59304
Sorry if this question seems to be stupid, but I'm not a japanese speaker, yet
I have to "translate" Japanese numbers to Arabic numbers.

I have a problem with the chain `３．２千` :

  * according to <https://lucene.apache.org/core/6_1_0/analyzers-kuromoji/org/apache/lucene/analysis/ja/JapaneseNumberFilter.html> , it is equal to `3200`.
  * According to <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_numerals> (if I understand correctly), it should be equal to `32000` because the large numbers are grouped by myriads and `千` stands for `1000`.

So what it the real value ?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-07T15:38:16.523
59293
2018-07-05T13:49:39.150
30193
question
numbers
What is the equivalent in arabic numbers of ３．２千
「3.2千」 is "3,200". There is no other interpretation possible -- none.

That is not a common way to write "3,200" in our daily life, but when
discussing **_statistics_** where numbers shown are mostly or exclusively in
the thousands, we actually use that form.

「千」 in that context is exactly the equivalent of " **K** " for "1,000" in
English.

See the 5-6th lines from the top in [this government
paper](http://www.maff.go.jp/j/assess/hyoka/kekka/2003/pdf/15jisseki0608.pdf)
where it says 「新規漁業就業者数 1.5千人/年」. That means "the numerical goal for the newly
employed in the fishery industry: 1,500 persons per year".
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-07T16:08:39.377
59294
2018-07-03T09:05:22.227
2018-07-03T09:05:22.227
59293
answer
## Reading numbers and prices

In Japan, Arabic numerals are now frequently used. I think this problem will
be quite rare since small numbers such as prices as generally displayed in
Arabic numerals:

> 3200

Even though these kanji [百]{100}, [千]{1000}, and [万]{10,000} are used as
placeholders. Numbers using them can be read by omitting them (and potentially
filling in the trailing zeros):

> [3]{さん}千{ぜん}[2]{に}00 = 3,200
>
> [3]{さん}千{ぜん}[2]{に}百{ひゃく} = 3,200

Even though these are written in Arabic numbers, they are read in Japanese
(although it will make your life easier as a Japanese learner). Only older
style traditional stores and restaurants (or izakaya) would display prices
entirely in Kanji:

> 三{さん}千{ぜん}[二]{に}百{ひゃく}

These would also use 円{えん} rather than ¥ for prices.

Still it is important to understand how these numbers are read in Japanese to
say numbers aloud. Bear in mind that counting is different in Japanese.

## Larger numbers

Bear in mind that larger numbers will be frequently encountered in Japan. The
exchange rate is roughly 100 JP¥ to 1 US$ so prices will often quotes in
thousands [千]{せん}or tens of thousands [万]{まん}. While numbers are now written
in Arabic format: 1,000 10,000 or 1,000,000, numbers are grouped by [万]{まん}
(ten thousand) rather than by thousands.

So a thousand thousand (million) is literally translated to 100 [万]{まん}.
Conversely [万]{まん} [万]{まん} is an 億{おく} (100 million). Large items are counted
in [万]{まん}s rather than thousands. Similarly government or company spending,
populations, or computing will be discussed in 億{おく} rather than millions or
billions. This is one of the reasons it very difficult to convert numbers
between Japanese and English and people think about numbers differently when
using each language.

So traditionally, Japanese numbers written in Arabic numerals would be written
in groups of 4 zeros (although they only do this with kanji):

> 一{いち} [万]{まん} = 10000 (ten thousand)
>
> 一{いち} 億{おく} = 1,0000,0000 (one hundred million)
>
> 一{いっ} 兆{ちょう} = 1,0000,0000,0000 (one trillion)

In practice you’ll encounter a mixture of traditional Japanese numbers and
western influenced groups of 3 zeros.

## Abbreviating numbers

Similar to how we abbreviate numbers in English, this can be done with kanji.
I suspect that is what is being done in the example you’ve provided.

> 3.2 千{せん}

This is more commonly done with [万]{まん} as discussed above. I suspect that
this is a literal Japanese translation of 3.2 thousand or 3.2K as used in
English for 3200. This is unambiguously 3200 rather than 32000 although it
would be clearer written in Japanese as:

> [3]{さん}千{ぜん}[2]{に} 百{ひゃく}

千{せん} here acts as a _placeholder_ , not just holding the meaning of 1000 so
could be read as 3 “ _point_ ” 2 thousand (3.2K). In kanji, the base 10 kanji
basically serve dual purposes as numbers and how we use points or commas to
aid reading short or long form numbers respectively.

This goes for larger numbers as well:

> 3万{まん}2100 = 3.21 ten thousands or 32.1K
>
> 3万{まん}2千{せん} = 3.2 ten thousands or 32K
>
> 1億{おく}2300万[まん] = 1.23 hundred millions or 123M
>
> 123億{おく} = 12.3 billion or 12.3 B (12.3G)
>
> 12兆{ちょう} = 12 trillion or 12T

I recommend sticking with standard use of kanji as it is easier to read.
3.2千{せん} (3.2 thousand) could be mistaken for 32千{せん} (32,000) if you don’t
see the decimal point or expect 32万{まん} for 32,000. However, I suspect that
this will soon become irrelevant as arabic numbers (western/English style)
have become common in Japan. Many Japanese speakers learn English or engage in
more international activities and often encounter numbers in forms such as
3.2K or 3.2 x 10^3. Arabic numbers are nearly ubiquitous and you will not need
to read kanji numbers unless delving through government or company reports,
historic documents, or traditional menus in rural areas.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-08T02:53:48.943
59304
2018-07-05T13:49:39.150
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
14608
59293
answer