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For "viertel" (quarter), German itself isn't without its regional ambiguities, though.

There are two different conventions, but I never saw any ambiguity:

One convention is "viertel vor zwei" (13.45) / "viertel nach zwei" (14.15), the other convention popular in the east and southwest is "dreiviertel zwei" (13.45) and "viertel drei" (14.15).

The ambiguity comes from the problem, when talking to someone from “the other system“. I remember that my “viertel drei“ was misinterpreted as 15.15 by someone, who autocompleted this to “viertel nach drei“ following his system.

Interesting. I never had that problem. Some people can't tell the time in the 'other' system, but they always recognised that it's a system they don't know.

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