# Counting



## panjabigator

When you count, do you count in your mother tongue or your second language?  For example, whenever my father talks to me in English and has to do some addition or count something, he almost always does so in Panjabi, even though his English is flawless in that respect.  Same with my mother (though less often).  And though I know how to count in Panjabi, I find it MUCH easier to do so in English.

What do you guys do?


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## Talant

Even in my second year in France I still counted in Spanish whenever I didn't have to count out loud. It's far easier to use your mother language, and you've already the reflex to do so.

Bye


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## natasha2000

Ha! Even with almost 6 whole years living and working in Spain, I still count in Serbian...


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## Mei

Hola,

Normalmente cuento en catalan pero cuando estaba en la escuela y el profesor hablaba en castellano, contaba en castellano, aunque si el profesor era catalan contaba en catalan. Aunque muchas veces ni lo pienso, sólo cuento.

A ver qué dicen los demás.

Saludetes!

Mei


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## natasha2000

Mei said:


> Hola,
> 
> Normalmente cuento en catalan pero cuando estaba en la escuela y el profesor/a hablaba en castellano, contaba en castellano, aunque si el profesor era catalan contaba en catalan. Aunque muchas veces ni lo pienso, sólo cuento.
> 
> A ver qué dicen los demás.
> 
> Saludetes!
> 
> Mei


 
Es fácil para ti contar en dos idiomas, como eres bilingüe... 

¿En qué idioma contarías si estuvieras en Inglaterra?


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## zebedee

After 14 years living in Spain, I still have to turn back to English to do mental arithmetic in my head (and on my fingers and toes...)

It took me a while to master telephone numbers & ID card numbers in Spanish too, especially when people dictated them to me in double or triple figures:
(634.217.954 seiscientos treinta y cuatro.doscientos diecisiete.novecientos cincuenta y cuatro)
so I always repeat them back to them even now, just to make sure.

And when I'm reading to myself a book in Spanish and I come across a year (eg. 1864) in the middle of a sentence, my mind's voice reads the date in English and keeps reading the rest in Spanish.

It's as if the symbol "9" is automatically associated in my brain with the word "nine" first and foremost. It's interesting because I don't have the same problem at all with the letters of the alphabet in Spanish, just with numbers. Are they perhaps stored in different parts of the brain, I wonder??


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## Mei

natasha2000 said:


> Es fácil para ti contar en dos idiomas, como eres bilingüe...
> 
> ¿En qué idioma contarías si estuvieras en Inglaterra?



Si, es verdad.

Si estuviera en Inglaterra.... no lo sé pero seguramente en español porque cuando estudiaba inglés en el cole la maestra nos hablaba en español... pero no lo sé seguro... ojalá te lo pueda contar algun día! 

Mei


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## Talant

zebedee said:


> ........
> It's as if the symbol "9" is automatically associated in my brain with the word "nine" first and foremost. It's interesting because I don't have the same problem at all with the letters of the alphabet in Spanish, just with numbers. Are they perhaps stored in different parts of the brain, I wonder??



Yes. I think that it's true. Note that when you live abroad thinking in a foreign language is achieved "quickly" but not counting. It wouldn't surprise me if we count with a different brain hemisphere than doing our grammar


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## Daddyo

I think that most arithmetic operations are done in the language in which a person first learned the concept. When I do addition, substraction, multiplication and division I do them in Spanish, for speed. But when I have to do logic or algebra operations I usually figure them out in English (except for the addition, etc....)


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## viera

After living over 35 years in France, I still prefer counting in English.

I find the numbers 70 to 99 particularly annoying. For example, when taking down a (telephone) number, such as 97, _quatre-vingt-dix-sept_, I first hear _quatre,_ so I start writing 4. But then I hear _vingt_, so I think it's 80, so I cross out the 4 and write 8. And finally I hear _dix_, so I finally understand the the number is in the nineties and have to cross out again and finally write 9. This has really happened to me many times.

I only learned the multiplication table in English and don't really know it in French.


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## vince

Instinctively, I count in English

but when I am in a language-friendly mood, I count in any language I've studied in which I know how to count: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, German.
(Soon Russian will be added to the list )

So I might be waiting for my hands to dry and be whispering _fünf, vier, drei, zwei, ..._


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## Alxmrphi

Instincively, like if someoone put a gun to my head and went "COUNT OUT LOUD!" it'd be English..

