How The Chinese Language Makes Math Easier - Linguistic Analysis

Many Chinese characters are autological, they define themselves. This is the case with lots of numerical expressions too. This is one of the most fascinating topics in how culture shapes thought. Maybe Chinese people have higher IQ, on average, but I highly doubt it. I think that any statistical significant advantage that Chinese people have in math comes down to the Chinese language. So, as hard as Chinese is to learn, I think every kid should learn it to because it helps with mathematical learning in the future :)
TLDR: Chinese language inherently has base 10 and addition built into it, Chinese language makes multiplication easier, Chinese language makes understanding fractions easier, Chinese language has extra macro units for big numbers.
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[@JerryLiuYT]

Channel dedicated to Chinese language and culture: kzbin.info/door/_E_R34VQo47FfnwF3ABlDQ

[@dr.vicious5374]

Jerry Liu you are excellent, brother. Another thing that the know it all ignorant Westerner doesn't know is that Japan uses the same numeric system.

[@nik9643]

by same logic Indic (Indian languages) are easier than western languages eg. seven hundred= satshe , twenty four= chowis

[@lancegoerner1719]

Jerry, in 2002 I lived in China for 7 years. If more Chines people were like you, I would still be living there. Not to sound Gay, but I love your style, my brother!

[@c.d3304]

That would be interesting to see what advantages English has that Chinese does not have, in terms of understanding maths concepts...

[@WellBehavedForeigner]

The only way to increase literacy in Mandarin is to do mathematics in Mandarin

[@KJParadise]

I teach math. I noticed how Chinese numbers were written and my first thought was, "wow, this makes addition a lot more obvious!" Great video

[@wongjason886]

Chinese can’t understand how 11 to 20 in English works, they don’t have such vocabulary, they repeat with each 10, so 11=ten and one (十一). I didn’t realize it until I start learning English. We don’t have the vocabulary of million, billion, trillion too.

[@moldveien1515]

@@wongjason886 as someone studying chinese now its very nice to learn numbers as its very simple to understand 365三百六十五 i mean its quite simple in a way 3x hundreds 6x tens plus 5, though once we get above 10000 it is hard for me with No million billion etc etc

[@lennon_richardson]

I have this crazy idea of studying math in Mandarin! you've confirmed my belief that this is a good idea. thanks.

[@What_am_I_suppose_to_type_here]

@PILAR JOHNSON how about now

[@lennon_richardson]

@Tafari Kelly nah I went for music instead

[@andore8639]

@@lennon_richardson lmao

[@keithreay]

This is a brilliant explanation. Thank you for this.

[@jeremym3892]

This is so cool! I am Ethiopian and we have a base 10 language though I never realized this until now. Our #10 is Asir and 11 Asra-ahnd (10+1). I learned more about my language listening to you talk about yours. Awesome!

[@1313hyme]

I never thought of it that way. I always knew the Chinese language had something to do with being smarter in math. I came to USA when I was 5 years old. I think in Chinese when I count and do math. I also accelerated in math and science (but not in history or English, lol). Most of my Chinese friends were also good at math and we all do think in Chinese when we count or do numbers. Now this is a good explanation why I think in Chinese when I do math and why I was good at it too. I did get 100 on my 9th grade Region test without even trying, lol. Thanks for the explanation and you confirmed my theory.

[@plumeria66]

I speak English better than Chinese but I also count in Chinese and memorize numbers in Chinese.

[@NoirHammer]

I read about this language difference over twenty years ago in a math book. They also mentioned the Chinese thought process on division which they see as "decomposition". Makes sense.

[@ronaldtan2885]

Yes, it makes sense. I had similar experience learning math as a kid in Malaysia, well described in this two-minute video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYPXdXyjjNuYi5I

[@JG-gp9yh]

As a Chinese I would agree with most of your points but I also think that the main reason for the relatively better math grades of Asian background students, Chinese in particular, than the others, is the way parents pressure the kids. I have never skipped school and never got involved in fights, I had been a pretty good behaving student when I was young and guest what, I got beat up by my dad pretty often simply because I am stupid at math and other number related subjects and I know my case is not unique at all. After I came to Australia for highschool I was amazed to find that my math is above average and all of a sudden this confidence began to grow in me. Few years later I graduated with an accounting degree...Don't you worry mate I am not a practicing accountant.

[@IM95gamergirl]

I didn't know this and my mind is blown right now. Maybe i should start learning Chinese. Great video! :)

[@KEVROREACTS]

This is awesome to find out my country's system is totally inferior lol.

[@telepcanin2878]

not only that, on average eastern Asian's brains tend to be 200 grams heavier than the European's.

