"Can you count from one to ten in ______ (fill in the language)?" Counting in another language is one proof for the world that we are acquiring another language. But is expressing numbers in another language as simple as memorizing new vocabulary words for 1-10? Of course not! Few things having to do with language are simple!
Most beginning lessons of a foreign language course include the labels for numbers 1-10. A few chapters later, the textbook writers think you are ready for the complexities of 11-100. And here is where the fun begins. It is interesting to note that Duolingo, my favorite on-line language learning program, does not include numbers as one of the first topics in their language tree. And I agree that numbers, like all vocabulary, should be acquired gradually, and in context.
First, let's talk about what it takes to master foreign language numbers. Number concepts in a foreign language are notoriously hard to internalize. It may be that we only truly learn to count once in our lives, and that is in our native language. I consider myself fairly fluent in Spanish, but I still have to take an extra second or two to translate a Spanish number, like sesenta y seis, into the concept of 66. I have often witnessed Spanish-English bilinguals speaking in English who make a temporary switch to Spanish when counting objects or people.
And do we really need to know numbers in a second language? Yes, for activities such as counting, doing math, telling time, or giving phone numbers and addresses. But how often do we have to write numbers rather than understand or speak them? Not so often. Check writing comes to mind, which is becoming somewhat archaic. Formal wedding invitations, which may also be going by the wayside. Most of our use of numbers will be in communicating orally in a new language.
To further understand numbers in other languages, I made a comparison chart of 1-100 in my native language, English (Germanic family), Spanish, Portuguese, French (Latin family), Irish and Welsh (Celtic family). Here is a sampling of what I discovered.
In all these languages, 1-10 are the building blocks of the numbering system, so, yes indeed, they will have to be learned. The teen numbers in English and the Latin-based languages must still be learned individually, although most contain a hint of their meaning (thirteen, trece, treze, and treize all remind us of the concept of three, for example).
To form the numbers from 20-100, basic arithmetic skills are required. Since we are working on a decimal system, all these languages have a word for intervals of ten, but there are some differences to note. English, Spanish and Portuguese have separate words (often easily recognizable) for 20, 30, etc., to which the numbers from 1-10 are added. Examples are thirty-one in English and trinta e um in Portuguese.
French adds a bit of challenge by having separate numbers for 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 but then expressing 70 as 60 + 10 (soixante-dix), 80 as 4 x 20 (quatre-vingts), and 90 as 80 + 10 (quatre-vingt-dix). The need for math skills continues as 71 becomes 60 + 11 (soixante-onze). Whew! I may need a calculator on my next visit to Canada!
I thought the Celtic languages, Irish and Welsh, were going to have me as flummoxed as the sound systems of these languages, but I discovered a comforting regularity in the numbering systems. (I ignored for the time being that Irish has three numbering systems, used in different contexts, and that Welsh has masculine and feminine number forms.)
Counting in Irish is a matter of learning 1-10 and adding déag/dhéag for the teens (13 is a tri déag). As in English, labels have to be learned for 20, 30, etc. Then numbers 1-10 follow. ( 20 + 1 is fiche a haon).
The key word for numbering in Welsh is deg (10) 20 is a logical 2 x 10 (dau ddeg), with the pattern holding for 30-90. And 22 is a logical 2 x 10 + 1 (dau ddeg un).
The number 100 (one hundred) is very different in English only. Here is how to say 100 in the other languages we are discussing.
Portuguese - cem
French - cent
Irish - céad
Welsh - cant
And the worst part of the matter is, even if I learned to sing the song, "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall," in any of the languages besides my native language, I would still have some complex thinking to do. Maybe I can start counting sheep in other languages on sleepless nights for a little extra number practice?
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