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French to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Engineering (general) / comma and decimal point! | | French term or phrase: 1 328,620 TM | Hello,
I am asking for confirmation on how to set out numbers in translations (ie. commas in the place of decimal points etc).
Would 1 328,620 TM be 1,328.620 MT or 1328,620
and 550,340 be 550.340?
Thank you - I need to be spot on with these numbers (tonnage of cargo damaged!) |
| Amy ChristieKudoZ activityQuestions: 642 ( 2 open) ( 14 without valid answers) ( 3 closed without grading) Answers: 44
United Kingdom
| | Local time: 22:30
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| | 1,328.620 MT OR 1328.620 MT | Explanation:
don't drop the last digit, if that zero is there it has a meaning, the figure is precise to that decimal point. That may be (in this case) because that is the kg level (1 MT = 1000 kg).
For the format, see link 1
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Note added at 3 hrs 55 mins (2005-12-10 21:55:43 GMT)
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You need the last decimal point because it indicates that you would have no other value than a zero if you rounded up or down on the next digit.
for instance, a result of 1.10 is precise to the 1/100 level, so the actual value could be at most 1.104 or 1.044, but not 1.105 or higher or even 1.1046(both of which would be rounded up to 1.11 to get two numbers behind the decimal point only).
In science, which I studied, the level of precision of a measurement is important, and I am sure that applies to engineering.
Besides, IMO it is certainly not up to the translator to change figures from the original, and even if you don't believe in it, would it hurt anything to leave the zero, just in case?
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Note added at 3 hrs 56 mins (2005-12-10 21:57:18 GMT)
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One more note, these figures may have been obtained by adding kg values and then expressing them in MT, so that would have been 1,328,620 kg. |
| Selected response from:
sjkm
United States
Local time: 17:30
| Grading comment Thanks to everyone for their help - much appreciated. The numbers in French are followed by TM which is MT (metric tons) in English.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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| Discussion entries: 0 |
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Automatic update in 00:
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9 mins confidence:   peer agreement (net): +2 1328·62 MT
Explanation:
Personally, I try to stick up for the true decimal point (on centreline) - Alt + 0183 in ASCII code.
To avoid ambiguity, it is probably better to leave out the comma as a thousands separator (typographically I prefer it, but it can lead to confusion if poorly-reproduced), and there is little justification for using a space as separator, at least until you get up into the 10 000s.
Personally, I also tend to suppress trailing zeroes, UNLESS one of your list of figures does actually have a third decimal digit
|  Tony M
France
Local time: 23:30
Works in field
Native speaker of:  English
PRO pts in category: 489
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The translation workplace 