[@efeadin3082]

does weight of the brain mater ? then an elephant must be wiser than us

[@misserniki6082]

@@efeadin3082 humans brain-to-body ration is huge compared to elephants though, about 1/40 to 1/560 respectively

[@lurker039]

interesting. yes, i agree that the multiplication table in Chinese is a lot easier to recite. cheers

[@user-yp9fj3gp4l]

Yes!I like multiplication table..Lol

[@kevincasino4535]

Nice art, btw.

[@Shenzhou.]

Fun fact: You can also use these two Chinese units (千万) to mean "Definitely" (i.e. "千万不要忘" or "Definitely do not forget") Good for people learning both Chinese and Chinese units. Awesome video by the way! 中文万岁, 万岁, 万万岁!

[@factsverse9957]

"10 million"

[@daigamessg6725]

this true.in Malaysia school system,during primary 6 examination,the mathematic exam are set in 4 languages,English,Chinese,Malay and Tamil,the best results always come from Chinese school.

[@dunai2012]

one more thing I would like to add is that when you start to learn algebra, typically additions/subtractions always have plus/minus signs like 'a + b= c' but when it comes to multiplications, the operator * disappears like 'ab = c'. Chinese language matches this phenomenon exactly. when you say three five fifteen, there is no need to say multiply because multiplication operation is known, instead, when you want to express three plus five, you must pronounce + sign like san(three) jia(plus)wu(five)dengyu(equals)ba(eight). So syntactically, Chinese language matches algebraic expressions exactly.

[@yuezzzhang5820]

Short explanation: In Chinese, people tend to say the smaller number first when it comes to multiplication. So when we say 5 10 we mean 5*10, also literally means five tens, in other words, 50. When we say 10 5 it means 15, literally TEN AND FIVE. It's not assumed multiplication anymore when you say "10" first.

[@adelinod.5568]

The hard truth for us westerners is that you chinese people work way harder in maths, as a general rule. By the way, I'm subscribing to your channel. Cheers from Spain!

[@Kleo3392]

As he said, when you speak an analytic language which talks about math is a simple and self-explanatory way, you have a much easier time understanding it and are therefore more likely to enjoy it.

[@wasay456]

Very interesting. My native language is Farsi (Persian) and it acts the same when it comes to multiplication. Teaching my kids the tables, I just found it awkward in English as in Persian it actually flows like a song-ish so it is Three Four Twelve (3 x4 =12). I have also noticed that Persian makes memorizing long numbers easier as "AND" is just an infliction instead of a separate word.

[@JYHRO0]

@ Wasay N Farsi it’s easier for you because you are Farsi. For me it is a thousand times more difficult. I learned latin when I was young and it’s the same principle as Farsi when it comes to grammar and I couldn’t imagine that people really spoke it for real. I thought it was a made up language to make priests look intelligent. So it’s only easy for you because you were raised in it

[@ronaldtan2885]

Indeed interesting. I had similar experience learning math as a kid in Malaysia, well described in this two-minute video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYPXdXyjjNuYi5I

[@jackzhong7434]

the Chinese itself is based on math rules mostly. Instead of saying beef, it's cow meat. instead of kitten, it's little cat. instead of pork, it's pig meat, etc. a lot easier to understand and learn.

[@blessingsfromheaven6246]

Jerry, Thanks! All three of your initial points are correct on why Chinese tend to be very good in math. Then, your other four main points are also very good. Also, your inclusion of the numbers, in Chinese, on the screen helped a lot to those who are not familiar with the Chinese characters. Maybe if you included Traditional Chinese characters it may help the understanding with those who are learning Traditional Chinese: Simplified Chinese 万 Traditional Chinese 萬

[@johnhare8208]

I feel like I do math much more visually rather than linguistically.

[@linuxman777]

English is a germanic language. Not a latin based language. However Most Germanic, Latin, And Celtic languages share these similar properties of numbers.

[@JerryLiuYT]

+linuxman777 English is a mutt language. It has elements of Latin, Germanic, and Greek in it. It's always placed close to the Germanic language on the language tree, but it's not part of the same stem.

[@peterfireflylund]

English is indisputably a Germanic language. Sure, it has lots of French and Latin loanwords but it is still a Germanic language.

[@LiborSupcik]

English is disputably a latin language since latin precedes protogermanic

[@stevenliu1377]

@@LiborSupcik The evidence for English being a Germanic language is too overwhelming for there to be any legitimate dispute. English is no more a Romance language than Korean is a Sino-Tibetan language (which it isn't, despite more than half of Korean vocabulary tracing their ancestry back to Chinese roots).

