Numerical expressions vary between languages, so if a writer isn’t careful, usage from a dominant language can creep into a smaller one. Many usages in English differ from the preferred form in Finnish.
- In English, decimals are separated by a dot (3.1); in Finnish, by a comma (3.1).
- English separates large numbers into groups with commas (30,000), Finnish uses spaces (30 000).
- The percent sign in English comes immediately after the number (5%). The Finnish usage adds a space (5 %).
- For sums of money, English places the symbol in front of the number ( $100); Finnish places it after (100 €).
- For clock times, English writers separate the hour from the minutes with a colon (8:15); we use a period (8.15).
- The usual form for dates in the U.S. is month/day/year (06-03-2017). Finns use day/month/year (3.6.2017).
- Recommended formats for phone numbers vary in English style manuals, but in general they include parentheses or hyphens: +44 (0) 122 12345, 301-234-5678. In Finland, we use only spaces.
- Typically when English uses only the last two digits of a year, it includes an apostrophe (’98). In Finnish, the numbers stand alone (98).
English tends to use Roman numerals more than Finnish does. When used for years (MDCCLXVIII), Finns struggle a bit to recall the meanings of L (50), C (100), D (500) and M (1000) along with the more familiar I, V and X. The lower-case Roman numerals used in the pages of book introductions (i, ii, iii, iv) also strike Finns as peculiar.