The language difference has drawn lots of attention. Several recent studies have connected weaker maths abilities of English-speaking children with English number words.
语言差异已经引起了广泛关注。一些最近的研究将说英语的孩子数学能力较差与英语数字词汇联系起来。
Chinese, for example, has just ten basic number words. English, however, has more than two dozen. The trouble starts at 11. In Chinese, Japanese and Korean, there are words that can be translated as ten-one—spoken with the ten first. That makes it easier for these children to understand the place value. And the students can easily see the number system comes from units of 10.
例如，汉语只有十个基本的数字词，而英语却有二十多个。问题从数字 11 开始。汉语、日语和韩语中都有可以翻译成“十一”的词——说的时候以“十”开头。这让孩子们更容易理解位值的概念。学生们能很容易地看出数字系统是以十为单位的。
Counting a few objects like pears, grapes, or cups is straightforward. But English number words over 10 don’t make the place value clear. Words for numbers 13 to 19 change the order of the ones and tens. Children often mix 17 with 71. As a result, children working with English number words have a harder time doing difficult calculations. They make more mistakes.
数几个物体，比如梨、葡萄或杯子，是简单的。但英语中超过十的数字词并未清晰地体现位值的概念。数字 13 到 19 的单词颠倒了个位和十位的顺序。孩子们经常把 17 和 71 混淆。因此，使用英语数字词的孩子在做复杂计算时会更困难。他们会出更多的错。
It also feels more natural for Chinese speakers to use the make-a-ten method. When adding two numbers, Chinese students often break down the numbers into parts and regroup them into tens and ones. For example, 9+5 becomes 9+1+4. This method greatly helps students work out maths problems. Many teachers in America are teaching their students this method, sometimes by grouping items such as knives or forks. However, they are still having trouble because of the unclear and difficult English number words.
对于说汉语的人来说，使用“凑十法”也更自然。在将两个数字相加时，中国学生通常会把数字拆分成部分，然后重组十位和个位数字。例如，将 9+5 变成 9+1+4。这种方法对学生解决数学问题大有帮助。美国有很多老师都在教学生使用这种方法，有时会通过把刀叉等物品分组来进行演示。然而，由于英语数字词的表达既不清晰又很费力，他们仍然会有困难。
Now, you should feel lucky that you are learning maths in China. Thanks to your mother language, all the maths problems have become clearer and less difficult.
现在，你应该感到幸运，因为你在中国学习数学。多亏了你的母语，所有数学问题都变得更加清晰，不那么难了。