Saying dates in English

[sondra]

Hello,

Could you check if these dates are correctly pronounced? Should it be 'dash' or 'hyphen'? Roman one, or '/aɪ/'?

27/I-1980, twenty-seven, slash, Roman one, dash/hypen, nineteen eighty

4/II-1936 Four slash Roman two dash nineteen thirty-six

11/III-1908 eleven slash Roman three dash nineteen-eight

1/IV-1981 one slash Roman four dash nineteen eighty-one

29/V-1949 twenty-nine slash Roman five dash nineteen forty-nine

13/VI-1946 thirteen slash Roman six dash nineteen forty-six

14/VII-1959 fourteen slash Roman seven dash nineteen fifty-nine

12/VIII-1967 twelve slash Roman eight dash nineteen sixty-seven

4/IV-1966 four slash Roman five dash nineteen sixty-six

28/X-1965 twenty-eight slash Roman ten dash nineteen sixty-five

5/XI-1964 five slash Roman eleven dash nineteen sixty-four

3/XII-1927 three slash Roman twelve dash nineteen twenty-seven.

Thanks

 

[SoothingDave]

I've never seen anyone give dates using Roman numerals.

Normally, we don't pronounce the "slash" or "hyphen" or whatever is used to separate the numbers. 9/11 is "nine eleven."

 

[5jj]

Like SD, I would not read the dates in that way.

27/9/1980 would be

twenty-seven nine (nineteen) eighty or
the twenty-seventh of September (nineteen) eighty.

Don't forget that in BrE the order is day, month, year; in AmE it's month, day, year. We understand nine eleven because the American way of saying that particular date is now universal, but that hasn't made us read other dates in this way.

 

[sondra]

But why should 'nineteen' be put in brackets? To be honest, I am confused. I asked the same question on a site and I have been told by the natives that (4/II-1936) Four slash Roman two hyphen nineteen thirty-six. and (27/I-1980) Twenty-seven slash ey​e nineteen eighty are both correct.

 

[SoothingDave]

But why should 'nineteen' be put in brackets?

Because people we give dates to usually know what century we are in. Or which century we mean. If I am asked for my birth date and give "68" as the year, people will know I mean "1968."

Where were you asking native speakers about dates and they told you to pronounce the "slashes"?

Did they know you intended these to be dates, with Roman numerals used for some reason?


Where do you encounter dates with Roman numerals in them?

 

[5jj]

I put 'nineteen' in brackets because some people would say it and others wouldn't.

I asked the same question on a site and I have been told by the natives that (4/II-1936) Four slash Roman two hyphen nineteen thirty-six. and (27/I-1980) Twenty-seven slash ey​e nineteen eighty are both correct.

I have never heard any native speaker of any variety/dialect of English saying such a thing unless they were dictating to someone. Even then, 'slash eye' would not be said of the Roman numeral 'I' even by someone dictating. What is this other site?

 

[5jj]

Where do you encounter dates with Roman numerals in them?

I have known people who do this, either as 20/ix/1980 or 20/IX/1980, but not many.

 

[Barb_D]

I have known people who do this, either as 20/ix/1980 or 20/IX/1980, but not many.

Wow. I have never seen that in my life I'd guess it was a date by the 1980, but would actually wonder if it referred to some batch number or something.

 

[5jj]

I haven't seen it since, I'd guess, the early 1970s.

 

[Rover_KE]

I have known people who do this, either as 20/ix/1980 or 20/IX/1980, but not many.

So have I, and in my experience, people reading those dates would convert the Roman numerals to the name of the actual month.

Rover

 

[sondra]

I asked about it on english.stackexchange.com in the chat.

 

[emsr2d2]

This British English native speaker has never seen a date written with Roman numerals for the month, nor heard a date being read out loud with the words "slash" or "hyphen". I think your question on the other site was answered by either a non-native or by someone having fun at your expense.

 

[5jj]

. I asked the same question on a site and I have been told by the natives that (4/II-1936) Four slash Roman two hyphen nineteen thirty-six. and (27/I-1980) Twenty-seven slash ey​e nineteen eighty are both correct.

I don't understand this, sondra

[FONT=&quot]I have just had a look at that site. A question identical to yours received such responses as :[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"If you're trying to express the fact that it's written with Roman numerals, you ought to tell this to your audience but eschew actually spelling it out for each date."[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"... if trying to show that Roman numerals are used, say, "The months of the following dates are represented by Roman numerals". If you're literally spelling it out (e.g. for TTS software), there's no need for "Roman", just say 'X'-'I'-'I' and so forth.[/FONT]"

[FONT=&quot]"No English speakers would recognize that those are dates![/FONT]"

 

[sondra]

That was the 'answer' I received when I posted it as a new thread on their site and prior to posting it on the main site I asked about in the chat and was told that 'twenty-seven, slash, Roman one, dash/hypen, nineteen eighty' is correct.
Sometimes it's better to ask questions on the main site.

 

[emsr2d2]

The only reason I can think of for reading it out loud in that way is if you were dictating to someone over the phone exactly how you wanted them to write it. As I said before though, I have never seen a date written in that way.

 

[Rover_KE]

So have I, and in my experience, people reading those dates would convert the Roman numerals to the name of the actual month. . .

. . . or read them as an ordinal:

30/IV/1980 > the thirtieth of the fourth, nineteen eighty, just as you read 'Henry VIII' as Henry the Eighth.

Rover