Financial English | 01 Financial English Section 1

When do you need to work with numbers?

          1.  I work in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                      

          2.  I need the English of Finance for. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I Regularly read numbers in English in:

        1.  textbooks                                                    4.  accounts

        2.  newspapers                                                 5.  company documents

        3.  magazines and journals                               6.   . . . . . . . . . . .

I hear numbers spoken in English when . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I have to use numbers in English:

        1.  In the classroom                                          3.  on the phone

        2.  in meetings                                                  4.  . . . . . . . . . . . .

        in order to:

        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tick which of the following you have to do in English:

         1.  Buy foods or services over the telephone

         2.  describe graphs

         3.  discuss accounts

         4.  discuss customers' bank accounts

         5.  discuss projects with colleagues

         6.  discuss the market price of securities

         7.  draw up budget

         8.  negotiate with producers, customers, brokers, etc.

         9.  presents accounts and results to managers, colleagues, shareholders

       10.  presents products or services to customers

       11.  sell products or services over the telephone

       12.  talk with technicians

We say oh

after a decimal point
in telephone numbers
in bus numbers
in hotel room numbers
in years

5.03
67 01 38
No. 701
Room 206
1905     

five point oh three
six seven oh one three eight
i get the seven oh one
I’m in room two oh six.
nineteen oh five

We say nought

before the decimal point

0.02

nought point oh two

We say Zero

for the number
for temperature 

0
-5 C

the number zero
five degrees below zero

We say nil

in football scores       

5-0

Spain won five nil.

We say love

in tennis

15-0

The score is fifteen love.

In English all the numbers after a decimal point are read separately:

10.66

ten pint six six

Not ten point sixty six

0.325

nought point three two five

0.001

nought point oh oh one

or 10-³, ten to the power minus three

You will also hear people say:

0.05

Zero point oh five

or oh point  oh five

But if the number after the decimal point is unit of money, it is read like a normal number:

£12.50

twelve pounds fifty

€ 2.95         two Euros ninety five

0.5%

a half of one per cent

0.25%

a quarter of a percentage point

In British English you hear
In American English you usually hear
The number 1.999 is said
The year 1999 is said
The year 2000 is said
The year 2001 is said
The year 2015 is said

a hundred and twenty three.
a hundred twenty three.   
one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine.
nineteen ninety nine.
the year two thousand
two thousand and one.
two thousand and fifteen or twenty fifteen

Note: It is likely that different people will refer to the early years of the 21st century in different ways.             

Remember that the year 1066 is always referred to as ten sixty six – not one thousand and sixty six.

1,000,000

is a million or ten to the power six. (10⁶)

1,000,000,000

is a billion or ten to the power nine. (10⁹)

01273  736344

oh one to seven three, seven three six, three four four

344

can also be said as three double four

442677

Double four, two six, double seven

777

Can be said as seven double seven,  or seven seven seven

10 + 4 = 14

ten plus four is fourteen
ten and four equals fourteen

10 – 4 =  6

ten minus four is six
ten take away four is six

10 ű 4 = 2^1/2

ten divided by four is two and a half

+ = add  

- = subtract  (or deduct)

x = multiply

÷ = divide

DOLLAR RATES

Notice these ways of speaking about exchange rates:

^{Australia ……………1.4060-1.4070}

How many yen are there to the dollar?

^{Canada…………… ..1.3756-1.3766}

How many yen per dollar did you get?

^{Hong Kong……….....77360-77370}

The current rate is about 1.6 Euros to the pound.       

^{Japan……………….....84.96-85.01}

How would you way these dollar rates?

When a number is used before a noun – like an adjective – it is always singular. We say:

a fifty-minute lesson

not a fifty minutes lesson

Here are more examples:

a sixteen-week semester

a thirty-five pound book

a fifteen-minute walk

a six- week waiting list

a twenty-pound reduction

a two and a half litre bottle

a six billion dollar loan

a two litre engine

Say the following in a similar way:

1. They lent us £250,000

The gave us a . . . . . .  . . .  . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2. Our house is 200 years old.

We bought a. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .

3. We lost $ 50,000.

We made . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4. The salmon weighed 15 pounds

I caught a. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .