่นล้าน   = 7X10,000X 1000,000 seven ten-thousand millions.  

70X10,000 becomes เจ็ดแสน seven one hundred - thousands. 

7.9หมื่นล้าน is written เจ็ดหมื่นเก้าพันล้าน or 79,000,000,000 mixing figures and words mixes me up!  

Right, thanks.

I follow that now. I know what you mean about mixing figures.

 

I read something to do with the cost of some enormous infrastructure project about ten years ago:

Do I remember this correctly - I think a trillion is ล้านล้าน ?

 

[KhunBENQ]

1 minute ago, bluesofa said:

Do I remember this correctly - I think a trillion is ล้านล้าน ?

A million million. Yes, would be called "trillion" in US (and UK as far as I know).

[bluesofa]

29 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

31 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Do I remember this correctly - I think a trillion is ล้านล้าน ?

A million million. Yes, would be called "trillion" in US (and UK as far as I know).

Oh good. I know what to write for my annual visa extension now...

(sorry!)