Centuries in Spanish

Question

In English, we say twentieth century or we write 20th century.

In Spanish, I have noticed that the same is written as siglo XX instead of siglo vigésimo. And I wonder how it is spoken, considering "XX" is roman numeral and I doubt it is pronouced as it is written.

Also, is there a reason for the usage of roman numerals to write century names? Is it something historical (since Spanish is a Romance language) or something practical (since ordinal numbers in Spanish is sooooooooooo hard!)?

Answer 1

Hi!!

It's wrong to say "Siglo Vigésimo", the right way to say it is "Siglo Veinte", and yes.. you write it as Siglo XX.

It's written on roman numerals because they also created the calendar, so the numbers known until that time were theirs. Everyone uses these numbers for the centuries but USA, but it's more a custom than anything else.

Bye!!

Answer 2

It is usually spoken as "el siglo veinte" however, "el siglo vigésimo" is correct as well.