Paint by Number

Numbers are the only thing I can read here in China. And I can only read them provided "3" is not written, as in "three." Sometimes it's quite disconcerting to think that I can't even read a name tag. Name tags are supposed to be helpful, convenient things, and I can't tell the different between a Demetri and a Zelda. Numbers though, those I can read. And sometimes I can even decipher some meaning from them. For instance, if the sign on a businesses door has a whole bunch of characters, then a 9, then another character, then a 5, I deduce that the establishment is open from 9 to 5 (I may be completely wrong, but there's no easy way for me to know that, so I assume I'm right).



However, I cannot use my hands to convey numbers. When I go into a store and ask how much something costs (because this is a phrase I've now mastered) but I can't catch what the amount is, I would normally use my fingers. Thus, 59 becomes five fingers followed by nine fingers. It's somewhat tedious, but I've used it with success in the past. But oh no, that doesn't work here. Why? Because counting on your fingers is done in an entirely different manner here. I haven't mastered it yet, but from what I gather, pointer fingers are much more essential than I'm used to. The peace sign does not also represent the number two. So even my fail-safe written communication fails in visual expression. I can read numbers, but I can't sign them.



Given this, I've been working hard on learning my numbers in Mandarin. So far I've got 1 through 6, 10 and 100. Which may not seem like much, but it's actually quite a bit. Let me explain: in Mandarin (and perhaps in other languages, but not any I speak) 11 is actually 10 and 1. "Yi" is one, "shi" is ten, "shi yi" is eleven. It's a beautiful system. There's no, awkward teen section, no having to remember that two tens is actually twenty; in mandarin twenty is two tens. Same goes for everything in the hundreds. So really, I'm only missing 7 and 8 and 9 in my vocabulary to be able to count all the way to 999. Not too shabby.