Medical Translation Insight

Speaking of India, the New York Times reported that Indian rupee joined the U.S. dollar, the British pound, the euro, and the Japanese yen when it got its very own symbol last month.

The new design was selected from among 3,000, after a year-long competition. The Indian Ministry of Finance was enthusiastic about how the symbol will "lend a distinctive character and identity to the currency and further highlight the strength and robustness of the Indian economy".

But, of course, the new symbol has its detractors as well. Competing designers are quick to dismiss the winning symbol and praise their own designs. According to CNNGo, one keen observer pointed out the symbol's similarity to Roger Federer's logo.

Notwithstanding these questions, the next steps after government approval include submission to the Unicode Consortium, asking ask software developers to include the symbol in new products, and for Indian keyboard manufacturers to include it in future designs. Within 18 to 24 months, we will all wonder who we ever lived without the new Rupee symbol.

Here a few related articles to enjoy:

• Richard Ishida's Unicode converter is a handy tool
• XE maintain a list of currency symbols around the world
• ISO 4217 is the standard for currency names and codes