<div><br>John,</div>
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">My patch, as it is now, would do:<br><br> two thousand six year nine month ten two day<br> two thousand six year nine month two day
<br><br>Is "couple" used instead of "two" anywhere else? You use it for day and<br>minute. Is it ever used for year, month, hour, or second?</blockquote>
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<div>For year, it should be couple in front of the thousand. In addition, you need to explicity say zero as well:</div>
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<div>2006 = couple thousand zero six year</div>
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<div>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:
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<div>2006 = two zero zero six year</div>
<div>2010 = two zero one zero year</div>
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<div>It's also simpler to implement.</div>
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<div>For month & day, you can use two:</div>
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<div>Feb 2 = two month 2 day</div>
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<div>But it goes back to couple when speaking 2 o'clock:</div>
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<div>2:22pm = couple time twenty two PM</div>
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">How bad is it to say "two" instead of "couple"? I could probably program<br>it to play "couple" if the recording exists, and fall back to "two" if
<br>that is at all acceptable.</blockquote>
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<div>It would sound very awkward. People will understand if "two" is said instead, but it sticks out badly.</div>
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">Are there any other numbers which might be expressed differently in some<br>circumstances?</blockquote>
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<div>I think "2" is the only digit that changes.</div>
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">Is a 12-hour or 24-hour clock preferred in chinese?</blockquote>
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<div>Civilians generally speak in 12-hr format.</div>
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">Asterisk currently uses a 24-hour clock by default (format HM):<br><br> ten four time ten minute<br> ten four time zero two minute
<br> zero two time zero zero minute (02:00am)<br><br>and can add "zero seven second" to that if seconds are requested (HMS).<br>Is the "zero zero minute" very bad? </blockquote>
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<div>If the minutes are zero, you'd drop it and just say the hour (same as English).</div>
<div>02:00am = couple time AM</div>
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">And how stuffy is "zero two minute"?</blockquote>
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<div>This is correct.</div>
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">A 12-hour time format (IMP) would be expressed:<br><br> two time ten minute p-m<br> two time zero two minute p-m
<br> two time zero zero minute a-m</blockquote>
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<div>You'd want to say "couple time" instead of "two time" in front.</div>
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<div>Steve</div>
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