Big numbers can cause understanding problems, and can often be very different in translation from L1.
The numbers from 1 to 10 are usually the first we learn in a language. When we see the numbers, we automatically understand them in our own language, but saying them in a different language can get tricky. Here is a basic guide for numbers in English:
As cardinal numbers, 1 to 10 do not present many problems. (Ordinal numbers; first, second, third, etc. can be more difficult.) 11 to 20 are not too difficult except perhaps for some pronunciation. From 20 to 100, the numbers often involve hyphenation: twenty-one, forty-five, seventy-two, etc., and the spelling of ‘forty’, ‘fifty’, and ‘ninety’ is sometimes a problem in writing.
British English speakers usually put in ‘and’ once they get past 100: one hundred and one, two hundred and sixty, seven hundred and ninety-two. American English speakers tend not to do this.
10 x 100 = 1000 (one thousand, or a thousand). With hundreds and thousands we do not usually add an ‘s’: eight hundred and thirty-three, not eight hundreds and thirty-three; six thousand one hundred and four, not six thousands one hundred and four.
The thousands are counted the same way as hundreds up to 999,000 (nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand), and the addition of a further thousand we call a million (1,000,000 = a thousand thousands – six zeros).
Millions are counted in the same way as hundreds and thousands, and in some countries this went on up to a million millions, which was termed a billion. Nowadays, a billion (1,000,000,000) is usually taken as one thousand millions – nine zeros.
Billions follow the same cardinal pattern as hundreds, thousands and millions up to one thousand billion, or a million millions, which is called a trillion – 1,000,000,000,000 (12 zeros).
There are special terms for even greater numbers, but the trillions are usually the highest ones that we hear in our day-to-day lives.