[@illiiilli24601]

@@stevenliu1377 You're completely correct. Although English is a Germanic language, you cannot deny the influence that Latin and the Romance languages have had on English. Likewise, you can't deny that Korean and Japanese have had a lot of influence by Sinitic languages.

[@bryonymason3104]

This video is really interesting and insightful. It's 'Chinese Language Day' soon and my mum's a teacher so I'll share this video with her to show to her tutor class!

[@cliffli1121]

here is the explain: from 1 -> 10 In Chinese is: 一 ，二，三，四，五，六，七，八，九，十。 So the 11 in Chinese is 十一 （10 + 1）, 12 is 十二 . Then what about 66？ 66 is " 六 十 六 " (6 times 10 plus 6)

[@AravindRavi_sword_of_science]

Nan Li 66 is written as 6 times 10 plus 6 but using Chinese numbers you have written 6 10 6. Now how am I to understand that it is a multiplication between the first six and ten followed by an addition of the result with six ? As he explains in the video, when two numbers are placed side by side it is assumed to be multiplication. So how is that 66 ? Should not it be 6 times 10 times 6 ?

[@chinagreatcivilizationtang8408]

Every Chinese Knows 六十六 means 6*10+6, 十（10）when use is individually 十means 10,when it's used with other characters together it became a word like hundred, the same as 千（thousand），万（ten thousand），百万（million），千万（ten million），亿（ten thousand by ten thousand 0.1 trillion），兆（亿by亿）.

[@cliffli1121]

no 6x10 + 6 = 66. always calculate the multiplication at first. so 6 + 6 x 10 = 66 as well. let's back to the concept. 六十 = 6 x10 = 60. 六十六 = 6 x 10 + 6

[@timelessd9096]

六十 means 6 10s (6 of tens means 60), therefore 六十六 is 66.

[@elohime]

對於超級初學者，六十六容易被理解成“六個十六”。

[@michelng5630]

I am Chinese who grew up in a non-Chinese country. Never had any problem with math. It’s in our DNA.

[@predrag-peterilich900]

Good job, Jerry, what you say makes sense. I also like how, in Mandarin, you express the days in a week by what is a pure mathematical function: 星期(argument). If argument s 1 the day is Monday, if it's four, it is Thursday, and so on.

[@katakana1]

I like how some days of the week in English sound like their number if you start from Monday: Monday = One-day Tuesday = Twos-day Thursday = Fours-day Friday = Five-day Sunday = Seven-day

[@trommelbiel]

I am learning Chinese now and I am enjoying it. English language is actually more difficult than Chinese.

[@YanLi1121]

k odu try to read and write.

[@trommelbiel]

Yes, I do read and write pinyin as well as chat with my Chinese friends via wechat in Pinyin and English. I am pretty happy with my level so far. My problem is the native Chinese speak very fast but I am getting there.

[@YanLi1121]

k odu nobody uses pinyin.. Pinyin just helps very little children to learn, after 7 YO, nobody uses it.

[@trommelbiel]

Yan Li I will eventually learn hanzi but it can be intimidating at first. I just want to be able to speak Mandarin and understand native speakers because I plan to visit my friends in shenzhen and Guangdong ASAP.

[@YanLi1121]

k odu guangdong more commonly use Cantonese, however the writing system is same. Shenzhen is an immigration city, Mandarine is more popular. No need to "learn" the writing system, as it is difficult. I'd like to reading something that I like in the languages I want to learn.

[@pearltears8039]

I wish everyone was as easy to understand as him.....thank you for the info awesome😁

[@123100ozzy]

the way you format reality can completely change the way you understand reality.

[@KuraSourTakanHour]

Definitely Chinese number words makes math more intuitive, sometimes the number writing is shorter or longer than Arabic numeral writing (Numbers like 2345 are much longer as 二千三百四十五、but 80000 would only be 八万). I learned from Japanese, but they have very similar approach to math, like 三分の二 or "2 of 3 parts".

[@lingfengshan9501]

You are right. In Chinese 2/3 is called “三分之二” 。The similarity is obvious.

[@Gugeoji._.]

Mr マックラ the Japanese の can write as 之 in kanji but after ww2 they stopped using it, so Chinese 三分之二 and Japanese 三分の二 is basically the same.

[@alistairferguson6590]

So when he said 3×5=15 in Chinese is said as 3515, how do we know not to interperet this as the number 3515?

[@felton-rx3ue]

@@alistairferguson6590 3515 is the way you process in your mind, but in writing it must be 3×5=15.