But when I am going out to town or something and I am counting money, I will do it in either Italian or Spanish, I like to incorporate it wherever I can.


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## Paulfromitaly

I always count in Italian, but for some reason which I still don't understand I often swear and say sorry (scusi) in English, although I live in Italy..


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## Alxmrphi

When you swear, is that in English, or Italian?


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## natasha2000

Paulfromitaly said:


> I always count in Italian, but for some reason which I still don't understand I often swear and say sorry (scusi) in English, although I live in Italy..


 
Maybe English words for those two things are part of the slang you normally use....


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## Paulfromitaly

Alex_Murphy said:


> When you swear, is that in English, or Italian?



In English!! that's the point..
I say "shite!" ten times a day, at least..


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## Alxmrphi

Ohh, I thought you swore in Italian and apologised in English, that would have been weird, but if you swear in English and apologise in English, there is a reason why your mind might just be "On English" at that particular momento.


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## natasha2000

Sometimes it is "in" to use English swear words...
I know more than one Serb who swears in English, thinking that this is more ellegant and less offensive, as well as more posh...  Well... It forms the part of their personal "slang"....


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## ireney

I count in whatever language I'm using at the moment. I calculate in Greek though because arithmetics (not maths) is REALLY not my strong point (I can struggle with i.e. [(2+2) * 6 ]/ 8 for what seems like ages, compared to normal persons). I wonder if I am arithmetically challenged.


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## natasha2000

ireney said:


> I count in whatever language I'm using at the moment. I calculate in Greek though because arithmetics (not maths) is REALLY not my strong point (I can struggle with i.e. [(2+2) * 6 ]/ 8 for what seems like ages, comparatively to normal persons). I wonder if I am arithmetically *challenged*.


 
What a nice euphemism....
Well, I have the same problem, too... And if I have to do it, I do it in Serbian and writing it down, of course...

Maybe I should change my initial statement... If I just have to count, I might count in Spanish, too... Rarely in English, since I do not use it on daily basis...
But if I have to copy some telephone number, or other number that has more than 4 digits, I do it in Serbian (not writing itself, ofcourse  but reading numbers while writing them down). And if I have to calculate something... I am not doing it in Spanish! No way!


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## cyanista

I don't know if I'm weird or something but having lived in Germany for barely three years I already count and calculate in German as often as I do in Russian. If I need the result in German, I am much more likely to do calculations in German as well. I suppose it's easier for me to switch to the German logic altogether rather than plague myself with reversing numbers in the Russian result (the Germans count 'three-seventy' instead of 'seventy-three', you know).


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## panjabigator

So is the test of real fluency when you can count instintively in another language without flinching?  For some reason, numbers, although easily learned, always remain one of the hardest things to grasp.  

When my parents talk to me, I am comfortable with the Panjabi and Hindi numerals, but I have to think ahead before I use the same number with them!  Double checking I guess!


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## natasha2000

panjabigator said:


> So is the test of real fluency when you can count instintively in another language without flinching? For some reason, numbers, although easily learned, always remain one of the hardest things to grasp.
> 
> When my parents talk to me, I am comfortable with the Panjabi and Hindi numerals, but I have to think ahead before I use the same number with them! Double checking I guess!


^
I wouldn't say so.
We had here answers of people who have spend last 15-30 years in some foreign country and still counts in their mother tongue... I doubt those people have any difficulties with the language of the country they live, and I am convinced they are extremely fluent!

It is not that one cannot grasp the numbers in a foreign language. It is about mathematical operations that must be done.

If someone dictates me the number in Spanish or English, I don't hjave any problem to write it down. But if I am alone, then I say numbers in Serbian. It is unconscient part of my brain. I am sure this is exactly what happens to the others, too.


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## Mei

natasha2000 said:


> If someone dictates me the number in Spanish or English, I don't have any problem to write it down. But if I am alone, then I say numbers in Serbian. It is unconcient part of my brain. I am sure this is exactly what happens to the others, too.


 
Same here! 

Mei


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## natasha2000

Mei said:


> Same here!
> 
> Mei


 
You say numbers in Serbian?


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## Mei

natasha2000 said:


> You say numbers in Serbian?



Touchée! 

Mei


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