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I know telling time in English, you can say "It is 3:30" or "It is half past 3" and they can be used interchangeably.
When telling the time in Japanese, is this still the case? Can you use "今{いま}は3時{じ}30分{ぷん}です" and "今{いま}は3時{じ}半{はん}です" interchangeably? Or are there contexts where it is more appropriate to use one over the other?
In most situations, including ordinary business exchanges, they are completely interchangeable. Maybe 半 is a bit more common in casual conversations simply because it's easier to pronounce, but saying 30分 is always safe.
30分 is preferred in formal written text and technical contexts where consistency and clarity is important, but I guess "half past 3" is not used in such situations, either.