[@tinkeringtim7999]

Nailed it. Language is super important. I think much of Europe still hasn't come to terms with the fact that number theory is essentially analysis of Chinese language.

[@lylvls]

Chinese also has only one syllable for every number from 0 to 10, it's much more efficient to communicate with as well.

[@ericchengtv3506]

Seven is the only English number with 2 syllables

[@lylvls]

@@ericchengtv3506 yes, strictly speaking. But numbers five, six and eight requires the mouth to form more than one shape, they're not straight forward single sound.

[@EastBurningRed]

i prefer the english way of stating fractions since it’s the natural way of writing them down

[@wbx9126]

the Romans inherited their language from the Greek which inherited theirs from the Phoenicians, which inherited their language from the Babylonians. The Babylonians used base 12 which is why all western languages have weird 11s and 12s

[@peterfireflylund]

Nope. Every single sentence you wrote is wrong.

[@wbx9126]

Peter Lund every word in your sentence sounds salty

[@Innercitywomanperspective]

Damn, shame. I've been saying this since the beginning of time. Thank you for the truth Chinese man. Lol

[@marytredinnick3366]

I remember first being introduced to multiplication as a child and they used the word "sets". I was sooo confused until my mom explained that 4 times 3 was just four three's! That was a light bulb moment for me and I still remember it at 60😂

[@anachronist003]

You are totally right about the "teens" (#11-19). I teach elementary English in Taiwan and the students always have trouble counting those numbers. Once we hit the twenties and up, no problem.

[@ericchengtv3506]

5:00 English-speaker can say fractions like "3 out of 4"

[@lkumiksm]

That means it would be easier for Spanish speakers to change they way we spell our numbers, which wouldn’t be that hard in comparison to English. I mean, we are half way there. For instance: “Once” should spell “Dieziuno” or “dieciuno” Doce - diezidos or diecidos Trece - diezitres or diecitres Catorce - diezicuatro or diecicuatro Quince - diezicinco or diecicinco From here the next five could either keep the actual spelling or change the “C” for a “Z”, like the examples aforementioned. Dieciséis or dieziseis Diecisiete or diezisiete Dieciocho or dieziocho Diecinueve or diezinueve Veinte (twenty) becomes: Dosdiez Dosdieziuno or dosdieciuno Dosdiezitres or dosdiecitres Dosdiezicuatro or dosdiecicuatro Dosdiezicinco or dosdiecicinco ... And the same goes for the rest of the tens... Tresdiez Cuatrodiez Cincodiez Seisdiez Sietediez Ochodiez Nuevediez And the hundreds, thousands and millions become: Uncien Unmil Unmillón And son... Bigger numbers would become something like this: 589 = cincocien ochodiezinueve 2021= dosmil dosdieziuno 58,376 = cincodieziochomil trescien sietedieziseis 683,145 = seiscienochodiezitresmil uncien cuatrodiezicinco 4,237,816 = cuatromillon doscientresdiezisietemil ochociendieziseis It seems a little bit confusing at first sight, but I think this way follows the Chinese logic. It’s just matter of getting used to it, I guess.

[@tiberiustheweaponsmaster4621]

The lack of consistency in English and other Indo-European number systems in terms of sounds is due to sound shift and evolution. One may not think of it, but the English "eleven" is derived from the Proto-Germanic "Ainalif" from "Aina" 1, and "lif" remainder, left, ect. The evolution of this word became "eleven" though Old English's "Endloefen" which means the same thing, but people wanted easier pronounciation over instant recognition of meaning. A natural shift in languages.

[@JerryLiuYT]

Very interesting :)

[@hary0198]

correct, language affect the way you think 👌 I am wondering how grammar affect the way we think, like we want to say I go to office yesterday, in English we need to use "went" making me speak very slow when I initially learn how to speak english

[@airmanjoe]

This is so cool. Thanks for the explanation.

[@mamoako1521]

8:44 inherenlty define anything like math topics (it doesn't just have to be math, be creative. For ex. saying words that explains a concept even if its not grammatically correct in english) explaning it. (out of 4 things I take one instead of one fourth) this fraction from the bottom up as I did before (4/16) Write the Answer Below

[@hananokuni2580]

Counting in English is base-20, like that of most other European languages, including French. In French, to say 40 one says "2 twenties", to say 60, "3 twenties", and to say 80, "4 twenties". This dates back to thousands of years ago when most Indo-European language speakers engaged in cattle herding and in a society centered around this it was customary to count fingers plus toes (hence the base-20) since heads of cattle and livestock were the most commonly counted item. This custom survived to the present day in the way that numbers are counted in European languages. In Chinese and other East Asian languages, counting has always been base-10. This is the result of China's agrarian past and long period of civilization, in which it was often necessary to count large quantities of items, such as grains of rice or millet, beams of wood, bolts of clothing, etc. Eventually, base-10 was adopted as it was more practical in this setting.

