3 ms·

It isn't that different, in my American elementary school I had to memorize the multiplication table up to 12x12. But I don't recall anything about the English

by talmand 14y ago

It isn't that different, in my American elementary school I had to memorize the multiplication table up to 12x12. But I don't recall anything about the English language being a hindrance so your example is interesting. There doesn't seem to be that much fewer syllables in 7x7=49 in English but I'm assuming that as the numbers increase then the syllables get worse in Japanese as opposed to English? For instance, 148x385=56980?

solox3 14y ago
Using your example 7 x 7 = 49 seven [2] times [1] seven [2] equals [1] forty-nine [3] = 9 七[1] 乘[1] 七[1] 如[1] 四十九 [3] = 7 (without using primary school mnemonics) 七[1] 七[1] 四十九 [3] = 5 (using primary school mnemonics) Even at that primitive level, a change of language can give you a 23% and 45% speed-up of basic arithmetic operations, respectively.
- saalweachter 14y ago
  Eh, one example isn't much for statistics. Looking at the average for 1, 2, and 3 digit numbers (ie, [0,9] * [0,9], [0,99] * [0,99], ...), using the sentence "<x> times <y> is <x*y>": English, 1 digits: 6.5 syllables; English, 2 digits: 14.9 syllables; English, 3 digits: 25.4 syllables. I'll let other people figure out the numbers for their own languages, but I'm guessing most languages will have similar lengths. Numbers tend to be short in any language.
- shabble 14y ago
  A similar rote recitation exercise I recall from (a british) school was of the form '[Seven] [Seven][s] [is|are] [Forty-Nine]', of which only the 'is' is redundant, and is a single short syllable.
gklitt 14y ago
Yes, there are examples where the syllable discrepancy is a bit larger between English and Japanese, but I think you're right -- perhaps the syllable difference is not too big of a deal. Now that I think more about it, perhaps the actual advantage may be in the rhythmic nature of the mnemonic. By modifying syllable numbers for various products, the entire recitation gets a kind of rhythmic flow. (watch the video to see what I mean) All I can say is that in my personal experience learning the multiplication tables in both languages around the same time, it was dramatically easier in Japanese. Perhaps the small reduction in syllables caused that, and perhaps the "rhythmification" was more responsible. I do recall seeing a study somewhere that showed people who spoke Chinese were able to remember more numbers, ostensibly because each digit takes less syllables to speak in Chinese so the total syllables to remember in one's head is smaller.

by talmand 14y ago

solox3 14y ago

Using your example 7 x 7 = 49 seven [2] times [1] seven [2] equals [1] forty-nine [3] = 9 七[1] 乘[1] 七[1] 如[1] 四十九 [3] = 7 (without using primary school mnemonics) 七[1] 七[1] 四十九 [3] = 5 (using primary school mnemonics) Even at that primitive level, a change of language can give you a 23% and 45% speed-up of basic arithmetic operations, respectively.

saalweachter 14y ago
Eh, one example isn't much for statistics. Looking at the average for 1, 2, and 3 digit numbers (ie, [0,9] * [0,9], [0,99] * [0,99], ...), using the sentence "<x> times <y> is <x*y>": English, 1 digits: 6.5 syllables; English, 2 digits: 14.9 syllables; English, 3 digits: 25.4 syllables. I'll let other people figure out the numbers for their own languages, but I'm guessing most languages will have similar lengths. Numbers tend to be short in any language.
shabble 14y ago
A similar rote recitation exercise I recall from (a british) school was of the form '[Seven] [Seven][s] [is|are] [Forty-Nine]', of which only the 'is' is redundant, and is a single short syllable.

gklitt 14y ago

Yes, there are examples where the syllable discrepancy is a bit larger between English and Japanese, but I think you're right -- perhaps the syllable difference is not too big of a deal. Now that I think more about it, perhaps the actual advantage may be in the rhythmic nature of the mnemonic. By modifying syllable numbers for various products, the entire recitation gets a kind of rhythmic flow. (watch the video to see what I mean) All I can say is that in my personal experience learning the multiplication tables in both languages around the same time, it was dramatically easier in Japanese. Perhaps the small reduction in syllables caused that, and perhaps the "rhythmification" was more responsible. I do recall seeing a study somewhere that showed people who spoke Chinese were able to remember more numbers, ostensibly because each digit takes less syllables to speak in Chinese so the total syllables to remember in one's head is smaller.