A STUDY conducted in Singapore shows that Chinese characters may be the reason why local children aged between six and 12 display a higher IQ than their peers in Britain, Germany and Australia.
The pictographic nature of the Chinese writing system helps to stimulate the thinking faculty of children. Their intelligence develops better while they learn the characters.
This was disclosed by Dr Zeng Zeng, assistant professor of psychology at NUS, in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao as was reported on Oct 5.
I am a retired Chinese-language teacher from Malaysia. From my experiences, I have long noticed that Chinese-medium-educated students always excel in mathematics as compared with those taught in other languages.
The secret lies in the Chinese characters. The words for numerals are all monosyllabic in Chinese.
In contrast, their equivalents in Malay have two or three syllables, like sa-tu, du-a, ti-ga, em-pat, li-ma, e-nam, tu-juh, la-pan, sem-bi-lan, se-pu-luh. It takes a longer time to pronounce these words. Their English equivalents —— one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, hundred, thousand, million —— include multi-syllabic words, too.
The difference between them is most striking when it comes to memorising the multiplication table. Children easily find that it is in the Chinese language that they can do the job fastest.
Children taught in Chinese find it easier to learn numerals and can do their calculations much faster.
This has been repeatedly borne out by reports on Chinese-medium-educated students winning prizes in International Mathematics Olympiads.
Mathematics has a lot to do with IQ tests, as it is well proven that children good at numbers tend to have a stronger reasoning faculty.
So, I would like to call on Chinese parents to treasure the language of our ancestors. Teach the children Chinese so that they can think in the language. Keep their cutting edge in mathematics with the aid of Chinese characters, and this will improve their IQ. Translated by Allen Zhuang
學(xué)漢字有助提高智商
根據(jù)本地的一項研究顯示,學(xué)習(xí)漢字可能是我國6歲至12歲孩童的智商比英國、德國和澳洲孩童高的原因。
這是因為漢字的象形特性,對激發(fā)孩童的思考能力有幫助。因此,在學(xué)習(xí)漢字的過程中,孩童們的智商也無形中提高了。
上述這些話是10月5日《聯(lián)合早報》根據(jù)新加坡國立大學(xué)心理學(xué)助理教授曾增博士受訪時所說的,相信廣大的讀者群眾早已見過了。
筆者是一位早期在馬來西亞從事華文教學(xué)的退休者,在教學(xué)中曾注意到華校生在數(shù)學(xué)領(lǐng)域中,一直其他源流學(xué)校的學(xué)生,究其主因是因為華語是以單音節(jié)語素為主,一字一音節(jié)。就如：一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八、九、十、百、千、萬等數(shù)目字,都是單音節(jié)語素。
反觀馬來語：sa-tu、du-a、ti-ga、em-pat、li-ma、e-nam、tu-juh、la-pan、sem-bi-lan、se-pu-luh等音節(jié)都比華語長,念起來都比華語費時多了。
又如英語one ,two,three,four,five,six,seven,eight ,nine,ten,hundred,thousand、million等,其中也有好些是語音較長的文字。當(dāng)學(xué)童在學(xué)習(xí)背誦乘法表時最能發(fā)覺以華語背誦是各種語言中最快捷的。所以數(shù)目字在以華語為啟蒙教育的孩童中顯得比較簡單；在運算過程中也就顯得簡易而快捷多了。
這些事實可以從報上屢見不鮮的國際奧林匹克數(shù)學(xué)比賽中,來自華文源流的學(xué)生所獲得的榮譽加以證明。
智商測驗很大程度上與數(shù)學(xué)扯上關(guān)系,因為數(shù)學(xué)好的學(xué)童推理能力自然就強,這是鐵一般的事實。
因此,筆者在此大力呼吁華族家長珍惜祖先創(chuàng)造的單音節(jié)優(yōu)秀語言,在家中先教導(dǎo)孩子們學(xué)會華語,讓孩子們能先用華語去思考問題,保留這種對數(shù)學(xué)的優(yōu)勢,提高孩子們的智商。
The pictographic nature of the Chinese writing system helps to stimulate the thinking faculty of children. Their intelligence develops better while they learn the characters.
