In American English a period ( . ) is used as a decimal separator, but there are other places in the world where a comma ( , ) is used.

I would read a quantity of 7.5 as "seven point five" written as-is. But if you use a pause and not a point how do you read the number aloud?

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[–] 69 points 7 months ago (1 child)

Seven comma five.

It sounds normal when it's not translated to English.

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  • [–] 34 points 7 months ago

    You say "comma" instead of "point".

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  • [–] 17 points 7 months ago* (2 children)

    Over here we would say 7 whole 5. As in 7 is the "whole" number and the 5 is a fraction of the next one.

    Or at least that's my interpretation of how we say it :D

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  • [–] 12 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    In french I always heard them say virgule ie: 106,9 = cent six virgule neuf, in english 106.9 = one oh six point nine

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  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 11 points 7 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    In French. In English a virgule is a forward slash.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    TIL

    This thread is about other languages use of commas and since I am familiar with french (Canadian) that is what I spoke on

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago*

    Yeah, I don't think that's common knowledge. I never knew it was called that until I got into my profession. And I think it's only called that there because it's been around since before "forward slash" entered the vernacular.

    There are probably some similar circumstances, but almost everyone calls it "forward slash."

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  • [–] 10 points 7 months ago* (1 child)
  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago

    Sieben Komma Fünf. That easy.

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago

    Yeah, I hear the Spanish say: "Siete coma cinco"

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago*

    7,5 is read in Finnish as "seitsemän pilkku viisi". 7.5 would be read as "seitsemän piste viisi".

    The rule is that if it's in decimal system, you use comma; if in any other system, you use dot. And you read what you write.

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 child)

    I wonder if the world will ever standardise to one or the other?

    The . for decimal separator is used in English, as well as China and India but apparently that is only 35-40% of the global population. The , is used for 60-65%. Although the figures may not be accurate as a lot of countries seem to use both, with . used for international business, and internationally published science tends to be published in English?

    Probably never be standardised as it's probably too difficult to switch now? 1,000,000.00 and 1.000.000,00 are clear because of the use of three 0s for thousands etc, and two 0s for decimals. But 1.001 and 1,001 are much more ambiguous and would definitely need context as to which system is being used - is it 1 thousand and 1 or 1 and one thousandth?

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

    Add another 1.6% with mexico using . as decimal separator.

    Separator Estimated Population % Primary Regions
    Decimal Point (.) ~70–75% China, India, USA, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Mexico, Japan, UK, Australia.
    Decimal Comma (,) ~20–25% Most of the EU (Germany, France, Italy, Spain), Russia, Brazil, Vietnam, Turkey, and much of South America.
    Other / Arabic (٫) ~5% Middle Eastern countries (Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia) using the Momayyez.
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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

    On ukraininan its "Сім цілих п'ять десятих", or "Seven whole (and) five tenths". If the decimal is 5, then you just say "Сім з половиною", or "seven and a half". Whether comma or period is used, it does not matter.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago*

    In polish you can say: seven comma five, seven and a half, or seven and five tenths, or if you need more precision (for 7,55 for example) there is seven and fifty five hundredths and so on.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago

    Siete coma cinco

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  • [+] -19 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    Specifying American English is unnecessarily specific. The other Englishes do it too.

    Why do you ask this? Is it that inconceivable that people could just say "comma" in their languages like you say "point" in English? Or were you hoping it's a weird word? Like seven thlumpf five?

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  • [–] 32 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Maybe they wanted actual confirmation from people with experience with those languages, rather than just making an assumption

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