In Turkey, our numbers are 7 digit excluding area codes. If you're calling within your city you tell the number as<br>### ## ##<br>If it is an inter-city call, you dial 0*** ### ## ## where *** is the city code. Mobile numbers also have three digit codes like they are different cities. Finally, if you dial into Turkey from abroad, you dial +90 *** ### ## ##<br>
But when I'm abroad, or telling the number to somebody in English, I tell it digit by digit.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 11:32 PM, Pander <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:pander@users.sourceforge.net">pander@users.sourceforge.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">For the thread that could be a mailing list on its own:<br>
<br>
I've noticed a funny effect on reading out numbers in different<br>
languages. I'm from the Netherlands and here we say 'eight-and-twenty'<br>
(achtentwintig) for the number 28. In English, you'd say twenty-eight.<br>
This reverse reading is also in German, but not in French. It differs<br>
from language to language.<br>
<br>
After spending half a year in an English speaking country, I noticed<br>
that after I came back I had difficulties writing down numbers like this<br>
when someone said them to me. This audio-to-written-conversion task was<br>
difficult for my brain since it was confused whether to use the English<br>
or Dutch reading. I experienced this not only with telephone numbers but<br>
also when writing down numbers from laboratory test in university when<br>
someone else would read out the measurements of the devices.<br>
<br>
However, paying in a shop when someone would read out the price of<br>
something is not a problem at all. I asked more people that stayed<br>
abroad for a longer period of time where a language is spoken that also<br>
interchanges the reading of the numbers, if they had the same challenges<br>
and some did.<br>
<br>
So when someone says to me, my (eight digit) telephone number is<br>
twenty-eight thirty-four ninety-seven fifty-four, for me, this is not<br>
brain friendly and usually I asked them to read it out like two eight,<br>
etcetera. However, when I have to remember a short number of four<br>
digits, like a postcode, e.g. twenty-four ninety-five, I have no<br>
problem, because this is mapped into the money domain, just like a price<br>
of something. The "tell sell" doctrine. ;)<br>
<br>
Do some of you have the same experience?<br>
<br>
I would like to suggest not to use this in reading out telephone<br>
numbers, even though this might be your national way of writing/saying<br>
these things. Usually there is not a sound information ergonomic reason<br>
behind it. More the history of how the numbers grew larger in a certain<br>
country.<br>
<br>
The brain is perfectly capable of remembering longer groups of digits.<br>
Take for example<br>
<br>
2314 7869<br>
<br>
this is faster and easier processed by the brain than<br>
<br>
23 14 78 69<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
Pander<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>---------------------------------------------------------<br>Atilla Filiz<br>Eindhoven University of Technology<br>Embedded Systems, Master's Programme<br>
--------------------------------------------------------<br>