This was disclosed by Dr Zeng Zeng, assistant professor of psychology at NUS, in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao as was reported on Oct 5.
I am a retired Chinese-language teacher from Malaysia. From my experiences, I have long noticed that Chinese-medium-educated students always excel in mathematics as compared with those taught in other languages.
The secret lies in the Chinese characters. The words for numerals are all monosyllabic in Chinese.
In contrast, their equivalents in Malay have two or three syllables, like sa-tu, du-a, ti-ga, em-pat, li-ma, e-nam, tu-juh, la-pan, sem-bi-lan, se-pu-luh. It takes a longer time to pronounce these words. Their English equivalents —— one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, hundred, thousand, million —— include multi-syllabic words, too.
The difference between them is most striking when it comes to memorising the multiplication table. Children easily find that it is in the Chinese language that they can do the job fastest.
Children taught in Chinese find it easier to learn numerals and can do their calculations much faster.
This has been repeatedly borne out by reports on Chinese-medium-educated students winning prizes in International Mathematics Olympiads.
Mathematics has a lot to do with IQ tests, as it is well proven that children good at numbers tend to have a stronger reasoning faculty.
So, I would like to call on Chinese parents to treasure the language of our ancestors. Teach the children Chinese so that they can think in the language. Keep their cutting edge in mathematics with the aid of Chinese characters, and this will improve their IQ. Translated by Allen Zhuang
學(xué)漢字有助提高智商
根據(jù)本地的一項研究顯示,學(xué)習(xí)漢字可能是我國6歲至12歲孩童的智商比英國、德國和澳洲孩童高的原因。
這是因為漢字的象形特性,對激發(fā)孩童的思考能力有幫助。因此,在學(xué)習(xí)漢字的過程中,孩童們的智商也無形中提高了。
上述這些話是10月5日《聯(lián)合早報》根據(jù)新加坡國立大學(xué)心理學(xué)助理教授曾增博士受訪時所說的,相信廣大的讀者群眾早已見過了。
筆者是一位早期在馬來西亞從事華文教學(xué)的退休者,在教學(xué)中曾注意到華校生在數(shù)學(xué)領(lǐng)域中,一直其他源流學(xué)校的學(xué)生,究其主因是因為華語是以單音節(jié)語素為主,一字一音節(jié)。就如：一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八、九、十、百、千、萬等數(shù)目字,都是單音節(jié)語素。
反觀馬來語：sa-tu、du-a、ti-ga、em-pat、li-ma、e-nam、tu-juh、la-pan、sem-bi-lan、se-pu-luh等音節(jié)都比華語長,念起來都比華語費時多了。
又如英語one ,two,three,four,five,six,seven,eight ,nine,ten,hundred,thousand、million等,其中也有好些是語音較長的文字。當(dāng)學(xué)童在學(xué)習(xí)背誦乘法表時最能發(fā)覺以華語背誦是各種語言中最快捷的。所以數(shù)目字在以華語為啟蒙教育的孩童中顯得比較簡單；在運算過程中也就顯得簡易而快捷多了。
這些事實可以從報上屢見不鮮的國際奧林匹克數(shù)學(xué)比賽中,來自華文源流的學(xué)生所獲得的榮譽加以證明。
智商測驗很大程度上與數(shù)學(xué)扯上關(guān)系,因為數(shù)學(xué)好的學(xué)童推理能力自然就強,這是鐵一般的事實。
因此,筆者在此大力呼吁華族家長珍惜祖先創(chuàng)造的單音節(jié)優(yōu)秀語言,在家中先教導(dǎo)孩子們學(xué)會華語,讓孩子們能先用華語去思考問題,保留這種對數(shù)學(xué)的優(yōu)勢,提高孩子們的智商。