ぜに and the Art of Currency Conversion

As an American, whenever I see a price listed in yen with Japanese orders of magnitude, especially once we get into powers of 10⁴ (万・億 ・等), I don't always have an immediate intuition for how much that is, in terms of dollars, or what kind of thing that is a reasonable price for. As such, I have decided to make a guide for the uninitiated, so 円 becomes as natural as Celsius. I have not done extensive research on this topic, so take my assessments with a grain of salt. For convenience, I have used colons to separate each group of 4 zeroes, and commas for every 3, in the Arabic equivalents of the japanese numerals (semicolon for every 12)

一円 （1）

~1 penny. Nowadays, you can't do much with it besides tip jars, shrines, or donations. There is a 1-yen stamp, but I don't know what you can really do with that.

十円 （10）

~10 cents. Useful for making change, paying at vending machines, tip jars. Small items might cost 20-50 yen, like this eraser (as of post, １５円 after 八割引き - 83% discount to be precise). Other small stationary supplies and odds-and-ends can easily cost under １００円. Which brings us to...

百円 （100）

~1 dollar. You can really start buying things with 100 yen, as there are ¥100 stores which are similar to dollar-stores in America. This amount can also buy you a drink at a vending machine, as well as many simple food items. These include things like コンビニ (convenience store) onigiri, small pastries, inexpensive fast food, and so on. A 2-liter bottle of water, aloe water, or unsweetened tea might also cost about this much. The eraser mentioned before, without discount, is 86 yen, and is the kind of thing you might find in a 100-yen store. Some cans of beer might also be 100-yen (though usually a bit more), for those to whom that kind of thing matters.

千円 （1,000）

~10 dollars. A lot of books you might find online or in bookstores are around this price, though single-volume manga is around 600 yen. Food-wise, this is about the cost of ramen, sushi (though this can be more expensive), or 定食 (lunch set). Bento tend to be cheaper than 1000 yen, but are often in the neighborhood of 600. High-quality stationery items like good mechanical pencils or pens might also be in this range. Around 3000 to 5000, you might get a regular MP3 player or the like.

一万円 （10,000）

~100 dollars. This runs you into the territory of fountain pens (the majority of the pens listed are in the 一万円 to 五万円 range (万年筆!? More like 万円筆!). Small personal electronics also enter this terrirtory, such as graphing calculators (regular calculators might be ５００円 to 二千円), electronic dictionaries, smart phones, etc. Guitars, violins, and the like also run in this range. Run-of-the-mill bicycles and low-end laptops are also about this price.

十万円 （10:0,000）

~1,000 dollars. This is where things get expensive. Electric-assist bicycles, single-lens reflex cameras, gaming PCs, Apple computers, and other professional products tend to lie in this range. You can also get a 50cc Suzuki motorcycle for 一三十万円 (100,000-300,000 yen). A wedding ring will cost about this much on average.

百万円 （1,00:0,000）

~10,000 dollars. Think: a 1000cc Suzuki motorcycle, a non-sports car, other heavy machinery. Luxury goods like jewelry and watches can also run into this range, though they may be even more expensive depending on the quality.

千万円 （10,00:0,000)

~100,000 dollars. This might be a motorboat, Tesla car, Tourbillon watch (price here), or loose diamond. Buying a house/apartment outright might also cost you this much, depending on property values.

一億円 (1:00,00:0,000)

~1,000,000 dollars. This is getting into very expensive territory, but we aren't done yet (from now on, I am using numbers from this very helpful if niche website). If you wanted to buy a 2LDK in Minato-Ku (ward of Tokyo) or a highest-quality Steinway Grand Piano, this is how much you would need. The Type 90 Kyuumaru tank used by the Ground Self Defense Force cost 八億円, and the production cost for the PS2 game 決戦 (Kessen) II was 七億円. Other than that, you could get some pretty nice real estate going. This is also the range for a private jet or private island.

十億円 (1,0:00,00:0,000)

~10,000,000 dollars. This can get you a Stradivarius violin, a Type 87 SDF Anti-Aircraft Gun, a 4-bed estate in Setagaya-Ku (Tokyo), or buy a cruise liner. Space Shuttle Endeavour cost 約二十億円 (approximately 200 million yen) to build.

