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ARTICULO INDETERMINADO + PLURAL
battle lines have been drawn
Nov 23, 2020 13:57
3 yrs ago
47 viewers *
English term

1 550 billion

English to Spanish Science Environment & Ecology
I need this number spelled out.

Context:
After the oceans, soils act as biggest carbon sink in the biosphere with a capacity of 1 550 billion tonnes worldwide.
Proposed translations (Spanish)
5 +3 un billón quinientos cincuenta mil millones
4 1,550,000,000,000
3 +1 [un] mil quinientos cincuenta millardos [de toneladas]
2 +1 una coma cincuenta y cinco billones de toneladas

Discussion

Neil Ashby Nov 23, 2020:
Hi Juan,
We used to use the 12 zero billion in the UK, but it got confusing with the US use of the 9 zero billion. At one point, it depended on the context, whether it was money or measuring something else - really confusing. I don't think any fields use the 12 zero billion in the UK nowadays.
And I reckon Cristina may well be asking because she is unsure of this point, so your answer in number form is correct because it's a concise, conclusive solution to her doubt. ;@)
Neil Ashby Nov 23, 2020:
Hi María,
We've used the 9 zero billion in the UK for quite some time now, so I would guess it's a moot point. But it is definitely worth mentioning.
María M. Hernández S. Nov 23, 2020:
Cristina, podrías decirnos de dónde es el texto? Lo pregunto porque su uso en el inglés americano y británico es diferente.
bil•lion /ˈbɪlyən/ n.[countable], pl. -lions, [or, after a number] -lion, adj.
n.
a cardinal number represented in the U.S. by 1 followed by 9 zeros, and in Great Britain by 1 followed by 12 zeros:the sum of two billion dollars
Juan Manuel Rodríguez Sawicki Nov 23, 2020:
You're right, Neil. I didn't really pay attention to the verb "spell out", because I was myself wondering how much is 1,550 billion, so I verified directly if the billion on the long scale (12 zeros) was still used in Great Britain, but it seems it's not. So, if we use billion in English nowadays I suppose we have to add 9 zeros. Thank you for your confirmation.
Neil Ashby Nov 23, 2020:
Cristina, what do you mean by spelt out?
In my book when you spell something out you use letters and words, but maybe you mean like Juan Manuel suggests and actually you want to know how many zeroes the number has.
Juan's suggestion is correct by the way, if that's what you are asking.
;@)

Proposed translations

+3
16 mins
Selected

un billón quinientos cincuenta mil millones

English one billion: a thousand millions, Spanish un millardo

Spanish un billón: a million millions

The number is 1 550 000 000 000

or

one thousand, five hundred and fifty billions (or thousand millions)

or

mil quinientos cincuenta millardos (or miles de millones), the same as un billón quinientos cincuenta mil millones

Phew. Hopefully I didn't make a mistake. Hope it helps!

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Note added at 6 hrs (2020-11-23 20:43:15 GMT)
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Thank you, Neil, for pointing out about "millions" and "billions". Of course, it's "one thousand, five hundred and fifty billion _tonnes_."

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Note added at 1 day 3 hrs (2020-11-24 17:52:02 GMT)
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https://www.rae.es/dpd/billón ; https://www.rae.es/dpd/billón

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Note added at 1 day 3 hrs (2020-11-24 17:54:04 GMT)
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https://www.rae.es/dpd/cardinales
Peer comment(s):
agree Liliana Garfunkel
1 day 30 mins
Gracias, Liliana.
agree Manuel Aburto : Tienes razón Oliver. Reconozco que estaba equivocado. https://es.scribd.com/doc/65545105/Como-leer-numeros-grandes
1 day 3 hrs
Gracias por tu aportación. Rectificar es de sabios ;)
agree Gerardo Piña
2 days 9 hrs
Gracias, Gerardo.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
4 mins

1,550,000,000,000

Creo que sería con nueve ceros:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billion
Something went wrong...
+1
7 mins

una coma cincuenta y cinco billones de toneladas

Spelt in Spanish? "una coma cincuenta y cinco billónes de toneladas"

In English "one point five five trillion tonnes"

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Note added at 14 mins (2020-11-23 14:11:32 GMT)
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That is, "1,55 billones de toneladas" where the Spanish "billón" equals "un millón de millones"
Peer comment(s):
agree Oliver Romero : Correct, except it's "uno coma cincuenta", the number "uno", not to be confused with the article. I think it would be the more "scientific" way to say the number (or even more scientific, 1.55 * 10^12) ;)
27 mins
Thanks Oliver, I always make a silly mistake like "una" with Spanish answers - good job I never do EN > ES translations (I have a partner for that). BTW, we don't pluralise "millions" or "billions" in English; it's "3 billion" for example. ;@)
Something went wrong...
+1
6 hrs

[un] mil quinientos cincuenta millardos [de toneladas]

Como ya se ha dicho, un billón estadounidense son mil millones en latinoamérica.

Y mil millones, en español, son un millardo.
https://dle.rae.es/millardo

(Si el texto fuente es inglés, sería un billón, quinientos cincuenta millardos o un billón, quinientos cincuenta mil millones.)

Es conveniente señalar que estoy usando un término que la RAE la asocia al ambiente económico, pero que creo que es igualmente válido para la expresión del número.
Peer comment(s):
agree Christian [email protected]
2 days 5 hrs
Gracias, Christian.
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