[@leochen887]

As a retired aerospace engineer, I learned that Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math use symbolic language. Thus, if I write 1+2=3, most everybody regardless of their mother tongue, can immediately understand that statement. OTOH, if I wrote One plus two equals three, only those folks who can read English can understand that statement. Why? Because English is written phonetically. Chinese is written in a sophisticated symbolic language that has been around in one form or another for centuries. Thus Chinese students have become adept in the use and expression of symbolic language; it's probably now in their DNA. In addition, spoken Chinese is very tone specific. Thus most Chinese have perfect pitch.

[@WODEMAYA]

Aiya Maya!!!This is soooo true !!Great explanation

[@tpsu129]

Why you no doctor yet? Talk to me when you are doctor.

[@JerryLiuYT]

HAHAHA :)

[@mingliyi9511]

Hahaha fuck you

[@princemontanaa9704]

You can’t even speak English stfu bro

[@ow2984]

hahahha f@uc u +1

[@kyriakoslambrinidis6795]

Prince Montanaa r/wooooooosh

[@jontlchiu]

Yeah, sometimes I had hard time saying those long ass fucking number in English, even I been in the U.S. for a long ass time. In the military, they try to simplify it by just reading long digit number in a single unit, let say 14235 it would be "One, Four, Two, Three, Five." But, when I do math, it is all Chinese in my head. Ha!

[@JerryLiuYT]

Nice :)

[@brits6251]

Commenting twice, I love math but I've noticed the skill differences. Thank you for this clarification! Im really amused by the new understanding and Im going to try to teach my nephew in a simpler (more effective) way.

[@kawrno5396]

The point number 2 and 3 is true for Bangla/Bengali language also.

[@JerryLiuYT]

Nice!

[@artist172]

XD he's actually right. for some reason when i was learning japanese which has the same system as chinese math clicked better and I was getting better grades in classes that involved numbers.

[@mgtowlite7414]

Thanks Jerry, I feel slightly better at being second best in Maths compared to a HK girl in my school so many years ago. She was actually a nice person and we got along.

[@ngchorhong3174]

I am a Chinese boy from Malaysia This video is very accurate and I never really noticed it until now Another thing to point out about Chinese is all words can be categorised into four ways or four different tones of pronouncing them Here are the four types of symbols that you see above the pinyin of every word (some have none but those have exceptions) --- (same pitch all the way ) / ( Raising your voice from low to high pitch) V ( normal to low back to normal pitch) \ ( short and strong sound) Even if it's the same pinyin, a lot of words have the same symbol and thus the same sound but you write them differently For other symbols of the same pinyin there are also another bunch of words that have that symbol's sound but write differently This is why most words can be mistaken for others due to the fact that they share the same sound and pinyin unless accompanied by other words in the same sentence to specify what you are actually referring to Since pinyin does not give you a clue on how to write the stated word and just by looking at the word does not mean you can immediately know what pinyin it has, I find Chinese really interesting

[@atcen]

German is way more confusing than Englisch because you would also say vierundzwanzig "four and twenty" when you mean 24. This madness starts at 13. So you always speak numbers backwards. But when you get to the hundreds you say hundertvierundzwanzig "hundred four and twenty" for 124. So now you go first forward than backward. I don't know any German who don't get confused sometimes with numbers especially when you throw many and fast at them.

[@JerryLiuYT]

That’s so interesting!

[@male6561]

Super interesting! Thank you! :D

[@yatoxic1213]

This is more of Chinese being more conservative, as opposed to English. A quick note when you referenced eleven and twelve. Both mean one left and two left respectively. From there, they go on to three+ten (thirteen), four+ten (fourteen. Dutch actually makes it more obvious, it has the same problem with eleven (elf) and twelve (twaalf). It's exactly like English up to twenty (twintig), -ig meaning a multitude of 10 (when talking about numbers, you can guesse what twin- means), but we use een+en+twintig (eenentwintig), basically meaning one and twenty. This is akin to German and maybe other Germanic languages as well. It follows this (kind of) rule up until 99 (negen+en+negentig, negenennegentig), where 100 is honderd (hundred) and one hundred and one/101 is also (een, can be used, but not advisable since it isn't needed) honderdeneen (honderd+en+een). Just to point out your first argument.

