Twenty one
| Twenty one | |
|---|---|
| purpose | Reform of the way numbers are read |
| Chair: | Peter Morfeld |
| Establishment date: | 2004 |
| Seat : | Bochum |
| Website: | twenty one. now |
Zwanzigeins is an association that promotes a different pronunciation of numerals . In the German language , the naming of the ten before the one should also be established. The number 4,321 would therefore be pronounced consistently from large to small: "four thousand-three hundred-twenty-one".
Critics see practical disadvantages in two different ways of speaking compared to possible improvements.
Suggested way of speaking
The usual twist of the reading is that the units digit is pronounced before the tens digit, connected by the syllable "and". The number 21 is pronounced “one-and-twenty” (1 and 20), the number 54,321 is read “four-and-fifty-thousand-three-hundred-one-and-twenty” (4 and 50, 301 and 20) , so first the second digit, then the first, the third, the fifth and finally the fourth digit.
The pronunciation sought by the association is “twenty-one” or “fifty-four-thousand-three-hundred-twenty-one” (50 4,320 1), with which the numbers would simply be read from left to right like normal words. A similar attempt was made in the 1950s on the territory of the GDR. In doing so, the association is following a suggestion made by the German arithmetic master Jakob Köbel from Oppenheim in 1520.
target
The association was founded on June 14, 2004 by the mathematician Lothar Gerritzen and has its headquarters in Bochum . School trials are carried out. Gerritzen would like to convince the ministers of education of his proposal. The association offers discussion events on proposed changes.
It is not the aim of the association to abolish the traditional way of speaking numbers. Rather, a parallel between the two possibilities is sought, as is also common in the Czech language .
As one of the political reasons, Gerritzen cites the difficulty foreign students have in learning the twisted way of speaking numbers. In most other languages, the straight way of speaking is common, for example in English "twenty-one" or in Spanish "veintiuno". With a view to the EU, it is necessary to adapt Germany to the standards of the other countries. Not only foreign, but also German pupils and students are disadvantaged compared to pupils in other countries, so Gerritzen. There are learning obstacles and disorders in math classes. In addition, there is serious damage to the data transfer of numbers in the economy , so-called number rotations , which could also be remedied by the "Twenty One" project. Because of these problems, the association calls for scientific studies to check whether the "Twenty One" project actually reduces difficulties or creates new ones.
criticism
It is questioned whether this way of speaking can prevail in Germany because the conventional version is too established. Some critics draw parallels to the 1996 reform of German spelling, which was heavily criticized by many . The editor-in-chief of Deutsche Sprachwelt , Thomas Paulwitz , warned : "It would be difficult for the German language to cope with such a chaos of pronunciation after the spelling chaos!"
literature
- Lothar Gerritzen (Ed.): Zwanzigeins: For the unrotated way of speaking numbers. Facts, arguments and opinions. Brockmeyer University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8196-0701-1 .
- M. Schellenberger: Numeral and typeface of the number. VEB Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1953.
Web links
- Official website
- Twenty One in East and West - Articles of the Times
- Almut Steinecke: Newspeak with "Twenty One": The rotary worm disaster while counting - article in Spiegel (March 15, 2006)
- Twenty-one beats twenty-one - Spiegel article(23 February 2010)
Individual evidence
- ↑ www.mathematik.tu-dortmund.de ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Christoph Drösser: numbers: Twenty one in East and West. In: zeit.de. September 16, 2004, accessed December 4, 2014 .
- ↑ www.allgemeine-zeitung.de
- ↑ Holger Dambeck: Twenty one beats twenty-one. In: Spiegel Online. February 23, 2010, accessed December 4, 2014 .
- ↑ www.pm.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
- ↑ www.rp-online.de
- ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: www.macwelt.de
- ↑ www.n-tv.de
- ↑ The twisted language of numbers. In: handelsblatt.com. November 2, 2006, accessed December 4, 2014 .
- ↑ The rotary worm disaster while counting. In: Spiegel Online. March 15, 2006, accessed December 4, 2014 .
- ↑ Twenty-one instead of twenty-one. In: Spiegel Online. March 15, 2005, accessed December 4, 2014 .
- ↑ Christoph Drösser: language: never again turning numbers? In: zeit.de. January 22, 2004, accessed December 4, 2014 .
