That was the point of my suggestion. In your version, you're still converting to decimal, just on a digit-by-digit basis instead of whole hog. I'm suggesting converting "ten" to mean ||||, "twenty" to mean |||| |||, "one hundred" to mean |||| |||| |||| |, etc. If it were hex we were using, we'd be in trouble, since words for B_hex don't really exist, but in quarternary the words for the figures all exist. Just throw away the extras and redefine, and our decimal language will work.