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Man...?
Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2023 1:46 pm
by banders
Sorry, don't want to annoy people and sorry if this sounds obnoxious - maybe it's only me - but since this is a forum for native English speakers and everything is in English, can you stop using 'man' (万）when talking about money? People say things like "1430 man" (which is English, you know) and I have to stop and think about zeros and commas. Can we please just use '¥14.3m'? I know we live in Japan and congrats you know the Japanese number system but nothing else you type here is in Japanese.
Re: Man...?
Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2023 2:01 pm
by TokyoBoglehead
banders wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 1:46 pm
Sorry, don't want to annoy people and sorry if this sounds obnoxious - maybe it's only me - but since this is a forum for native English speakers and everything is in English, can you stop using 'man' (万）when talking about money? People say things like "1430 man" (which is English, you know) and I have to stop and think about zeros and commas. Can we please just use '¥14.3m'? I know we live in Japan and congrats you know the Japanese number system but nothing else you type here is in Japanese.
Re: Man...?
Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2023 2:24 pm
by banders
Would you start referring to 'inu' when you're writing a paragraph about dogs?
Re: Man...?
Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2023 12:41 am
by northSaver
banders wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 2:24 pm
Would you start referring to 'inu' when you're writing a paragraph about dogs?
There's already a word for
inu in English, so probably not.
As for your original point, there are some people, like me, who prefer to think of Japanese money in units of
man, and other people, like you, who prefer to think of it in millions. There are probably some people who are equally comfortable with both. It's no big deal, just personal preference. If someone says a number in the way you're not used to, just convert it in your head. Or ignore it and move on.
Re: Man...?
Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2023 2:42 am
by eyeswideshut
Totally fine with "mans" and "okus" and think it is actually intuitively easier than using English numbers. But then again with the depreciating value of the currency maybe we should start using "lakhs" instead
Re: Man...?
Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2023 3:02 am
by RetireJapan
banders wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 1:46 pm
this is a forum for native English speakers and everything is in English
Just a quick note: the forum is absolutely NOT for native English speakers. A large number of the RetireJapan community are not native English speakers, and this forum is for anyone who is interested in discussing personal finance in Japan in English.
Re: Man...?
Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2023 5:09 am
by banders
RetireJapan wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 3:02 am
banders wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 1:46 pm
this is a forum for native English speakers and everything is in English
Just a quick note: the forum is absolutely NOT for native English speakers. A large number of the RetireJapan community are not native English speakers, and this forum is for anyone who is interested in discussing personal finance in Japan in English.
Absolutely. My bad.
Re: Man...?
Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2023 7:22 am
by captainspoke
A hana, not to be confused with ohana (hawaiian), and either Johanna, or johana (a small town in toyama).
Re: Man...?
Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2023 10:04 am
by banders
JohKun wrote: ↑Fri Jun 30, 2023 1:46 pm
Sorry, but living in Japan 1400 man can be just more intuitive than 14m…and it it’s not easy to figure out 1 billion yen is 10oku…
You grew up with thousands, millions, billions and all of a sudden 'man' sees more natural because you moved to another country?
Re: Man...?
Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2023 10:28 am
by RetireJapan
banders wrote: ↑Sat Jul 01, 2023 10:04 am
JohKun wrote: ↑Fri Jun 30, 2023 1:46 pm
Sorry, but living in Japan 1400 man can be just more intuitive than 14m…and it it’s not easy to figure out 1 billion yen is 10oku…
You grew up with thousands, millions, billions and all of a sudden 'man' sees more natural because you moved to another country?
Yes. Most of the time I am talking or reading about big numbers (in a Japanese context) it is in Japanese, so 2000万 is actually more relateable than 20m yen.
I use both, but I can see how defaulting to man or oku would be more natural for people.
I've lived in Japan longer than I have lived anywhere else (23/45 years)