百億円 (10,0:00,00:0,000)

~100,000,000 dollars. We need to start getting into things like private jets for this kind of price. If you want to buy a very expensive painting, launch a rocket into outer space, or get your hands on a Boeing 767 or F-15, don't expect to pay less than hyakuoku yen.

千億円 (100,0:00,00:0,000)

~1,000,000,000 dollars. This is the cost of building an expressway or an airport, more or less. You can also get a B-2 Stealth Bomber for ２０００００００００００円 (二千億). There isn't much in this range besides infrastructure and serious aerospace vehicles.

一兆円 (1,000,0:00,00:0,000)

~10,000,000,000 dollars. This is probably where we will be leaving off, since this is getting into macroeconomic scales. Mostly, this is what you need to build 新幹線 lines.

まとめ

１円

１０円

１００円

１０００円

１万円

１０万円

１００万円

１０００万円

１億円

１０億円

１００億円

１０００億円

１兆円

‥

消しゴム

おにぎり

ラーメン

自転車

バイク

車

テスラ

上等ピアノ

上等バイオリン

飛行機

ステルス爆撃機

新幹線

裏目: Irregardless

Note: This post is in Japanese.

しばらくの休みの終わりと共に、「無関係無し」がやっと蘇りました。つまり、私はオーストラリアから帰国しました。その間、「PROGRESSI部」という英和言語交換グループに参加して、日本語の会話をしました。その会話で、日本語から英語の訳し方と、正しい英語の言い方などについて少し話しました。その結果を紹介したいと思うので、質問と答を発表しようと思います。

第一問：「しょうがない・仕方がない」
この表現は、多くの表現と同じように、英訳がたくさんあります。例えば、「It can't be helped」、「It's unavoidable」、「There's no other way」、「There's nothing you can do about it」がそのなかのいくつかだけです。でも、状況によって正しい表現が違うので、気をつけなければいけません。

第二問：成句（「おつかれさま」、「いただきます」、等）
このタイトルから少ししかわからないかもしれないけど、このグループは、ある状況で自然に言う表現を含めています。例えば、「お疲れ様」、「頂きます」、「ごちそうさまでした」、それに「お邪魔します」、「しつれいします」。最後の２つが会話に出なかったけど、同じような表現なので、述べるべきだと思いました。言った通り、英語ではそういう表現に当たる言葉がほとんどないけど、同じ状況で言える言葉はあります。例えば、「お疲れ様」→「Good job」、「ごちそうさまでした」→「That was delicious」。そう言っても、その表現を言う義務も必要も期待も習慣もないので、違う感じがします。

第三問：「遊びに行く」
これはちょっと大変でした。「今度・週末、遊びに行く？」の英語が多くあるし、場合によって当たります。英語で言おうとしたら、詳しくその「遊びに行く」という活動、行き先、予定を述べたほうがいいような気がします。別になんの予定もない場合、あるいは非特異的に言いたい場合には、「Want to hang out?」とか「Want to meet up/get together」は同じ感じがするので、正しい訳にもなれると思います。「Want to (go) play?」は、テニスなどの"play"に組み合わせる活動が文脈から察知できる以外に、ちょっと変に聞こえると思います。

第四問：お兄さん→「Elder Brother」か「Older Brother」？
両方も正しいです。でも、その言葉の感じといえば、違いがあります。お兄さんが一人しかないなら、「Older Brother」のほうが正しくなります。その一方、お兄さんだけでなく弟さんもいれば、「Elder Brother」が「弟とは別の兄弟という意味のお兄さん」という風に、区別を指すかもしれません。

第五問：「Take my shoes off」対「Take off my shoes」
英語では、「off」のような前置詞が普通に文末に出るまいという規範文法の規則があります。でも、ドイツ語の分離動詞のと違って、英語では句動詞は不思議で曖昧な文法規則があるものです。個人的な意見だけど、「I will take off my shoes」、「Let me take my shoes off」のほうが正しく見えます。つまり、「off」は普通に「shoes」の前にあるけど、その句動詞が助動詞、または 「let」のような「不定詞が目的語である」動詞のあとに現れれば、それは逆になります。