[@rizzwan-42069]

if someone used this ideas and make a conlang using base 12 then math for them would be even easier although you would struggle to translate the numbers back to base 10 or maybe there's a trick to it

[@2bjjones]

I've been knowing Chinese for ten years, and though I can do differential equations, I doubt Chinese helped much getting to that level.

[@ogeidnomar4601]

I agree with what you said towards the end. That's why I encourage "neologisms" when the need arises, in order to convey ideas that may not normally be possible without having to "describe the concept" instead of just having a word for it.

[@Jerry2011b]

That's also the reason that to most Chinese people there is really no vocabulary since most noun are combined words that you already know. You never really see any Chinese need dictionary to find the meaning of a word when they read a book.

[@beyondheartmindsoul3443]

Holy shit! Now I finally realized that I am not dumb. I applied what you said in video and it works!!!!! IQ is bullshit. I think I gained 20 points. Thank YOU! Maybe Learning Asian language such as chinese and japanese may make an entrepenuer soon!

[@ERROR204.]

If you don't have at least 百万 subscribers in a year I'll be surprised. Great content very interesting personality. Good job man.

[@lpalm5235]

I used to say to myself that I believed that the Chinese did well in math's was because it was a mathematical language. And the English was not. And our children were failing in math's. So I decided last year, that my 13 year old and I would begin our Mandarin journey. And here we are. Love the validation and the logic, and video. From New Zealand.

[@wodemoshou]

It’s not just mathematics, the whole language for every words is composed like well designed Lego pieces. English has too many words to learn and not a unified pattern and not reusable.

[@boredomalert3625]

Not when your exam questions are in English and your parents explain everything in chinese

[@UpRoaryus]

I find that it is common for students who are more comfortable in English or language or social studies classes are the ones having difficulty with the math classes. They think of the maths as very different way of learning. The problem is that it is being taught wrong because this is true even of the TEACHERS that those who interface well with the numbers and the maths, tend to have some trouble with the communication and language facets of interacting, so that those who understand the math best are lacking in the ability to explain it well to others who do not. The ones who DO have the natural language ability to communicate it, often don't understand the math as well because it hasn't been taught to them correctly. People who can do both with equal adeptness are seemingly more rare than either who can do one or the other well. Putting this insight together with the TED Talk insight from Randy Palisoc's "Math isn't hard, It's a language" is even more enlightening as to why so many kids are struggling with this subject. I find that in my tutoring hs kids in math, the ones who struggle are often very good in their English or arts classes, but feel that they aren't good at math. This is usually because they haven't been given the vocabulary of the math first before being asked to manipulate it. They aren't putting the basic conceptual representations of the math words into their heads first, so no wonder the kids don't get what to do with the equations! I love the way the Chinese represents the fractions, though - I am going to use that in my tutoring sessions with kids that struggle with that. I have found that the key to making math accessible to kids is making the language of math makes some concrete sense to them about what it represents first. Then, once they understand what they are manipulating, it becomes much easier to expand concepts and their confidence grows exponentially. I usually tell the ones who feel confident in Language/arts classes but not in math because they don't feel they are naturally good at it, that if they stick with me for a little bit, I will help them make math their bitch before the end of the year. It's just a matter of finding the right words to put to the concepts ....

[@JerryLiuYT]

+UpRoaryus great points!!

[@frzh0626]

你所说的三四一十二的表达方式不怎么能算是中文在数学上的优势。换句话讲，小学乘法口诀表之容易理解 和不容易遗忘才是优势。There is no doubt you have present something most of us haven't noticed, which is incredible. I'm so glade you can enlighten and share with us.

[@gemmalee3032]

Chinese generally exel in copying; it is a common skill but when done so seriously and one becomes good at it; the math doer excels. Pioneering scientists doing basic maths however are more creative - something which the Chinese generally DO NOT POSSESS.

[@bumpty9830]

Very interesting idea. Love it. That said, it's effectively a math-specific version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which seems to be much more interesting than true.

[@nicovalenzuela4044]

Now i know what other language to teach my future children.

[@noahclark4447]

Actually, in Cantonese, people are even better at math, since the numbers can be pronounced so much quicker. (一yat1, 二yi6, 三saam1, 四sei3, 五ng5, 六luk6, 七chat1, 八baat3, 九gau2, 十sap6)

[@robertwilsoniii2048]

The only thing is there are less specifiers so being specific is harder in Chinese which affects theory negatively, but makes applications faster.

