Saturday, November 19, 2016

Does the Language That We Speak Influence the Way We Think?


“Language shapes the way we think, 
and determines what we can think about.”
Benjamin Lee Whorf

                             “A different language is a different vision of life.”                                                                   Federico Fellini

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein
                        
What I have learned is that the answer to this question is complicated. Part of the problem is that there is more involved than just language and thought; there is also culture. Your culture—the traditions, lifestyle, habits, and so on that you pick up from the people you live and interact with—shapes the way you think, and also shapes the way you talk.

Multilingualism gives us opportunity to see the life in different eyes. When we learn a new language we open a new world of unusually culture. Our brains catch the information, lexicon, understanding of cultures, and other aspects of life, that are different from the native concepts, that build and add a new perspective of view. The language is an integral part of the culture, history, traditions, believes, etc.. There is none of it without language.

But, every language have the limits, and those limits depend on the vision of the world. There are more developed and less developed languages. Some languages have more letters and words to use in life, than other languages. When people use more developed language, their consciousness become also developed. When you speaking that kind of language, your consciousness will be developed wide and very smart. Because from childhood you already using more letters, words, and more complex sentences, which reflects your manner of thinking. Also, form that side, it reflects your vision of the world.

Thus, the complexity of the language reflects the complexity of the mind of the person that using that language. If a person uses several languages in full understanding, then this person will achieve fuller mind and fuller vision of the whole world.

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Using Fingers to Solve Math Problems in Different Countries (Revised)

Math was never my strong suit at school. The numbers never danced into line for me. I assumed that trying to deal with numbers in a foreign language would be impossible; however, after some investigation, I discovered that  it turned out that this challenge was actually feasible!
While I was interviewing people for my survey (Finger-Counting In Different Cultures), I discovered deeper information about actual finger-counting systems in different countries, not only how people start to count or show numbers, but how they solve complex math problems.

I met an Indian girl on the MAX train and interviewed her., She explained that Indians use a unique calculating system, the mental abacus.

My research showed that this system  is primarily practiced in India, but it also spread to China, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan. Mental calculation is said to improve mental capability and increase the speed of response, as well as the boost of memory and concentration. The mental abacus can be used to perform addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication, and can also be used to extract square-roots and cube roots.
This system provides an impressive example of increased cognitive development! From a young age, children trained in this finger system, they flicking their fingers in thin air to keep track of long series of numbers and solve calculations with mind-blowing accuracy. Using their fingers like the beads of an abacus, they add, subtract, divide, and multiply at the speed of calculator. Of course, both children and adults use this imaginary abacus. For example, in the Flash Anzan event at the All Japan Soroban Championship, Takeo Sasano, a school clerk in his 30s, broke his own world record; he was able to add fifteen three-digit numbers in just 1.7 seconds!

I am amazed at how fingers can be used to compute faster than a calculator. Anyone can learn this easy math system, regardless where they were taught in the past and regardless of age.



If you like the information that I found, you actually can go deeper, and get more information about this subject, or learn how to calculate so fast like those kids, by using simple techniques that you can use for your math problems here.

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Chisanbop came from Korea (chi (ji) finger + sanpŏp (sanbeop) calculation[1] 지산법/指算法). It is another abacus, which uses finger counting method to perform basic mathematical operations. The key, to finger math, is understanding how to count. So here is the basic concept of Chisanbop.

With this method it is possible to display all numbers from 0 to 99 with two hands, and with one (left) hand display 100 .
There are two ways to do calculation with fingers ever hand real

The hands are held in a relaxed posture on or above a table. All fingers are floating off the table to begin with. The fingers are pressed into the table to indicate value. Each finger (but not the thumb) of the right hand has a value of one. Press the index finger of the right hand onto the table to indicate "one." Press the index and middle fingers for “two”, the three leftmost fingers for “three”, and all four fingers of the right hand to indicate “four”. The thumb of the right hand holds the value “five”. To place the value “six”, press the right thumb and index finger onto the table. The thumb indicates “five” plus the “one” indicated by the finger. The left hand represents the tens digit. It works like the right hand, but each value is multiplied by ten. Each finger on the left hand represents “ten”, and the left thumb represents “fifty”. In this way, all values between zero and ninety-nine can be indicated on two hands.


It seem that it so hard and it will take a long time to learn it. Actually, it is not that hard, even at age  you just need to understand basics, practice, and use it. And you will be able to solve math problems with your hands, so fast.


What's more amazing, is that this effective technique can be used by anyone. The mental abacus does not depend on the language system. While most others need to represent numbers with verbal names, mental abacus appears to be entirely a visual task, without the use of a calculator, pencil and paper.


Here is a tutorial for chisanbop and here is the video tutorial, in case if you want to try if it works, or if you want to learn and practice. Try it, from my experience it's easy and fun.