Hold Up Three Fingers. Not Everyone Picks the Same Three.

Hold up three fingers. Go on, really do it. Now look at which three you chose.

Counting Does Not Start in the Same Place

Some people begin with the thumb. Some begin with the index finger. Some do not raise fingers at all, but fold them down into the palm one by one. Every version is correct where it is used, and every version feels like the only sensible way to the person doing it. Children copy the local habit long before they can say the numbers out loud.

Not Every Language Counts in Tens

Ten is popular because of hands, but it has never been the only option. Some counting systems move in groups of twenty. Others travel across the body, using fingers, wrists, elbows and shoulders as places on a tally. Some languages even change the counting word depending on what is being counted, so flat things, long thin things and people each get their own set.

Numbers look plain on a worksheet. Inside a language, they are anything but plain.

Try This at Home

• Count to ten together at the same moment every day. Bath time works well. So do the stairs.
• Count real things rather than the air: steps, spoons, buttons, mangoes in the bowl.
• Ask an older relative to count out loud in your family language, then listen for the rhythm.
• Learn one counting rhyme or clapping game. The tune carries the words for you.
• Let your child count the change at the shop, out loud, in the language you are learning.

The First Mathematics Your Child Ever Hears

Long before a child meets a number on a page, they hear numbers in a voice. That voice decides a great deal. Plenty of people who grew up with two languages find that counting still happens in the first one, quietly, years after everything else has switched over. It is one of the last parts of a language to let go, which makes it one of the best parts to hand on early.

So, which finger do you start on, and which language do you count in when nobody is listening?

Explore your language on Browse Languages, look up a number in the Dictionary, start a lesson on Learn, or share your mother tongue on Teach.