[@babyfacekillah1323]

That’s pretty cool. I never knew the math lingo or jargon because I just saw it as completely unnecessary. As a result, I didn’t have an extensive math vocabulary. I just did it mentally like 4 and 7 is 28, and instinctively it was multiplication. My dad was an effective teacher in math to me at a young age because we would constantly practice multiplication, division, addition, or subtraction every day. He was tough of course like all asian parents, but he trained me to be a math assassin and I killed my competition when we played this game called “Around-the-World”. It was basically math flash cards.

[@obsoleteprofessor2034]

Jerry.. C'est moi encore.. Learning to count as a kid was just parroting the numbers with no real understanding of weight/value. In later classes, what threw me with the introduction of base systems was that altho the base 10 system had 10 characters, it was hard for me to see, being that the symbols were 0 -9 and no "ten".. base 2 there was no 2... then I got really screwed with base 16. Great stuff.. Thank you! (there is a school house scene in Fahrenheit 451 where the kids are reciting the times tables the British way that as an American I find hard to follow)

[@sesetio338]

I remember my Chinese mate teaching me Maths and I didn't understand him at all! So I told if I was able to understand the Chinese language I would be able to learn this faster! It's the language not the race! But they're geniuses :)

[@educationalvideos4151]

You recall multiplication tables with verbal memory? Maybe that's a thing in Chinese because it's doable in Chinese. It wasn't an issue for me in English because I memorized it all visually. It's like how I'm stuck saying the alphabet in my head to remember the sequence of letters in the latter part of the alphabet because I never memorized their order independent of verbal memory.

[@fanOmry]

So's Hebrew. If you actually the Proper Language, You not only have words for 1=>10.. You also have unique words for 100- me'A. 1000- Eh'lef 10000- Revava(though mostly people say 10 Elef. As for actions.. They are also expressed in words that tell you the meaning. Also, conjugation allowes for a thorough understanding of the word even if it is not familiar. Then.. You go back to old hebrew Numerology/Arithmancy. א-י Are 1-10. כ-ק Are 20-100 in ten jumps. ר-ת 200-400 This basically allowed a good mnemonic for both words and numbers. Advantages. In the low scale, you are able to express numbers with minimum letters and nax clarity. And the language already has the components for mathematical exoression.

[@moldveien1515]

A good way to understand the million example in chinese which is 100x10000, would be to look at how we divide big numbers in arabic numerals so for 6 million i as a norwegian/english speaker would put 6.000.000. meanwhile in chinese 六百万 would be 600.0000. Which imo is alot more manageable.

[@Demonte202]

They mind as well have all Chinese people teach Americans school with math because I understand what he saying more then a American math teacher

[@Shawn-ph5ho]

one digit，one syllable，may be another reason.

[@kyanbaghdasaryan1332]

Hey Jerry. Nice video. I've read this in a book, "Outliers". Interesting!

[@thedoubtfuls]

u articulated the phonological loop problem better than profs, well done. nice to see you on this subject, used to seeing u on mma / kungfu stuff

[@scottsanett]

It's not just good for math. It's good for the periodic table and compounds that have crazy names like triglyceride in English.

[@siscutiepie6006]

Yup there's one boy in my class from China they say he's so good at math.

[@joeroganpodfantasy42]

But from 13 to 19 Chinese and English are basically the same so logically as a kid I twisted in my brain 11 12 to fit that mold too.

[@curtis5809]

Man, amazingly clear explaination and insight into the chinese language and mathamatics. This makes total sense. We should all learn chinese and it would probably help us in many areas in life! Thanks man

[@williamlouie569]

Half the problem with math is the language. It's difficult to describe the math problem.

[@johnbake9304]

thats 1% of what mathematics are

[@rizzwan-42069]

in albanian eleven is one above ten and there's this undeveloped base 20 bc after 9 above ten comes 1zet after it comes 1zet and one forty is 2zet and sadly it ends there bc 60 is six ten instead of 3zet some dialectes don't use 2zet but four ten

[@JYHRO0]

This is at least partly true but I think the main thing is you are better in Chinese because that’s what you learned when you were young. I am francophone and when I went to an American college it took me a couple of months to get used to American maths. And I was never as good. Not because French is better but because my brain was formed in it. I studied psychology and one thing that has been measured is that one’s IQ goes down the point when operating in a foreign language. It might correct itself with time, I don’t know, but it’s a very complex problem. There’s a lot more to this than what meets the eye. The Indians count with lakh(100,000) and crore (10 millions). Is that better than 10,000 then? Not sure…

[@yuanxue3423]

Actually, I don't agree about the fourth reason. The large numbers are not something so important which will influence someone's math ability. In my opinion, there is some reason more crucial. It's the pronunciations of the numbers. In Chinese, the numbers are pronounced shorter than in English. This results in the fact that the thinking procedure will be significantly shortened in Chinese.

