Today again, a lesson that will be very short. Now that you know Japanese numbers perfectly, I want to teach you a few things about currency conversion, especially between the euro and the yen. This will be very useful if you want to go on vacation to Japan.
To start, we will see the symbol and the name in Sino-Japanese of some foreign currencies and the yen of course :
The euro
Symbol → €
Sino-Japanese → ユーロ
The dollar
Symbol → $
Sino-Japanese → ドル
The Thai baht
Symbol → ฿
Sino-Japanese → タイバーツ
The yuan
Symbol → ¥
Sino-Japanese → 元 . ゲン
The yen
Symbol → ¥
Sino-Japanese → 円 . エン
Note that the currency symbol for the yuan and the yen is exactly the same. In addition, the term « yuan », which designates Chinese currency, is written with kanji 元 and is pronounced ゲン in Sino-Japanese. As for the yen, it is written with kanji 円 and is pronounced エン in Sino-Japanese. For a reason that is completely unknown to me, I don’t know why in the West, we say « yen » instead of « en ». You can try to search on the Internet because I didn’t find...
We will now move on to the most interesting part, we will convert yen to euros and vice versa. You’ll see, with a little tip that I’ll explain below, it’s going to be childishly simple.
However, before I start, I would like to make a little aside on the names of currencies. In economics, to write the name of a currency, we use three letters. First, we write the first two letters corresponding to the country (referring to the name of the country in English) and then the first letter corresponding to the name of the currency.
As an example :
JPY → « JP » for « Japan », « Y » for « Yens »<
USD → « US » for « United State », « D » for « Dollar »
CAD → « CA » for « Canada », « D » for « Dollar »
AUD → « AU » for « Australia », « D » for « Dollar »
THB → « TH » for « Thailand », « B » for « Bath »
Namely that the euro is a special case because this currency is not present in a single country but in all the member countries of the European Union and which have accepted the euro as currency. Also note that pennies do not exist in Japanese currency ; there is only the yen.
So, going back to our basis, we start from the idea that :
100JPY ≈ 1,00EUR
Well, you can imagine that the price of currencies varies, so we will base ourselves on a rounded value to simplify our task. However, keep in mind that 100JPY is exactly 0.7EUR, or just under 1.00EUR.
Let’s imagine that I am in a supermarket (in Japan of course!) and I see prices in yen that scroll past me. Well, I’m European and I’m used to the euro so I would like to have an idea of what all these prices are worth in euros. I am not very mathematical and I suspect that you who read me are not necessarily mathematics-oriented. But I have a tip and here it is.
The little trick is to simply shift the comma two rows to the left.
Of course, as we said above, 100JPY is worth a little less than 1.00EUR, so we will make a ladle estimate which I indicate in green.
Take a look at the examples below :
The values indicated in green are those that I obtained while looking for exact values on the OANDA conversion site. As you read this lesson, it’s likely that these values will be slightly different if you make the same conversions as me.
2000¥ ≈ 20,00€ → 16,00€
4000¥ ≈ 40,00€ → 32,00€
8000¥ ≈ 80,00€ → 64,00€
10000¥ ≈ 100,00€ → 75,00€
20000¥ ≈ 200,00€ → 165,00€
40000¥ ≈ 400,00€ → 345,00€
150 000¥ ≈ 1500,00€ → 1225,00€
300 000¥ ≈ 3000,00€ → 2000,00€
Of course, you also have to practice doing the opposite by starting from euros to go to the yen. Watch out ! Going from yen to euros, we knew that, based on our basis, 100JPY is worth just under 1.00EUR. Now that we have to do the opposite, we have to keep in mind that 100EUR is worth a little more than 10 000JPY. Everything is only logical.
Take a look at the examples below :
100€ ≈ 10 000¥ → 12 055¥
235€ ≈ 23 500¥ → 27 075¥
260€ ≈ 26 000¥ → 30 300¥
800€ ≈ 80 000¥ → 100 000¥
Again, I repeat, these are shady approximations. There may be differences between 1000 and 3000 yen in my opinion, that means differences between 10 and 30 euros. If you are going to Japan, find out well about the currency rate and adapt. Personally, I find it easier to convert from yen to euros.
In Japan, prices are usually displayed in three different ways.
The first, and for our happiness the most widespread (it seems) is the writing in Arabic numbers. Note, however, that the Japanese are used to putting a comma in each pack of three, which is not in our western habits but it is interesting to emphasize this. It’s the most commonly used writing. It must be said that it is simpler and it takes up less space. In addition, for Western visitors, it is much easier. Example :
4,045円 → ¥4,045
The second is writing in kanji numbers like Arabic numerals. Remember that we saw this form of writing in the previous lesson. In restaurants, shops and all other forms of commerce, it is often used in vertical writing. Example :
四〇二一円 → ¥4021
The third is the writing with traditional kanji as we saw in the first three courses on Japanese numbers. And yet it is the most rarely used writing, the Japanese preferring to write in Arabic numbers. Example :
千三十七円 → ¥1037
This course on converting yen to euros is coming to an end. Again, if you want to go to Japan, remember to check the price of the currency because, of course, it changes all the time. You take a quick look before you leave and make your estimates. As I told you above, it seems easier to convert from the yen to the euro, but that’s just my personal feeling. In addition, I strongly advise you to make « conservative », estimates, I mean that if 100JPY is very exactly 0.75EUR, round up, so you will be sure never to spend more than what you think you are spending.
Also, I give you some conversion exercises to do, just to make sure that you understand the principle. Sometimes you will have to convert approximately yen to euros, sometimes you will have to convert approximately euros to yen. Of course, you do your conversion exercises according to the rate of the yen against the euro and vice-versa at the time you do this exercise (because the currency rate changes all the time although in general, it remains stable).
I have nothing more to add. I’ll wait for you for the next chapter but before. Thank you for reading this course, continue your efforts and if you have come this far with the utmost seriousness, I am very proud of you.
It only remains for me to wish you all good revisions.
Introduction