€ 651,344 thousand

RobinB Apr 9, 2009:

Style guide? One question, though: Haven't you been given a style guide for this particular company? If not, demand one immediately! Some German companies insist on inserting spaces after the euro symbol (because they can English, right?), and aren't interested in any arguments the translator might advance, so this sort of thing has to be specified in the style guide. You can't reasonably be expected to revise a translation or examine specific issues in it without comprehensive background information, including a company-specific style guide.

RobinB Apr 9, 2009:

"thousand" is correct, € with space isn't The amount followed by "thousand" is correct for a translation of a text that's governed by German law. There's no point questioning that. Inserting a space after the € symbol, though, is typical for non-natives (e.g. Germans), as is inserting a space before the percentage symbol. The euro symbol is correctly written closed up to the following numbers.

Ted Wozniak Apr 9, 2009:

"More" correct as corrected Assuming the source text was TEUR/T€ 651.344, the corrected version is to some minds "more" correct. The logic being that by adding the missing zeros, the text nows says that was the EXACT figure. Obviously, figures presented in annual reports are almost always rounded off and are never "exact". But for CYA purposes, some people (e.g. German WP or lawyers) will insist that EUR/€ 123 thousand (with the space please) renders this notion of rounding.

I personally disagree based on common convention and common knowledge that figures in annual reports are rounded. But I too have adopted the convention of writing out "thousands" or "millions" or whatever for the sake of not having to deal with this minor argument.

Susan Welsh Apr 9, 2009:

Nothing wrong with it as written originally In American English, it would be written as the original translator wrote it. This is not an "authoritative statement" based on some Higher Authority, but just on my experience. It's the way I would do it. However, in texts written in Europe, I have seen it the other way (which looks very strange to me). As for putting a space after the Euro symbol: same thing. Europeans put in a lot of spaces where Americans don't (e.g., before exclamation points or question marks; I don't believe I've seen any after Euro symbols, but maybe I just didn't notice.)