Learning to count and use numbers as values is very important in day to day living.  Immediate recognition of an amount and its value only comes through practice.  Even at the beginning of second grade, a normal child will make errors counting to a hundred in their native language.  Many children's games include counting - hide and seek, 99 bottles of beer on the wall, rhymes, jump rope, to name a few.

As an adult learner of a second language you are probably not interested in counting while jumping rope.  However, many of you do exercises in the morning and count.  So, count in Chinese.  Count while you cook - that could prove interesting at the beginning!

Once you have a beginning mastery of order, you want to begin to see the numbers in Chinese.  When you look at a '6' you want to be able to say 'liu4' directly without intermediate translation.  A good way to develop the skill is to look at random numbers and try to say them as fast as you can.  One way to do this is while you are riding in a bus or car (as the passenger, please) watch the license plates of the on-coming cars and say the plate numbers in Chinese .  At first you might only recite the simple numbers, later express the numbers in hundreds and thousands.

Other places to look for numbers:

•     the index of a nice thick book
•     prices in the grocery store
•     your lottery ticket
•     your checkbook and bank statement
•     print the random number tables at the bottom of this page
•     OR, you can play the Speed Number game, which presents you with random numbers -- you say them as fast as you can, then click for the next number.  You can judge your speed with the timer provided.  When you can say small numbers as fast as in your native language, move on to larger numbers.

When learning to count, don't worry if it gets to be sing-song and automatic.  That is how you recite the numbers in your native language as well.  Gradually, because 68 always follows 67 as you recite, 68 comes to mean larger.

A good foundation in the numbers will make dates, time, and phone numbers much easier.  If you are calling someone's beeper to leave a message - you have to give their number in Chinese.  Once you have begun to master the numbers, the Currency Topic pages have a collection of amounts of money for listening practice and they will help you to learn to say the numbers in combination.

Print the Random Number Tables

1 - 100
50	55	53	35	97	65	79	12	93	27
67	49	3	96	83	25	8	68	20	54
36	89	37	59	6	17	56	14	72	92
13	46	52	41	91	39	38	48	84	28
30	90	73	4	5	29	40	2	75	94
88	32	24	1	26	22	61	10	95	100
63	42	71	87	11	81	44	15	69	16
21	58	19	70	77	64	9	33	31	45
62	82	66	23	43	98	18	57	34	80
51	76	74	86	99	7	47	85	60	78

1 - 1000
443	405	549	442	531	38	70	96	545	815
116	131	646	986	53	947	245	222	835	960
339	530	660	486	954	42	513	242	99	20
81	188	514	671	930	309	669	645	386	664
866	529	177	847	61	6	668	686	696	458
925	412	448	845	437	444	840	74	403	26
816	716	773	224	681	2	519	466	497	341
310	611	100	841	780	901	648	283	957	356
165	869	936	994	195	221	449	573	114	440
604	590	161	62	692	415	278	124	329	643

http://hua.umf.maine.edu/Chinese/faq/numbers.html
Last update: February, 2002
© Marilyn Shea,1999, 2002