Spanish term
United States
Each translation a gem!
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
Works in: Spanish to English, Portuguese to English
3.000 millones de euros
The authors of my document should be following US style for 'millions' because it's for the Pan American Health Organization, but this passage is quoting a European Commission report.
My translation is €3,000,000,000. This figure seems a little high, but then €300,000,000 seems a little low for all of Europe over 7 years. Which is it?
Tampoco en Europa se ha privilegiado totalmente de la promoción industrial de los medicamentos genéricos. Un informe reciente de la Comisión Europea denuncia la vigencia de prácticas anticompetitivas de la industria para evitar y retardar el ingreso de productos genéricos al mercado y prologar [shd be “prolongar”] la vigencia de monopolios artificiales (evergreening). Estas prácticas costaron a los sistemas de salud cerca de **3.000 millones de euros** entre 2000 y 2007 o un 20% de gasto extra, según una muestra en 17 países .
| 5 +16 | 3 billion euros |
Beth Farkas
|
| 5 +1 | €3bn / 3 billion euros / €3,000,000,000 |
Ángel Domínguez
|
| 4 | 3 billion Euros |
Daltry Gárate
|
Feb 7, 2011 09:41: Dr. Andrew Frankland changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Non-PRO (3): philgoddard, Charles Davis, Dr. Andrew Frankland
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Proposed translations
3 billion euros
| That wasn't exactly my question. I can't tell from the context whether it's US English or European, and I was hoping that someone with knowledge of the drug industry could make a guess from the amount in question. |
| agree |
David Hollywood
: absolutely :)
3 mins
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| agree |
Lydia De Jorge
19 mins
|
| agree |
swisstell
: first come, first served
43 mins
|
| agree |
Jairo Payan
46 mins
|
| agree |
philgoddard
48 mins
|
| agree |
Mara Ballarini
1 hr
|
| agree |
Robert Forstag
1 hr
|
| agree |
Thayenga
2 hrs
|
| agree |
Constantinos Faridis (X)
3 hrs
|
| agree |
Bill Harrison (X)
: Yes, that's what I say.
5 hrs
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| agree |
Charles Davis
: In US terms and also in UK terms, for several decades now (time was when a British billion was a million million, but no longer)
5 hrs
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| agree |
Gary Smith Lawson
: As Charles says, in the UK now a billion is officially the same as in the US (known as "short scale").
5 hrs
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| agree |
Gillian Hargreaves (X)
5 hrs
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| agree |
neilmac
: I still can't help feeling short changed somehow...
5 hrs
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| agree |
James A. Walsh
6 hrs
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| agree |
Edward Tully
6 hrs
|
Spain
Transcreation + software localization
Native in: Spanish (Variant: Standard-Spain)
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish
€3bn / 3 billion euros / €3,000,000,000
And, in US English, "3.000 millones de euros” translates as “3 billion euros”. Fellow translator Steven Capsuto summarized this in the provided URL.
Hope that helped,
Ángel.
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/english_to_spanish/aerospace_aviation_space/2363939-sextillions.html
| Please read my question again. I'm asking whether it's €3,000,000,000 or €300,000,000, based on knowledge of the drug industry, since there is a mix of authors from around the world. |
Bolivia
Unreserved attention to detail
Native in: Spanish (Variants: Bolivian, Latin American)
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English
3 billion Euros
In British English, a billion used to be equivalent to a million million (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000), while in American English it has always equated to a thousand million (i.e. 1,000,000,000). British English has now adopted the American figure, though, so that a billion equals a thousand million in both varieties of English.
| neutral |
Bill Harrison (X)
: Same as earlier answer but a point well made. Many English people still think it is 3 million million and I'm not sure some scientists don't still use that.
5 hrs
|
Discussion
http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltConsulta?TIPO_BUS=3&LEMA=mil...
It is very seldom used in European Spanish, but it is the same as the US billion.
a) Fellow translators, me included, have already provided a good translation. I don’t think the drug industry has a different interpretation of the word “millones”. A “millón” is one million, that’s it. I don’t think there’s any difference in that regard, no matter what the industry is.
b) That’s not for you to decide. If you’re translating an article for a client, and you think that figure is either too high or too low, the only thing you would do well to let the client know the amount might be incorrect. But, of course, providing some insight as to why it might be wrong. I would only do that id I’m really certain.
c) Perhaps a specialized forum would be a more appropriate place to ask that.
As I said, I don’t think there’s any difference, and 3.000 millones de euros seems like a realistic figure given the subject.