[asterisk-users] Native Chinese speaker needed

[Steve Hsieh]

John,



> My patch, as it is now, would do:
>
>         two thousand six year nine month ten two day
>         two thousand six year nine month two day
>
> Is "couple" used instead of "two" anywhere else?  You use it for day and
> minute.  Is it ever used for year, month, hour, or second?



For year, it should be couple in front of the thousand. In addition, you
need to explicity say zero as well:

2006 = couple thousand zero six year

However, it gets interesting at 2010.  I surveyed 5 native Chinese speaking
colleagues (from both Taiwan and China) in addition to myself, and there
isn't any agreement on what to say to make it sound right. The only
agreement I found was to say the digits individually. Everyone felt
comfortable with having a voicemail system speak the year as:

2006 = two zero zero six year
2010 = two zero one zero year

It's also simpler to implement.

For month & day, you can use two:

Feb 2 = two month 2 day

But it goes back to couple when speaking 2 o'clock:

2:22pm = couple time twenty two PM



How bad is it to say "two" instead of "couple"?  I could probably program
> it to play "couple" if the recording exists, and fall back to "two" if
> that is at all acceptable.


It would sound very awkward. People will understand if "two" is said
instead, but it sticks out badly.



Are there any other numbers which might be expressed differently in some
> circumstances?


I think "2" is the only digit that changes.


Is a 12-hour or 24-hour clock preferred in chinese?


Civilians generally speak in 12-hr format.


Asterisk currently uses a 24-hour clock by default (format HM):
>
>      ten four time ten minute
>      ten four time zero two minute
>      zero two time zero zero minute  (02:00am)
>
> and can add "zero seven second" to that if seconds are requested (HMS).
> Is the "zero zero minute" very bad?


If the minutes are zero, you'd drop it and just say the hour (same as
English).
02:00am = couple time AM


And how stuffy is "zero two minute"?


This is correct.


A 12-hour time format (IMP) would be expressed:
>
>      two time ten minute p-m
>      two time zero two minute p-m
>      two time zero zero minute a-m


You'd want to say "couple time" instead of "two time" in front.

Steve
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20060906/3d4bee9d/attachment.htm