Anyone else struggle with numbers?

28 comments

1. No the numbers are typically the easiest part of Japanese

2. I’ve passed N1 and still have trouble with numbers 😅
   My mental arithmetic in general is not fast, so dealing with numbers in Japanese can throw me. The main issue I have is that in Japanese they count in tens of thousands, and for whatever reason my brain has difficulty processing that.
   Just like with the rest of the language, practice is the key, I guess. But don’t feel bad that it’s challenging for you.

3. I think I read ”fluently” using numbers in a new language takes time because unlike the rest of the language they don’t register *as* language but rather math, and that uses different parts of the brain.
   Either way, it might take some time but trust me you’ll get there. I used to struggle with numbers but after working as a cashier I now have no issues reading numbers in Japanese (except the really big ones but I struggle with those in my native language as well haha)

4. Hi, what I’m gonna say here is just my experience as a native Japanese speaker (learning English) so I’m not here to say you are the same.
   So, looking back, I struggled remembering and saying numbers when I was learning English as a kid. I just thought I was stupid or something, so I didn’t care too much. Now that I *can* speak English and I still struggle. My brain just can’t take numbers well. Then, I realized that I also can’t say random numbers (like phone numbers) correctly in Japanese. I have a feeling that I am slightly dyslexic but we don’t have many clinics to clarify that I’m in Japan (at least where I live).
   But my point is, you don’t have to be able to do that to be better in your target language. Yes, I struggle when I talk about money and time, but that’s not the end of the world.

   To answer your question, yes, I also struggle with numbers even in my native tongue lol

5. Yes. For as much as my Japanese improves, and my confidence with the language follows, numbers are my achilles’ heel. Honestly?… I’ve resorted to thinking of it as a house chore that I’ll handle when everything else is done. It’s like a stubborn dish that doesn’t want its stain to be removed…

6. Taking N2 this December, been studying for 8 years, and I still really struggle with numbers. If you’re not in Japan you don’t actually hear numbers all that often – I listen to an hour of podcasts each day and usually the most you get is someone saying a year. Basically don’t sweat it, you’ll get better over time but also it won’t hold you back.

7. the way japanese count is different (groups of 10000s)

   you are employing hundreds of vocabulary because of the way numbers are read さんびゃくはっぴゃくなど

   you don’t have the luxury of haven taken 12+ years of math in the target language, don’t worry it will come with time

8. I’m long passed N1 and still struggle with processing numbers when listening. I have no idea why because I don’t have any problems with numbers in English. Its not even math or units of 万 or 億 or anything like that its seriously just normal numbers that like you said, arent between 1-10 or the number 100 take extra time to process and throw everything else off.

   If anyone has any advice on how they overcame this I’m all ears.

9. Numbers are just hard in foreign languages in general. That said, Japanese numbers are at least pretty straight forward until you get to 万 and then it’s sort of a mindf*ck that you have to put some work into.

   At least that’s better than German. In German , you get discombobulated right at the 20s. 21 is said like “one and twenty”.

10. I didn’t feel comfortable with bigger numbers until moving to Japan and then my whole life being in yen/the Japanese number system

11. Counting is the only thing I usually revert to my native language instead of doing it directly in Japanese.

12. I’m okay with numbers until I get to the hundreds.

13. Numbers/math is basically a whole different language that is universal. Except each language has a different way of saying those numbers.

    When we think of numbers we start thinking in a different pattern which makes it a little confusing.

    Numbers are like a puzzle for our brain if we think of it simply and when we are learning another language we have to translate that puzzle or assign new words to that puzzle.

    Even advanced learners may have second thoughts about numbers so it is very natural to be confused at an early stage. (Especially since Japanese has a wide range of counters not present in most languages.)

    Just keep at it. But if I was going to give personal advice, I would say: Everyday practice counting in your head or verbally. Like 1-100 if possible. You may feel like you are messing up at certain points which is frustrating but you are training your brain.

    Also if possible, try thinking of time in Japanese every time you see a clock. It might feel natural but looking at a clock/the time and connecting it to Japanese I think is a good way to pound numbers into your head.

14. Numbers I don’t specifically struggle with occasionally. It’s the context the number is in that occasionally changes the number that kind of gets me occasionally. Especially if we get into proper counting which… it’s probably the only thing I really hate about learning Japanese. Proper counting is just awful, really.

