German numbers are pretty straightforward, but they differ from English in one way. One hundred - einhundert Putting It All Together In English, for example, вЂњelevenвЂќ would technically make more sense if it was called вЂњten-oneвЂќ to mirror вЂњtwenty-one.вЂќ In German, a similar thing happens. Why count to 20 instead of 10? Well, like many languages, the teens work differently. So instead, weвЂ™ll start with the numbers you need to know, and then show you how it works.

We could just list all of the numbers one through one hundred, but that wouldnвЂ™t explain the logic behind it. To help you out on your next trip to Germany, hereвЂ™s a quick guide to count to 100 in German. Whether youвЂ™re ordering a certain number of pretzels or asking how many turns you have to make to get to the bathroom, youвЂ™ll run into situations when knowing numbers will come in handy as you learn German.

More on this in a future post.Numbers come up a lot in conversation, and that doesnвЂ™t change just because youвЂ™re speaking another language. For instance, there is a Korean calendar, Islamic calendar, Bengali calendar, Hebrew calendar, Iranian calendar вЂ“ to name a few. The Western (or Gregorian) calendar is the generally accepted international calendar, but there are others in use around the world within particular countries or languages. Who knew the Kentish Old English pronunciation of вЂњ1вЂќ? Foreign language calendarsДЄ brief aside as it is distantly related to numbers, but not all languages share the same calendar. It is certainly a comprehensive article, perhaps too much so for day to day use, but it makes for fascinating browsing. There is also lengthy list of numbers in various languages on Wikipedia, containing both the symbols and transliterations of the pronunciations. Try fitting вЂњkaksikymmentГ¤kahdeksanвЂќ, the Finnish for вЂњtwo tens and sevenвЂќ, into a narrow column width! You can read some more information on how languages count here. Also, how langauges put numbers together can lead to long compound words. Most typesetting will not have to get involved in the details of this, but itвЂ™s interesting stuff. The Finish for one is вЂњyksiвЂќ while eleven is вЂњyksitoistaвЂќ вЂ“ one repeated. For instance, the French for 81 translates literally as вЂњFour twenties and oneвЂќ. Of course, numbers that are writen out in words can reveal interesting patterns too. ThatвЂ™s the same amount as 7 billion, just a different way of thinking about it. So the world population has just hit 70 hundred million. In Chinese, you donвЂ™t вЂњlumpвЂќ quantities together in billions but in hundred millions. The headline highlights the challenges for the planet, but the interesting part from a strictly translation point of view is the вЂњ 70дєївЂњ. In English, we count large amounts in millions, billions, trillions and so on, but not everyone breaks things up like this.ДЇor instance, the BBC website recently ran a Chinese headline announcing the birth of the вЂњ7 billionth childвЂќ: The way of grouping together large quantities can be different too. It is not just the symbols used to represent numbers that can vary.

For instance, InDesign ME allows users to special Arabic, Farsi or Hindi numerals. The translator types the numbers as part of the translation, you import into InDesign (or whatever), apply the font and hey presto! You can sometimes control the form numerals take from within your typesetting software. The characters for a given language should be in the multilingual font being used for the rest of foreign language typesetting. The typesetting of numbers is usually straightforward. Also, I would argue the first label should be вЂњArabic HindiвЂќ or вЂњEastern ArabicвЂќ to differentiate from the numerals used in English, which are correctly referred to as вЂњArabic numeralsвЂќ. For instance, it is very common for Chinese text to use the same numerals as English. This is a great illustration of the range of numeral systems out there, but it should be used combined with some local knowledge. The French might say вЂњdixвЂќ when the English say вЂњtenвЂќ, but we both write вЂњ10вЂќ.Д«ut many languages do not use the same symbols. Many of these use the same symbols for these amounts as we do in English. The vast majority of languages have separate words for particular amounts. Whatever language we speak, we all count. A page design that plays on the shape of a number might fall apart when typeset in a foreign language.ДЇirst, what we all have in common. Not all languages share the same numerals something it can be importantly to remember from the start of the design process.

1 to 10 numbers in different languages