B.E.

German translation: Buddhistische Zeitrechnung (Buddhist Era)

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:B.E.
German translation:Buddhistische Zeitrechnung (Buddhist Era)
Entered by: Katja Schoone

16:06 Jul 21, 2014
English to German translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Law: Taxation & Customs / Personal Income Tax Return
English term or phrase: B.E.
Auf einem Einkommensteuerformular von Thailand oben rechts ist zu lesen:

Tax Year *B.E.* 1234
(2013)

Does anybody know what the B.E. stands for?

TIA
Katja Schoone
Germany
Local time: 12:30
Buddhist Era
Explanation:
Hello,

usually not referring to Wikipedia, but it explains it quite well this time:

"Thailand mainly uses the Buddhist Era which is 543 years ahead of the Gregorian year. The year AD 2006 is indicated as 2549 BE in Thailand. Despite adopting ISO 8601, Thai official date is still written in DDMMYYYY format, such as 1 January 2549 BE (AD 2006) or 23/04/2555."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_notation_in_Thail...

See also the government forms:
http://download.rd.go.th/fileadmin/download/english_form/frm...
http://download.rd.go.th/fileadmin/download/english_form/frm...

They state "Year (B.E.)" here. I would have replied sooner, but you're 1234 threw me off. That is around 1778 in terms of our numbering system!

See also https://www.facebook.com/BuddhAmbedkarWe/posts/4670703900305...
for calculating the right date.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2014-07-21 17:40:08 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Of course, you're -> your

I guess I got lost somewhere between using too many contractions these days and changing a sentence midway.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2014-07-21 18:08:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

@Cristina: Thanks for pointing this out!

The Thai Buddhist calendar starts in January. It used to start in spring, but was shortened to match the Gregorian calendar months. The Thailand calculation, as Cristina noted, differs from my link given above: subtract 543.

See also:
"In all Theravada traditions, the calendar's epochal year 0 date was the day in which the Buddha attained parinibbāna. However, not all traditions agree on when it actually took place. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, it was 13 May 544 BCE (Tuesdsay, Full moon of Kason 148 Anjanasakaraj).[3] But in Thailand, it was 11 March 545 BCE, the date which the current Thai lunisolar and solar calendars use as the epochal date. Yet, the Thai calendars for some reason have fixed the difference between their Buddhist Era (BE) numbering and the Christian/Common Era (CE) numbering at 543,[4] which points to an epochal year of 544 BCE, not 545 BCE. In Myanmar, the difference between BE and CE can be 543 or 544 for CE dates, and 544 or 543 for BCE dates, depending on the month of the Buddhist Era (as the Buddhist calendar straddles the Gregorian calendar—currently from April to April)."
http://cdn.worldheritage.org/articles/Buddhist_calendar

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2014-07-21 18:41:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

@Katja Schoone
Of course, I probably would have done something similar. I think your discussion entry helped a lot. As did your short explanation at the beginning.

Maybe I should have rather posted the entire explanation under References. There are three ways of translating the initialism: Buddhistische Ära, Buddhistische Zeitrechnung or keep the B.E.

See: http://das-buddhistische-haus.de/pages/de/die-ausbreitung-de... (B.E.)
http://eu-community.daad.de/index.php?id=43&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=66&cHash=f9f591fe2a6da88d882c456a4f185462 (Ära)
http://www.international-zen-temple.de/deu/events/birthday.h...
(Zeitrechnung)

I guess B.E., an asterix, and a note at the bottom of the page are in order.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days5 hrs (2014-07-23 21:09:30 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Thank you, Katja!

Let me reiterate: How many years you have to subtract from the Buddhist calendar year to get the Gregorian calendar year depends on the country you're translating a text for (the Facebook link at the top was from a Malaysian site that does not follow Thai rules), and the respective calendar might have been subject to change (New Year may also not be the same!). Thailand is a good example:

"In Thailand, the Buddhist Era is reckoned to have an epochal year 0 from 11 March 545 BC, believed to be the date of the death of Gautama Buddha. King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) changed year counting to this Buddhist Era (BE) and moved the start of the year back to April 1 in 2455 BE, AD 1912.

In 1941, Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram decreed January 1 as the start of the year 2484 BE, so year 2483 BE had only nine months. To convert dates from January 1 to March 31 prior to that year, the number to add or subtract is 542; otherwise, it is 543."
http://www.changnoi-0815.de/englisch/e_kalender.htm

Can't get much more confusing, can it?

Thus, please keep in mind that the Buddhist-Gregorian conversion may vary depending on which country and time period your translation relates to.
Selected response from:

Björn Vrooman
Local time: 12:30
Grading comment
Thanks a lot. That really, really helped.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3Buddhist Era
Björn Vrooman
Summary of reference entries provided
Personal Income Tax Returns as translated by the Revenue Department
Björn Vrooman

Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
b.e.
Buddhist Era


Explanation:
Hello,

usually not referring to Wikipedia, but it explains it quite well this time:

"Thailand mainly uses the Buddhist Era which is 543 years ahead of the Gregorian year. The year AD 2006 is indicated as 2549 BE in Thailand. Despite adopting ISO 8601, Thai official date is still written in DDMMYYYY format, such as 1 January 2549 BE (AD 2006) or 23/04/2555."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_notation_in_Thail...

See also the government forms:
http://download.rd.go.th/fileadmin/download/english_form/frm...
http://download.rd.go.th/fileadmin/download/english_form/frm...

They state "Year (B.E.)" here. I would have replied sooner, but you're 1234 threw me off. That is around 1778 in terms of our numbering system!

