This has probably been asked before, but it would be a pain in the arse to search for so…
Why is it when you talk to a local and you want an approximate number as you answer (e.g. How old do you think she is?). When answered in English the response will usually be “19 or 18” rather than "18 or 19"as we would say. Surely it makes more sense to put the lower number first.
Is that just laziness? a translation thing? or weird logic?
When it comes to numbers, I usually hear low to high.
With sizes, however, I commonly hear large to small, as in 中小企業 (SMEs) or 各縣市 (cities and counties). What threw me was 中小學 (elementary and secondary schools), which seemed illogical, because don’t people first attend 小學 before attending 中學?
I don’t recall hearing Taiwanese people giving large to small with numbers when speaking English, but that’s interesting – I’ll have to listen for that in the future to see if they really do it.
i seem to recall number ranges are low to high IME with Taiwanese