Sunday, October 20, 2019
How to Talk About Fractions in Chinese
How to Talk About Fractions in Chinese Know that you know your whole numbers in Chinese, you can talk about rational numbers in decimals, fractions, and percents with the addition of a few more vocabulary words. Of course, you can read and write numbers- like 4/3 or 3.75 or 15%- using the universal numerical system in Chinese-speaking regions. However, when it comes to reading those numbers out loud, youll need to know these new Mandarin Chinese terms. Parts of a Whole Fractions can be expressed either as parts of a whole (half, quarter, etc.) or as decimal fractions. In English, parts of a whole are stated as ââ¬Å"XX parts of YY,â⬠with XX being the parts of the whole and YY being the whole. An example of this is saying two parts of three, which also means two-thirds.à However, the phrase construction is the opposite in Chinese. Parts of a wholeà are stated as YY Ã¥Ëâ ä ¹â¹ XX. The pinyin of Ã¥Ëâ ä ¹â¹ is fÃân zhà «, and is written the same in both traditional and simplified Chinese.à Note that the number representing the whole comes at the beginning of the phrase.à One-half can be stated as either ä ¸â¬Ã¥ Å (yà « bn)à or using the phrase construction mentioned above:à ä ºÅ'Ã¥Ëâ ä ¹â¹Ã¤ ¸â¬ (à ¨r fÃân zhà « yà «). There is no Chinese equivalent to the term one-quarter besidesà åâºâºÃ¥Ëâ ä ¹â¹Ã¤ ¸â¬ (s à ¬ fÃân zhà « yà «). Examples of Parts of a Whole three-quarterssà ¬ fÃân zhà « sà nÃ¥âºâºÃ¥Ëâ ä ¹â¹Ã¤ ¸â°eleven-sixteenthsshà lià ¹ fÃân zhà « shà yà «Ã¥ å⦠åËâ ä ¹â¹Ã¥ ä ¸â¬ Decimals Fractions can also be stated as decimals. The word for decimal point in Mandarin Chinese is written as é »Å¾ in traditional form and ç⠹ in simplified form. The character is pronounced as diÃŽn.à If a number begins with the decimal point, it can optionally be prefaced with é⺠¶ (là ng), which means zero. Each digit of the decimal fraction is stated individually just like a whole number. Examples of Decimal Fractions 1.3yà « diÃŽn sà nä ¸â¬Ã© »Å¾Ã¤ ¸â° (trad)ä ¸â¬Ã§â ¹Ã¤ ¸â° (simp)0.5674ling diÃŽn wÃâ lià ¹ qà « sà ¬Ã©âº ¶Ã© »Å¾Ã¤ ºâå⦠ä ¸Æ'Ã¥âºâº (trad)é⺠¶Ã§â ¹Ã¤ ºâå⦠ä ¸Æ'Ã¥âºâº (simp) Percents The same phrase construction used in expressing parts of a whole is also used when talking about percentages. Except for when talking about percents in Chinese, the whole is always 100. Thus, XX% will follow this template: ç⢠¾Ã¥Ëâ ä ¹â¹ (bÃŽi fÃân zhà «) XX.à Examples of Percents 20%bÃŽi fÃân zhà « à ¨r shà ç⢠¾Ã¥Ëâ ä ¹â¹Ã¤ ºÅ'Ã¥ 5%bÃŽi fÃân zhà « wÃâç⢠¾Ã¥Ëâ ä ¹â¹Ã¤ ºâ
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