[@davidbrainerd1520]

I've noticed in some English Bible translations, there is a unit for 10k: myriad. Revelation 5:11 RSV "numbering myriads of myriads" vs KJV "and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand" ... Your video made me think to look it up, and guess what the wikipedia on it says? "A myriad (from Ancient Greek μυριάς, myrias) is technically the number ten thousand; in that sense, the term is used almost exclusively in translations from Greek, Latin, or Chinese" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriad

[@JerryLiuYT]

Very cool! Thanks for your comment. I'll pin it!

[@SirCutRy]

Cujo19760210 I don't think that was implied.

[@ZoeCuiM]

I actually prefer the thousand, million, billion, trillion system. Neat looking, easy to remember, count, or multiply.

[@enanenv]

when you write it in 800,000,000 then chinese have 8,0000,0000 4 is balanced and more easy to count

[@leezhieng]

I do agree with your point about the multiplication table. It's a lot easier to memorize it in chinese. Our teacher even taught us to memorize the tangent, cosine and sine functions using only 3 Chinese words in hokkien dialect.

[@JerryLiuYT]

+Lee Zhi Eng that's cool! Teach me!

[@leezhieng]

Usually in english they memorize SOHCAHTOA which has no meaning, but in Chinese Hokkien we used TOA CAH SOH which literally means 大脚嫂 (big-footed woman) lol. It's easier to memorize and only takes 3 words.

[@JerryLiuYT]

Very interesting. SOHCAHTOA What memories :)

[@KallusGarnet]

I agree with you. This why latin based languages are dumb, slow and unorganised. I think the real reason why east asians are better at mathematics are due to currency system since unit's are larger than the USD, GBP and Euro. That's another angle to think about.

[@martialkintu2035]

Or they are simply just more disciplined. I cannot recall meeting a single undisciplined Chinese person in my entire lifespan.

[@leafwood1538]

so Venezuela should be NO.1 in math

[@m.s.1715]

And here they are in America teaching common Core math which just makes it much more complicated instead of making it easier to understand. It's like as dumb as giving directions in a way that describes all the places you don't go in order to tell you where you do go- It just made it more complicated, you didn't have to say all that.

[@bing4126]

So I have to learn Chinese to be good at math. Got it

[@eggchipsnbeans]

It's the same in Welsh but we're not renowned as mathematicians.

[@21ruevictorhugo]

Then there's French! There’s an 11 called onze, 12 called douze, 13 is treize, 14 is quatorze, 15 is quinze, 16 is seize and only at 17 does the name admit the idea of 10 with the name dix sept - 10 7. And then in the twenties through the 60s things are based on ten, twenty, etc ending with soixante 60. But then when you get to 70 it becomes 60 + 10, 60+11, 60+12 up until 60+19 and then 80 is quatre vingt which means 4 twenties. Talk about a bizarre number system. 🤪

[@GeoT91]

As a CBC, looking back I did memorize the multiplication table in Chinese because it was easier to recite, thereby memorize because there's fewer words and far fewer syllables. ie seven times seven equals forty nine is 10 syllables, in Chinese it's only 5 where a (character=1 syllable). Plus when memorizing I would further reduce it to just four syllables because I can drop the character ten in the word forty nine(four, ten, nine) to just four nine, two characters/syllables. Unfortunately for me I did end up learning fractions painfully by understanding what it physically was in English. Later when I learned what fractions were in Chinese, it made a lot of sense to me. I think it would've been easier to learn fractions from the get go in Chinese as the language makes it more intuitive. I'm not so sure about the other two. I suppose your idea of numbers after ten make sense but if I recall correctly, it never really fazed me personally. If anything learning the numbers in french was a bit more natural to me from knowing Chinese. I disagree on the ten thousand part, I find English easier but then again Chinese is kinda my second language. It should be noted (though obvious) is that these things only make math easier at the beginning in elementary school.

[@Pyovali]

Finnish has this quite interestingly: 1 - yksi, 2 - kaksi, 3 - kolme... and it goes on And the tenth is "kymmenen", after which yksitoista, kaksitoista, kolmetoista... aferwich it becomes "kaksikymmentä", - 20 - translates to "two tens". I don't know where "-toista" comes to numerals after ten, but it sounds like "toisto" which means "repeat" or "toinen" - 2nd in partitive. so one repeat, two repeat, three repeat... weird. It's still more logical than english, if you get past the teens.

[@meme-if4tb]

I’m here because I’m searching for ways to help my 7 years old with math. My great aunt taught me math in Chinese. All these years I still do my multiplication in Chinese.