My colleagues (Nikeetha Farfan D’Souza, Monica Morales Hernandez and I) speak at least two languages. So that sparked a question: In what language do we count? Do we switch between languages or do we stick to one? How did we learn our numbers or more importantly how did we retain the numbers in our head? These are the questions that gave rise to this blog post. Being a millennial, forgive my (maybe) outdated references. Contact me if you need a translation into Spanish/Malayalam/Hindi.
I have lived and studied in four countries: Bahrain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), India and the United States of America (USA). Suffice to say, I was exposed to many languages and nationalities. I am fluent in
English,
Malayalam (my parents’ native language) and
Hindi (a second Indian language).
I also know a few phrases in Korean, Tamil, Arabic and Spanish.
The common starting point in learning all these languages was of course the alphabet and then came numbers. Did my fascination with math start then? It is a mystery. I will take you on a journey of how I learned numbers in English, Malayalam, Hindi, Arabic and Korean and answer the question of what language I count in.
My earliest memory of English numbers (or Western-Arabic numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) is from two sources: the nursery rhyme 1,2, buckle my shoe
(Image courtesy of kidsonlineworld.blogspot.com)
and the muppet Count von Count on Sesame Street.
(Image is from the Wikipedia article on Count von Count )
The latter spoke to me on so many levels. He was a vampire, wore glasses (well, a monocle if you want to be technical) and he loved math. As a child with two of those characteristics (you guess which two), it gave me confidence in my geekiness.
Growing up with multiple languages means you are going to learn numbers in numerous languages. My parents’ native language was Malayalam (a South Indian language) and they taught us the numbers phonetically so I had no idea how to write the numbers but could do the pronunciation.
Image is from https://i.imgur.com/j9qkAs8.png. For me, the numbers would be written using the English script and then would be pronounced in Malayalam, like in this video. It was while writing this blog post that I was introduced to the actual script! The things you learn!
The second Indian (North Indian) language that I learned was Hindi. There was a very popular 1988 hindi movie song “Ek Do Teen” (which translates to “One Two Three”) which sealed the deal for me. I would hum that song when I was practising for my Hindi oral exams as a child. I did learn the script for the Hindi numerals as it was a second language requirement for school.
(Image is from Wikipedia article on Devangiri numerals)
When I moved to the U.A.E., I had to learn Arabic. Again, the number system was the first thing I learned. The Eastern Arabic numerals are
Pronunciation of the numbers in Arabic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmYk1W8DJsY).
In my twenties, I was introduced to the beautiful world of Korean dramas. It has been a wonderful journey into fascinating characters, plot points and beautiful men and women. Who am I kidding? It was the latter that drew me to the dramas. Going back to the theme of the post, the numbers. Countdowns are the way I learned the pronunciation of the Korean numbers. I can now count to three. That is embarrassing but I will learn it eventually. I will start using this video to get to ten.
So, that was my journey into the world of different numeral systems. Now, the answer to the question I started with: What language do I count?
Default is English but I can switch between Malayalam and Hindi when I am speaking to a native speaker.
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