See also https://www.facebook.com/BuddhAmbedkarWe/posts/4670703900305...
for calculating the right date.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2014-07-21 17:40:08 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Of course, you're -> your

I guess I got lost somewhere between using too many contractions these days and changing a sentence midway.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2014-07-21 18:08:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

@Cristina: Thanks for pointing this out!

The Thai Buddhist calendar starts in January. It used to start in spring, but was shortened to match the Gregorian calendar months. The Thailand calculation, as Cristina noted, differs from my link given above: subtract 543.

See also:
"In all Theravada traditions, the calendar's epochal year 0 date was the day in which the Buddha attained parinibbāna. However, not all traditions agree on when it actually took place. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, it was 13 May 544 BCE (Tuesdsay, Full moon of Kason 148 Anjanasakaraj).[3] But in Thailand, it was 11 March 545 BCE, the date which the current Thai lunisolar and solar calendars use as the epochal date. Yet, the Thai calendars for some reason have fixed the difference between their Buddhist Era (BE) numbering and the Christian/Common Era (CE) numbering at 543,[4] which points to an epochal year of 544 BCE, not 545 BCE. In Myanmar, the difference between BE and CE can be 543 or 544 for CE dates, and 544 or 543 for BCE dates, depending on the month of the Buddhist Era (as the Buddhist calendar straddles the Gregorian calendar—currently from April to April)."
http://cdn.worldheritage.org/articles/Buddhist_calendar

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2014-07-21 18:41:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

@Katja Schoone
Of course, I probably would have done something similar. I think your discussion entry helped a lot. As did your short explanation at the beginning.

Maybe I should have rather posted the entire explanation under References. There are three ways of translating the initialism: Buddhistische Ära, Buddhistische Zeitrechnung or keep the B.E.

See: http://das-buddhistische-haus.de/pages/de/die-ausbreitung-de... (B.E.)
http://eu-community.daad.de/index.php?id=43&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=66&cHash=f9f591fe2a6da88d882c456a4f185462 (Ära)
http://www.international-zen-temple.de/deu/events/birthday.h...
(Zeitrechnung)

I guess B.E., an asterix, and a note at the bottom of the page are in order.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days5 hrs (2014-07-23 21:09:30 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Thank you, Katja!

Let me reiterate: How many years you have to subtract from the Buddhist calendar year to get the Gregorian calendar year depends on the country you're translating a text for (the Facebook link at the top was from a Malaysian site that does not follow Thai rules), and the respective calendar might have been subject to change (New Year may also not be the same!). Thailand is a good example:

"In Thailand, the Buddhist Era is reckoned to have an epochal year 0 from 11 March 545 BC, believed to be the date of the death of Gautama Buddha. King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) changed year counting to this Buddhist Era (BE) and moved the start of the year back to April 1 in 2455 BE, AD 1912.

In 1941, Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram decreed January 1 as the start of the year 2484 BE, so year 2483 BE had only nine months. To convert dates from January 1 to March 31 prior to that year, the number to add or subtract is 542; otherwise, it is 543."
http://www.changnoi-0815.de/englisch/e_kalender.htm

Can't get much more confusing, can it?

Thus, please keep in mind that the Buddhist-Gregorian conversion may vary depending on which country and time period your translation relates to.

Björn Vrooman
Local time: 12:30
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Thanks a lot. That really, really helped.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Sorry for 1234, that was just a fictious number to avoid the real numbers in case it would have been sth. confidential ;-)

Asker: Thanks ;-) One of the reasons I am a translator is that I am not good in Maths ;-) Seems to have been the wrong Motivation ;-)


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Cristina Bufi Poecksteiner, M.A.: "How to Convert the Thai Buddhist Era Year to Gregorian Calendar Year. Subtract 543 ...This year, 2009 AD, is also 2552 B.E. (Thailand) http://cosmicbuddha.com/2009/11/how-to-convert-the-thai-budd... "
23 mins
  -> Thanks! In response to your post, I've added the relevant information to my answer!

agree  Thomas Pfann
4 hrs
  -> Thank you very much!

agree  BrigitteHilgner: Man lernt nie aus!
12 hrs
  -> Thank you very much! Was something new to me, too. Learning-by-researching, so to say.

agree  Regina Eichstaedter: mit Brigitte... :-)
1 day 13 hrs
  -> Thank you very much!
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Reference comments


1 hr
Reference: Personal Income Tax Returns as translated by the Revenue Department

Reference information:
http://download.rd.go.th/fileadmin/download/english_form/pnd...
http://download.rd.go.th/fileadmin/download/english_form/pnd...

Does any of the information displayed on these pages look familiar? Maybe it helps somehow.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2014-07-21 18:59:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

@Katja Schoone

I'm afraid not. Even the German authorities refer to a form in English here:
https://www.bmf.gv.at/steuern/int-steuerrecht/rueckerstattun...

But maybe that helps!
http://www.thairecht.com/steuerrecht/

It does include the words "Provident Fund" and you may be able to translate some of the other words based on the information given.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2014-07-21 19:15:39 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

@Katja Schoone

Thank you very much!

Since I've already posted an answer and am (usually) not allowed to post a second one, what do you mean by "enter your answer there"?

Björn Vrooman
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 8
Note to reference poster
Asker: Looks very familiar ;-) Does there, by any chance already exist a German Version?

Asker: Great. Thanks a lot. Therewith you have already answered my question regarding donations. If you enter your answer there I'll be able to give you the points you deserve.

Asker: Ich meine meine andere Frage zu donations ;-). Die wird in deinem Link im Prinzip schon beantwortet.

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