Higher numbers in Minnan (and Chinese, in general)

Discussions on the Hokkien (Minnan) language.
Locked
Mark Yong
Posts: 684
Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2005 3:52 pm

Higher numbers in Minnan (and Chinese, in general)

Post by Mark Yong »

I wonder how many native Hokkien speakers (or Chinese speakers, in general) still use - or are even aware of - the proper Chinese terms for the higher numbers. For 100,000 it is ēk 億 and for 1,000,000 it is tiāu 兆. I have only ever heard these two words used once (in Minnan pronunciation) by a Teochew friend from Bukit Mertajam on the Penang mainland.

Nowadays, anything 10,000 and above are just multiples of 萬 in Mandarin and Yue, e.g. 十萬, 百萬, etc. Malaysians (of any dialect, not just Min) tend to use the Western convention of multiples of 1,000, e.g. 十千, 百千 (admittedly, I cringe whenever I hear it - even though I find myself using it just to comply with the majority!). The most likely reason is psychological congruence to the Western mathematical conventions forming the basis of our education - a fair approach from a practical standpoint, though it has killed off two very nice words! :(

As an aside from Chinese linguistics: I picked up a couple of really cheap books on the Chinese abacus a year back. Did you know that with some practice, it is actually possible to calculate square, cube and... get read for this... 5th roots!! using an abacus?? The formula for them is actually lower secondary stuff, but to actually use it at high speed is the true mental marvel... or monstrosity, if you will.
hong

Post by hong »

Mark,
I agree we should use ban/man only but I haven't asked any chinese expert in china for the reason why books from china always said 一百五十千字﹐三百千字 in the back cover side.。Do you know why?
Mark Yong
Posts: 684
Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2005 3:52 pm

Post by Mark Yong »

No idea. Perhaps it is the same reason as what I mentioned, for certain practical reasons they want to be consistent with the Western system.
Locked