    Does it make sense at the end of the day? Absolutely. It’s technically a shorter way of doing it than repeatedly saying, “236 CDs” or “597 Sheets of Paper” and so forth. But I still hate it because you have A LOT of classifications of what something is, AND GUESS WHAT, occasionally the number pronunciation changes as well.

    Kanji I can do now. Kanji isn’t terrible. It’s incredibly helpful. I hate looking at non-kanji for words I know are meant to be Kanji, because it throws me off now. I have to think slightly when I read ねこ as opposed to 猫 which I instantly know we’re talking about a cat. I like 牛乳 as opposed to ミルク because while I know we’re talking about cows milk in both one I read slightly faster. But numbers and proper counting becomes a slog for me occasionally.

15. I practice by using a random number generator (Google has one if you search) and just spamming it and try to say the number out loud as quickly as I can. I change the max number to get practice at different levels. 

16. I have a very distinct memory of when I moved to Japan during the pandemic and in those days, we had to take a covid test at the airport upon landing in order to gain entry (or re-entry) into Japan. In those days I had only just barely started learning Japanese, and I remember realizing in horror that they were calling us out by number, and that my number was like 5 digits long and I had no earthly idea how I was going to be able to “hear” my number accurately when they called it out! Obviously since there was no tourism then (borders open to residents only), they didn’t bother translating the numbers into English, and called them out only in Japanese. So I frantically typed it into google translate, played it into my ear repeatedly so I would know what it would sound like, and thankfully when they called my number I heard it correctly. To this day, if I’m shopping and the cashier tells me my total and it has too many digits, I struggle to parse the number.

    I think the reason is that Japanese numbers (in addition to having to just parse a word in a language you’re learning) require you to do mental math at the same time. It’s probably a common struggle among learners.

17. I have the opposite problem if I have to say it myself then it’s not particularly difficult, I can say numbers pretty smoothly up to the thousands. But when I have to listen to those big numbers, I almost never catch the exact number the first time :

    I have 2500 hours of immersion…

18. I’m at a similar level and numbers and counters are tricky, but one thing that helped me was to SRS numbers in Anki like words. I found some number/counter deck and used that for a few weeks to burn some in. It’s still hard but I get less tripped up by years, months, time etc. Ask me to do a math problem or add and I’ll probably have a stroke though.

19. The larger the number the more I struggle

20. Have you done anything in particular to practice numbers? I find a lot of people treat learning a language as though it’s a single skill when it’s really a series of different interconnecting skills, each of which requires individualized work. If you want to get better at numbers start doing some form of specific number practice.

    I’ve been using [this](https://langpractice.com/japanese/numbers/listening#1,0,10) to practice listening to numbers, just doing around 20 reps a day. If your listening is fine but output is poor then set a random number generator to whatever value range you think you need to practice and do a few of those each day. If you put in a little time each day you’ll find yourself improving over time.

21. My biggest issue with numbers wasn’t the generic but the counter suffixes, and how number change based of the counter. Fellow study buddy taught me that there’s no reason, don’t try to work it out.

22. You’re not the only one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2xXJOlowgQ

23. I also struggle quite a lot with numbers, but a few years back searching for an Android app to drill numbers for a while really helped me. I can’t remember the name now but I’m sure there must bet many out there 🙂

24. I think it’s not Japanese itself, but foreign languages in general. For example, English is not my first language, but I’ve been learning it since I was 6 or 7. Now I can comfortably read scientific papers, but I still struggle with numbers larger than 100 because my brain tries to read them in my mother tongue. Oddly, I don’t have this problem in Japanese and my struggle starts only after 10k, because counting in powers of ten thousands instead of powers of thousands is confusing to my non-Japanese mind.

25. Yes

26. Count from 1 to 100 in Japanese, and then count backwards from 100 to 1 a few times.

27. I’ve been studying Japanese for 2 years now and I still can’t count past ten without needing to pause and think. I can’t do anything over a hundred without needing a notebook haha

28. I must say I find it very weird that so many people have trouble with numbers of all things in this thread. It was the exact opposite for me. Japanese numbers make so much more sense than either my native language or English that I got more fluent in saying those numbers than in either quite quickly. Same with the names of the months.

    Numbers is really not something that is illogical or does not make a lot of sense about Japanese. It makes a lot of sense and it’s very regular.

    Well, with some counters there are some issues of course such as ふたり opposed to the expected ににん and things such as say ここのか opposed to きゅうか because days still use traditional Japanese numerals but otherwise it’s really easy.

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