Numbers. You need to know them in a foreign language for things like addresses and phone numbers, money, or just getting to the right page in your language class. But numbers are tricky; you may be able to count to ten, but what about higher numbers? I notice this all the time in my classes, when I direct students to a particular page and notice a few fumbling around, uncertain as to exactly what I want them to look at. (I should clarify that I say the page number in Spanish. I know–a totally unreasonable thing to do in a Spanish class.)
Numbers are normally taught in first year language classes, but if you’re continuing with intermediate classes, speaking the language, or just listening to it, you will hear numbers frequently.
In order to remember numbers, you need to practice numbers. The mechanics of counting in another language can be explained in one or two lessons, but once you’ve memorized how to count to 100, you have to practice with all the individual numbers, and there are a lot of them.
The best way is to count: 1,2,3…; even numbers; odd numbers; multiples of 3, 5, 10, etc; count backwards…
Another way is to focus on all the numbers that have a particular number in them: 3, 13, 23, 30, 33, 43, etc. Then choose another number: 8, 18, 28, etc. When you are reading (newspaper, labels, price tags) and see a number, take a second and think about how to say it in the target language.
In other words, practice. Then you won’t be fumbling.
