Help somebody please! Is 三千九百万 39 million and why?! - Feed Post by Nemesarius

• 
  Ineedaname

  Yes,
  Here is a dictionary that also converts number
  http://jisho.org/search/三千九百万
  As to why:
  三千 is 3,000
  九百 is 900
  combine them 三千九百 and you get 3,900
  Now 万 is 10,000 and altogether 39,000,000.

  July 5, 2015 at 10:14pm
• 
  mog86uk

  That same specific number again? Oh, it is from Genki. Does Genki do a really bad job of explaining it or something?
  
  I answered this question recently on the forums on here. The thread is still on the first page:
  http://japaneseclass.jp/forum/thread/1254
  ^^

  July 5, 2015 at 11:09pm
• 
  Nemesarius

  Oh! You're are correct, they didn't explain that in Genki! ありがとうございます, mog86uk! :3

  July 6, 2015 at 5:05am
• 
  KenjiSama

  I hate numbers in Japanese. Makes no sense:(

  July 7, 2015 at 1:39pm
• 
  mog86uk

  Makes perfect sense. It isn't really that different at all to numbers in English.
  
  Both use symbols instead of alphabet/kana. Example: 七 or 7 -- how are you meant to know how to pronounce either of these?
  
  
  And at least both use the decimal system. Think how much harder it would have been if Japanese counted in say twelves (like hours on a clock) instead of tens? There are other popular counting systems, like hexadecimal which counts in sixteens.
  
  Decimal (10s) = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9... and then then you need to add an extra digit for ten and higher -- 10.
  
  Hexadecimal (16s) = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9... and then you still carry on for another six numbers... A, B, C, D, E, F... (A = 10; F = 15) and then you need to add an extra digit for sixteen and higher -- 10 (=16).
  
  
  The Japanese counting system is a lot easier to grasp for people familiar with long scale counting, like we use/used in the UK. The only real difference between Japanese and long scale in British counting is that Japanese uses 万s (four zeros) in place of millions (six zeros). For you Americans only being familiar with short scale, you will be confused at why thousands 千 are still being used before higher numbers.
  
  千百十万 (1110 x 万 ) = 1110 0000
  千百十億 (1110 x 億 ) = 1110 0000 0000
  
  You are probably used to "a hundred million dollars", but "a thousand million dollars" probably sounds like a made up number? In short scale you say "billion" for 1,000,000,000, but in long scale we say "thousand million" for this same number. So "hyaku man" probably sounds sensible enough, but "sen man" might hurt your brain a little. :P

  July 7, 2015 at 7:11pm