Check printing in non-English locales

[John Ralls]

We've been discussing the numbers-to-words feature of check printing over on the developer's list. It presently supports only English, and a potential contributor suggested localizing it. But Wikipedia says that only English and French speakers actually use checks. Since the international representation is a bit broader here than there, I'm bringing the question here:

For those of you who live in countries where English and/or French are *not* the dominant language, how widely are checks used? Do you write enough checks to make it worthwhile to get the special forms and set up check printing in Gnucash? When (if) you write a check, do you write the word-amount as "one two three four and five-three cents" or as "one thousand two hundred thirty-four and fifty-three cents"?

Regards,
John Ralls