Why Malays are 'slow' in Maths

satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima, enam, tujuh, lapan, sembilan, sepuluh
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
ee, er, san, sek, u, liu, ci, pek, ciu, sek

It takes 22 syllables to count 1 to 10 in Malay whilst in English it takes only 11 syllables and 12 syllables in Chinese. Logically, the counting, the calculation, and the mathematics if done in Malay therefore is much slower than if it is done in English or Chinese - per se saying it out in Malay and mentally in Malay.










tu, ua, ga, pat, ma, nam, juh, pan, lan, luh - a shortened version of 1-10 in Malay
las(11), ualas(12), galas(13) ...... ualuh (20)
ualutu(21), ualuhua(22), ualuhga(23)..........lanlullan(99)
tutus(100), tutustu(101), tutusua(102)........tutuslanluhlan(199), uatus(200)
...........lantuslanluhlan(999), tubu(1000), tubutu(1001)....

ga bu pat tus pan luh nam (3486) - 7 syllables
three thousand four hundred eighty six (3486) - 9 syllables

Think about it !!!

Note:-

It typically takes 35% more words in Malay to translate English ie to translate an English phrase with 100 words, it requires 135 words in Malay.

Thus, for a Malay to think faster, think in English rather than in Malay !!! Try it and see whether there's a difference.