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This question was closed without grading. Reason: No acceptable answer
May 18, 2009 10:05
15 yrs ago
Spanish term

5.279,69 millones de euros

Spanish to English Bus/Financial Mathematics & Statistics Politics/Maths
El texto señala que la Ayuda Oficial al Desarrollo (AOD) neta se situará en 2009 en 5.279,69 millones de euros.

I'm not entirely sure what this number should be. Is it 5 billion 279 million 69 thousand euros?? given the decimal for billion and the comma for fractions of a million? I'm sure I'm getting this wrong. And how should I write this? The text is from a Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation report on Official Development Aid for 2009.

US English, although a billion is the same in both US and UK English these days (one thousand million).
THANKS in advance! Cheers.
Proposed translations (English)
5 +2 5,279.69 million Euros

Discussion

MPGS May 18, 2009:
agree with Aoife

also partially agree with Leon. Current int'l standard uses blanks but general practice still uses ole separators
:)
Aoife Kennedy May 18, 2009:
I think it would be wrong to just say 5.3 billion, given the context - figures do matter, with today's very strict accounting standards, etc. We're talking about a difference of millions of Euros (5,279.69 million Euros is not the same thing as 5,300 million Euros - that's a lot of money!). Perhaps it would be best to clarify this with the client?
LS Young May 18, 2009:
Commas I agree also, no need to be so accurate unless necessary. I wouldn't use commas, separate with a space usually these days. This is also what I was taught at school and university 5 279.69 million
Kate Major Patience (asker) May 18, 2009:
Andrew, I was wondering exactly the same thing. I can't imagine writing a number this long in a government report in English: it doesn't sound natural. We perhaps would tend to say "almost 5.3 billion", wouldn't we?
Dr. Andrew Frankland May 18, 2009:
Do you really need to be so accurate...? If not, 5.3 billion euros would do just fine.

Proposed translations

+2
17 mins

5,279.69 million Euros

I would keep it as close to the original as possible, with the exception of the decimal point and comma, in order to avoid any confusion, especially given the fact that the word "billion" is different in the US to the UK:
"...a cardinal number represented in the U.S. by 1 followed by 9 zeros, and in Great Britain by 1 followed by 12 zeros".
Suerte :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2009-05-18 14:59:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Kate, in my opinion, humble and all as it is, I wouldn't make a flippant decision not to include all of the decimals stated in the report. This is a serious business, a Government document, and the figures do matter, I'm sure. I still believe that sticking closely to the original Spanish is best here, since the figures are from the Government of Spain.
Reference:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/billion

Note from asker:
I'm sorry, but the "long" scale (British scale) was abandoned quite some years ago, and would not be used in official documents or the media, and as I state above, I am sticking to what is now officially both a UK and US billion: one thousand million. David: as I state above, this is for a US audience.
Peer comment(s):
agree David Hasting : I agree: unless your customer can tell you if US or UK style is preferred, play safe.
43 mins
Thanks David, I think so too, it's not up to a tranlsator to make such a flippant decision to remove part of the figure.
agree MPGS : :)
4 hrs
Thanks :)
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