# What language do you use in mental counting and calculation?



## Cracker Jack

Hello, I know that most of you guys out there are either bililingual or multilingual. I was just wondering what language you use in counting and doing computations or saying prices mentally. For me, I usually do it in English. Although it is not my native language, I learned Arithmetic in Grade School in English. And it has stuck ever since that way at the back of my mind.  What about you?  Do you use your native language or language in which you were taught?

Thanks a lot.


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## Alxmrphi

If I feel like I want to test myself and it's tiny numbers (1-20) I might choose Spanish or French, to keep re-iterating them so I don't forget them.
Bigger numbers I'd use Italian, but if I plainly couldn't be bothered, of course, English


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## cute angel

For me, I use English or French when I was studying, but in my nature life I use Arabic.


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

Cracker Jack said:


> Hello, I know that most of you guys out there are either bililingual or multilingual. I was just wondering what language you use in counting and doing computations or saying prices mentally. For me, I usually do it in English. Although it is not my native language, I learned Arithmetic in Grade School in English. And it has stuck ever since that way at the back of my mind. What about you? Do you use your native language or language in which you were taught?
> 
> Thanks a lot.


 
I'm quite a funny mess in that respect.

-I count and "do computations" in both, English and Spanish, it depends on the language spoken in the environment I'm at.

-I repeat phone numbers (or credit car numbers, or ID numbers) in Spanish in my head, especially large ones that I need to remember for a long term.

-I repeat prices in English, since I can remember them easier that way.

I can't do any of those things in any other language. Well, except counting: I can do it in Venezuelan Sign Language too; in fact, some friends bother me since they sometimes ask me for a number, and I find myself telling them in LDSV (Lengua De Señas Venezolana => Venezuelan Sign Language)

To make it even funnier: I can't spell in any language that is not Spanish or LDSV. If I must, I need to take quite a long time thinking before every letter... 

PS: Imagine the problems I had while teaching Spanish-speaking kids to spell in English, and English-speaking kids to spell in Spanish...


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## fenixpollo

I always count in my native language (English). Even though I've spoken my second language fluently for 10 years, numbers are something so deeply ingrained that it takes an effort to use them in Spanish.


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## Alxmrphi

I know sort of what you mean, being "ok" in a language but finding it hard to write out words when someone spells it with the alphabet, maybe cos it's usually the first thing you learn it's furthest away in my memory, lol, or something like that.


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## Zoowärter

I grew up speaking Hungarian, went to school in the U.S. (where I learned Spanish) and have been living in Austria for the past 20 years. Although German is the language I speak best now, it is impossible for me to get the numbers straight. Most languages term numbers naming the "hundred digit", then the "ten digit" and then the "one digit" i.e.: 375: "threehundredandseventyfive". not so German: 375 would be "threehundredfiveandseventy". I know of no other language that names numbers this way...


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## Pedro y La Torre

I think most people (including me) automatically count in the language they learned first.


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## panjabigator

I count naturally in English.  It is just the easiest for me.  Then Hindi and Panjabi (the numerals are similar).

I have never really been a situation where I was forced to count in Spanish, outside of Spanish class.


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## Bilma

I count in my native language Spanish.


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## Victoria32

Cracker Jack said:


> Hello, I know that most of you guys out there are either bililingual or multilingual. I was just wondering what language you use in counting and doing computations or saying prices mentally. For me, I usually do it in English. Although it is not my native language, I learned Arithmetic in Grade School in English. And it has stuck ever since that way at the back of my mind. What about you? Do you use your native language or language in which you were taught?
> 
> Thanks a lot.


Usually English which is my native language, although sometimes German which for some reason seems to lend itself to counting.

Vicky


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## optimistique

Zoowärter said:


> Most languages term numbers naming the "hundred digit", then the "ten digit" and then the "one digit" i.e.: 375: "threehundredandseventyfive". not so German: 375 would be "threehundredfiveandseventy". *I know of no other language that names numbers this way...*



I do
Dutch does it the same way, my mother language. That's why I can't count quickly in any language but Dutch, because I keep calling for example 75 _fifty-seven_ when doing it without good attention
In my head I always read numbers in Dutch , even when the rest of the text is in a different language. I'm terrible with numbers.


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## KaRiNe_Fr

I always count in my native language (French). But for some numbers like telephone numbers I can remember them only in English, just because I wrote them down hearing them spelt in English the first time. 
I think it involves my "musical memory". 
For some telephone numbers, I can even "sing" the tones the telephone makes when dialing them on the keypad (a DTMF one). 
About multiplication tables it's the same process I guess: I actually "sing" them, as it's the way I learnt them as a child. And I sing only in French, of course...


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## fiorilù

I count in Italian
but if somebody close to me is speaking English, German or French
then I start counting in those languages 

What about your night dreams?
When I was in Germany I began dreaming in German... as far as I could speak a little German, but however that was a try

don't you think so?

f


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## Victoria32

KaRiNe_Fr said:


> IFor some telephone numbers, I can even "sing" the tones the telephone makes when dialing them on the keypad (a DTMF one).


