Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Italian term or phrase:
milioni di miliardi
English translation:
several billion
Added to glossary by
Katharine Prucha
Sep 28, 2005 11:48
19 yrs ago
4 viewers *
Italian term
milioni di miliardi
Non-PRO
Italian to English
Bus/Financial
Other
...il sistema è in grado di gestire milioni di miliardi di operazioni....
How would we say this in English - just "billions"? - thousands of billions? millions of billions (that sounds ridiculous!).
Thanks!
How would we say this in English - just "billions"? - thousands of billions? millions of billions (that sounds ridiculous!).
Thanks!
Proposed translations
(English)
Proposed translations
+2
16 mins
Selected
several billion
I would say
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Angie Garbarino
: yes agree :)
3 mins
|
agree |
carly kelly
: good suggestion!
8 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks!"
11 mins
many millions
In UK English "milliardo" is a milliard, in American English it is a billion; it can also legitimately be translated by "million" or "thousands" or even "an awful lot (of)".
since they state "millioni di milliardi" it really is an awful lot!! But since it is a business/financial article, I would suggest using "many millions" - although technically it is a "million milliards" (UK) or a "million billion" (USA)
since they state "millioni di milliardi" it really is an awful lot!! But since it is a business/financial article, I would suggest using "many millions" - although technically it is a "million milliards" (UK) or a "million billion" (USA)
+2
15 mins
trillions / quintillions
I think trillions id a large enough number to be understood (sort of) and still be overwhelming. Millions of billions are actually "quintillions" (10 to the 18th power).
15 mins
a multitude of/countless/an infinite number of
...if you weren't happy with just "billions", which is fine IMO.
32 mins
millions and billions
trad. di "milioni DI miliardi" (con 6041 riscontri in rete! )
32 mins
billions of billions
I believe several and many sound too small. Contless/unlimited too vague loosing the impact of the original expression. Trillions, etc, mathematically correct but also a different style.
I agree that millions of billions sounds weird, so let's just pitch in three extra figures :-)
Milioni di miliardi sounds OK in Italian
I agree that millions of billions sounds weird, so let's just pitch in three extra figures :-)
Milioni di miliardi sounds OK in Italian
55 mins
billions
I'd just leave it at that
1 hr
thousand billions (10 to 15th power)
a billion (in UK) is a million millions (10 to the 12th power); a thousand billions, then, is 10 to the 15th power (just like "un miolione di miliardi) - and IMHO doesn't sound too ridicolous or offensive to the hear. Since a billion in USA is just a puny thousand millions, I'd add the figure in parenthesis to avoid any doubt.
I think that a vague statement such as "many billions" wouldn't do very well: when speaking of the number of (financial, I gather) operations a system can handle, a 100 or even a 10-fold difference can be rather important in assessing performance.
BTW, both quintilions (10 to 30th power - !!! - by my Concise Oxfor Dict.) and trilions (10 to the 18th power) seem a bit too much to me...
I think that a vague statement such as "many billions" wouldn't do very well: when speaking of the number of (financial, I gather) operations a system can handle, a 100 or even a 10-fold difference can be rather important in assessing performance.
BTW, both quintilions (10 to 30th power - !!! - by my Concise Oxfor Dict.) and trilions (10 to the 18th power) seem a bit too much to me...
Discussion