In which case are items written in a different order than they are read aloud?
Sometimes this happens with other units of measurement, particularly when the unit is squared. That is, we might write "12 ft2", but say "twelve square feet," or "10 mi2" as "ten square miles."
This example isn't as universal as currency – that is, no one says "dollar one," but some might say "ten miles square."
Whether you write the symbol first also varies between countries, sometimes even with the same symbol so you can have 10€ and €10 - it's a real pain when internationalizing software.