Bat, bi, hiru, lau… And after?įor the 361 other supported languages, follow the guide. I invite you to a journey through some numbering systems via this site to give you a hint of the richness of languages when it comes to give a name to that very big level of abstraction represented by numbers. In contrast, in the United States (as well as in other English-speaking countries including Australia, New Zealand. This means, for example, that three hundred euros and ten cents is written as 300,10with a comma as a decimal marker. Of course, other bases have been devised and used by different cultures, embodied in their language now extinct or still alive. In most European countries, a comma is used to separate the integral part of a number from the decimal part.

The quinary system, or base 5 counting, uses the fingers of one hand the decimal system (base 10) uses both hands the vigesimal system (base 20) uses both fingers and toes. To measure the time between two events, to detect and predict cycles, to describe the world in terms of a journey’s length, these are the primordial things a being able to count can do and share with others.Ĭounting on our fingers defined the mere representation of space around us to such an extend that it is still in use nowadays in the base of the most used numbering systems.

You should also consider how many people speak the language as a second language. Of Languages and Numbers Numbering systemsĬounting is a wonderful skill that allows us to grasp both time and space. Most people opt to learn languages spoken by the largest number of people.

Numbers in different languages 12