Question to the community

[Charles Watkins]

I agree about mental arithmetic; but only because I am barely numerate, like
many English arts graduates (you too?!).  However bilingual mathematicians I
know claim they don't do mental arithmetic in either language but
conceptually, which makes sense, I suppose,  if your numeracy skills are as
advanced as most people's verbal skills - "which language do you think in?"
doesn't make a lot of sense as a question to me.

Charles Watkins.
-----Message d'origine-----
De : lnpnwh <lnpnwh at leeds.ac.uk>
À : Charles Watkins <charles.watkins at wanadoo.fr>; info-childes
<info-childes at mail.talkbank.org>; Ellina Chernobilsky
<ellinac at email.eden.rutgers.edu>; Annette Karmiloff-Smith
<a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk>
Date : mardi 5 novembre 2002 09:22
Objet : Re: Question to the community


Counting might not necessarily give you a clear indication of language
dominance. Personally, I tend to count in English up to 20 and then switch
to German after that, i.e.

eighteen - nineteen - twenty - einundzwanzig (lit. one and twenty) -
zweiundzwanzig (lit. two and twenty)

Sums are probably better, however, I suspect you do your sums in the
language in which you were taught to do sums, which again is not necessarily
your most dominant language. (Although if you received most of your
schooling in that language, it is very likely to be the dominant one). So in
the end it's no different from the phone numbers.

Nicole

-----------------------------------------------
Nicole Whitworth
Dept. of Linguistics & Phonetics
University of Leeds
Leeds
LS2 9JT
UK

phone:   +44 (0)113 233 3550
email:     lnpnwh at leeds.ac.uk
---------------------------------------------


----- Original Message -----
From: "Annette Karmiloff-Smith" <a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk>
To: "Charles Watkins" <charles.watkins at wanadoo.fr>; "info-childes"
<info-childes at mail.talkbank.org>; "Ellina Chernobilsky"
<ellinac at email.eden.rutgers.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 05, 2002 8:14 PM
Subject: Re: Question to the community


> I, too, suggesting rapid counting or addition.  Anecdotally one
> always falls back into one's mother tongue.  Not so for phone
> numbers.  It seems to depend on where one learnt them, so my British
> numbers I recalkl in English, but the Swiss ones I always first have
> to say to myself in French.,  However, I *always* add in English.  I
> don't know of any research in the area though.
> Annette
>
> At 8:30 PM -1200 4/11/02, Charles Watkins wrote:
> >I am pretty certain there is a mathematical formula suggested in "Raising
> >Children Bilingually" by Eleonre (I think) Arnberg (I'm almost sure)
> >published by Multilingual Matters (definitely). I can't lay my hands on
the
> >book just at present, but if you don't know it already I'll try to get
back
> >to you on this.
> >
> >Charles Watkins
> >Professeur Agrégé en Première et Lettres Supérieures,
> >Lycée Molière, Paris, France.
> >-----Message d'origine-----
> >De : Ellina Chernobilsky <ellinac at email.eden.rutgers.edu>
> >À : info-childes at mail.talkbank.org <info-childes at mail.talkbank.org>
> >Date : lundi 4 novembre 2002 07:08
> >Objet : Question to the community
> >
> >
> >>
> >>--
> >>Does anyone know if there are any good ways to establish language
> >>dominance in bilinguals (esp. five and six year olds)? Any references
> >>to the research on this topic or methodology for establishing the
> >>language dominance will be greatly appreciated.
> >>Thank you.
> >>Ellina Chernobilsky
> >>PhD Student
> >>Rutgers University
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>