Wow, that would be such a great thing to do!



fiorilù said:


> I count in Italian
> but if somebody close to me is speaking English, German or French
> then I start counting in those languages
> 
> What about your night dreams?
> When I was in Germany I began dreaming in German... as far as I could speak a little German, but however that was a try
> 
> don't you think so?
> 
> f


That is a sign of real progress in a language, or so I have heard. I wake up with Italian phrases in my head, but I haven't dreamed it that I remember... 

Vicky


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## mytwolangs

Alex_Murphy said:


> If I feel like I want to test myself and it's tiny numbers (1-20) I might choose Spanish or French, to keep re-iterating them so I don't forget them.
> Bigger numbers I'd use Italian, but if I plainly couldn't be bothered, of course, English


 
Same here, except just French. English is my first language, so if the calculation is hurried or important, i just do it in English.

Dreaming in German? hahah good 
My wife says I sometimes rattle off things in French when I am asleep. je ne sais pas...
I did have a dream I was talking to a French friend, and she spoke to me in French. 
Unfortunately, it was a sad dream.


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## danielfranco

Simple arithmetic and number memorization (Social Security #'s, phone #'s, driver's licence #'s, etc.) I tend to do 'em in Spanish, because I learned arithmetic in Mexico.
But advanced calculations (say, trying to plug in Planck's constant in a calculation of radiation emitted by a black body) and other math concepts I have to think in English, because that's the language in which I learned them.


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## Pivra

I count in English in Canada and Thai in Thailand.


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## mirx

Well even though spanish is my native language, I find no difference in counting in either english or spanish (most of the time it's in english)

But when I read numbers, say, 176560937, I would definitely read it in spanish, my tongue just becmomes knots if I Try to read the numer in english.


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## panjabigator

I've noticed that my father will usually count in English but there are plenty of times I have caught him counting to himself in Panjabi in an English conversation.  And I'd say my parents have both become English dominant.


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## PhilFrEn

Hi here,

I think it is a little bit like some of you has said, I will count in my mothertongue for difficult calculations (let's say the ones which need to handle big numbers). But for daily "additions", I do it in English.


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## Mei

Cracker Jack said:


> Hello, I know that most of you guys out there are either bililingual or multilingual. I was just wondering what language you use in counting and doing computations or saying prices mentally. For me, I usually do it in English. Although it is not my native language, I learned Arithmetic in Grade School in English. And it has stuck ever since that way at the back of my mind.  What about you?  Do you use your native language or language in which you were taught?
> 
> Thanks a lot.



Hi Cracker Jack,

When I'm alone I do it in catalan but if I'm calculating something with someone it depends on the language we use (catalan or spanish). When I used to go to school I learnt math in spanish so it was easier for me to count in spanish but right now it depends on the moment and who I'm with.

Cheers

Mei


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

KaRiNe_Fr said:


> For some telephone numbers, I can even "sing" the tones the telephone makes when dialing them on the keypad (a DTMF one).


 
Interesting! Or, as my americanized students would say: sweet, dude! 

Regarding to phone numbers, it is easier for me to remember them by visualizing the keypad and imagining myself dialing each digit. Weird, isn't it? I think it is related to my visual/photographic memory... 



fiorilù said:


> What about your night dreams?
> When I was in Germany I began dreaming in German... as far as I could speak a little German, but however that was a try
> 
> don't you think so?
> 
> f


 


Victoria32 said:


> That is a sign of real progress in a language, or so I have heard. I wake up with Italian phrases in my head, but I haven't dreamed it that I remember...
> 
> Vicky


 
That is a great thing to bring up. 

I have heard you can only dream in a language when you have a full command of it, so it is really a good sign.

My mothertongue is Spanish, and I am currently living in a Spanish speaking country. However, I keep on dreaming in English ever since I became fluent in the language (I think it is due to my English input "overdose"  ).

I do dream in Spanish, but it's not more often than English. And, well, I have only had a dream or two in French -I dreamed I didn't understand a word, anyway...


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## Lemminkäinen

Zoowärter said:


> Most languages term numbers naming the "hundred digit", then the "ten digit" and then the "one digit" i.e.: 375: "threehundredandseventyfive". not so German: 375 would be "threehundredfiveandseventy". I know of no other language that names numbers this way...



It's possible to do this in Norwegian too. In fact, it was almost the only way of counting until some decades ago, when the telephone numbers were expanded to eight digits, and the Parliament decided on a new way of counting - instead of 'five-and-seventy', it was to be 'seventy-five'. 

However, the old way of counting is still very much in use, especially among people middle-aged and up. 


Now, to the question. I like to practise languages by doing counting, remembering prices &c in them, but I often fall back to Norwegian, simply because I forget about it  
It's so ingrained in me that it's hard to 'force' myself to count in a different way, but it's good practise when I do


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## Cracker Jack

Thank you very much for all your replies.  I never thought that multilingual people would use various languages in dealing with numbers.


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## V3nom_is_here

I use my native language .. eventough I`m pretty fluent in the English language .. 
It`s easier that way


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## caballoschica

I'm terribly boring.  I use English, though I can count numbers very well in Spanish.  Well, I suppose, I might use Spanish for some small counting to spice life up a bit.  Instead of counting sheep in English, I'll count them in Spanish..


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## Les Senegalaises

In math class one of my friends and I count and talk in French. That way no one else will know what we are talking about.


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