Impact of spoken language on ability to do math?

[cattiechaos]

I recently came across an interesting book that devoted a chapter to the impact of language on learning math. It didn't come as a surprise to me that the author slated Chinese (and other Asian) students as having a natural advantage in math, because of the language they learn it in.

Comments

[cattiechaos]

Zero time is given to mental math in American schools.

I couldn't agree with this more. Math in American schools seems to be a lot about rote memorization - I'm sure I'm not the only one that drilled with flash cards over and over, simply memorizing the results. There's also the note that Chinese students spend much more time in school than American ones. Thanks for your input.

[jess_faraday]

I *wish* our (California) school district believed in rote memorization. Instead, they make the kids learn unbelievably stupid and complex ways of doing simple things (like double-digit addition and subtraction), and confuse them to the point that when you show them "carry the one," they act like you've just used magic.

But rant aside, as a native English speaker, I studied Arabic for four years, and found that memorizing the logical system of roots and patterns made my thought processes more mathematical. I would buy that having a logical system built into one's native language would make learning the logical systems of arithmetic easier.

But I think if you look at math education around the world, you'll find more of an advantage comes from the developmental level of the country, and the importance that that particular country gives its educational system. this 2009 study, for example, shows the United States students being handily outpaced by Korean and Chinese students, but also by those in Scandinavian countries--countries

[cattiechaos]

I think I know what you mean - I attended a seminar about "Singaporean math" and it was ridiculously convoluted...

Thank you for your insight, and the handy study! One question - how exactly are Arabic numbers translated into English? If you wanted to do 12 + 15, for example, would the process be similar to the English-speaking one or the Chinese-speaking one that was illustrated in the post?

[lacunaz]

I don't see, given these examples, how the Chinese language is more "literal" with numbers. Because Chinese uses the "three-tens" system instead of using a single different word ("thirty")? And how is "three-fifths", which I think conceptualizes very easily as 3/5, less literal than the Chinese equivalent? This could just be me not getting it.

IDK, this smacks of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

[cattiechaos]

I'm going to give you an excerpt from Gladwell's novel to see if that clarifies anything:

We say fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen, but we don't say oneteen, twoteen, threeteen, and fiveteen. We say forty and sixty, which sounds like four and six + "ty", but we don't say "five"ty or "three"ty or "two"ty. For numbers greater than twenty, we put the decade first and the unit number second ("twenty-two") but for the "teens", we do it the other way around "fourteen, eighteen". He uses this to back up his argument that the number system in English is irregular.

Oops, better cite my sources:

Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: the Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown and, 2008. pg. 227-30.

[cattiechaos]

I think elf and zwölf are the only irregulars for German, much less than English. Thank you very much for the insight on Danish, though, that was really interesting.

[silverflight8]

I think that adding numbers up in one's head (and the speed with which one can do it) is a really, really, really, really small part of what mathematics is. Even if there is a quantitative difference between English-speakers and Chinese-speakers in how fast they can add up numbers, this sort of advantage rather becomes irrelevant in awhile: there are calculators, after all and it moves past mental math.

I think education expectations and how the school system is set up would contribute far more to any difference.

I grew up bilingual, with Chinese and English.

[cattiechaos]

Thank you very much for your insight, I appreciate it.

[silverflight8]

*nods* There is more to math than basic operations - while those are important, a slightly-faster way of doing multiplication isn't going to confer much advantage past elementary school.

[lilacsigil]

I'm a native English speaker and I don't convert "14" to the word "fourteen" when doing mental maths - I just read/think 1 ten and 4 ones. I work in retail so I do a lot of mental maths!

[avec_bonheur]

I'm Canadian retail and "14" is automatically "two-fives and two-twos", or two $5 bills and two $2 coins.

I've noticed that in my area, $20 bills and $5 bills are in a much higher abundance than $10 bills, which are not seen as often around here. If I'm going to give back $14 in change, "two-fives and two-twos" is what I automatically think.

Or maybe I like making things more difficult for myself. :P

[k0dama]

Sounds like a bunch of crap.
It all depends on how much time you spend practicing math.

[tsubasa_en11]

Seconded.

[pastilla]

Thirded.

[archaicos]

Fourthed.