Counting in different languages turns a skill your child already enjoys into a small adventure. Most children at 3 to 6 are learning to count 1 to 10 in one or two languages. Hearing the same numbers as uno, dos, tres or ichi, ni, san is fun, and it quietly strengthens what counting really means: one word for each thing, always in the same order. On this page your child picks any of 32 languages, taps number cards to hear them, and plays a simple How many? game with fruit pictures.
What your child learns from counting 1 to 10 in different languages
The goal is not to master 32 languages. It is to practise counting with fresh ears. When the words change, children must pay attention to order and to matching one word with one object, which is the heart of early maths. They also learn that numbers are shared by the whole world, even when the sounds differ.
- Ages 3-4 (nursery, preschool): counts 1 to 5 in the home language, enjoys Count with me in other languages, may copy 2 or 3 words.
- Ages 4-5 (LKG): counts 1 to 10 in the home language and a second one, matches a quantity up to 5 in How many?
- Ages 5-6 (UKG, class 1): counts to 10 in two or three languages, matches quantities up to 10, notices that some languages sound alike (Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati share many number sounds).
How to play the counting game
At the top of the game is a language picker with the same 32 languages as our hello in different languages page: Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Odia, Urdu, Arabic, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay, Filipino and Swahili.
- Count: ten number cards show 1 to 10 with the number word in its own script and a romanised spelling underneath. Tap a card to hear the number. Press Count with me and the game reads 1 to 10 aloud while each card lights up in turn. Finishing a count earns a marble.
- How many?: fruit pictures appear, your child counts them and taps the right number. The answer is then spoken in the chosen language, so your child hears "five" as cinco, paanch or go.
The game never says "wrong". A mistaken tap names the number chosen, then the right card glows, then Golu, the site's friendly glass marble, points to it. Marbles go into the Goli Jar, saved on your device; tap the jar to count them together. The अ+A button sets whether instructions come in Hindi or English first. Grown-up settings choose your child's age, which changes how many fruits and choices appear, and offer fewer choices, calm motion and captions.
Numbers 1 to 10 in different languages: a chart
Here are five major languages side by side. Print this page for a simple numbers chart in different languages.
| Number | Hindi | Spanish | French | Tamil | Japanese |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | एक (ek) | uno | un | onru | ichi |
| 2 | दो (do) | dos | deux | irandu | ni |
| 3 | तीन (teen) | tres | trois | moonru | san |
| 4 | चार (chaar) | cuatro | quatre | naangu | shi / yon |
| 5 | पाँच (paanch) | cinco | cinq | ainthu | go |
| 6 | छह (chhah) | seis | six | aaru | roku |
| 7 | सात (saat) | siete | sept | ezhu | shichi / nana |
| 8 | आठ (aath) | ocho | huit | ettu | hachi |
| 9 | नौ (nau) | nueve | neuf | onbathu | kyū |
| 10 | दस (das) | diez | dix | pathu | jū |
Japanese has two words for 4 and 7. Shi also sounds like the word for death, so many people prefer yon; shichi and nana are both common. Children can use either.
How to count to 10 in different languages without confusion
Parents sometimes worry that a new set of number words will muddle a child who is still learning to count at home. In practice, children keep languages apart well when each one has its own time and place. A few simple rules help:
- Home language first. Make sure your child counts 1 to 10 steadily in the main home language. Our counting 1 to 10 and Hindi ginti pages are the right starting points.
- One new language at a time. Stay with Spanish, or Tamil, or Japanese for a week before trying another.
- Start with 1 to 5. Five number words are easy to hold in mind. Add 6 to 10 when those feel easy.
- Always count real things. Saying the words without objects is reciting. Touching one object per word is counting.
How to teach counting in different languages at home
Five to ten minutes a day is enough. Mix screen play with hands-on counting.
- Kitchen counting: count spoons, rotis or peas into a bowl in the language of the week.
- Stair steps: count each step going up in Hindi and coming down in English, or any other pair.
- Market maths: at the fruit stall, count bananas in the language your child picked in How many?
- Clap and count: press Count with me and clap once for each number as the card lights up.
- Grandparent numbers: ask a grandparent to count in their language, maybe Bengali, Telugu or Punjabi, and find the same language in the picker.
Many Indian languages share number roots with Hindi. Once your child knows ek, do, teen, point out how similar Marathi, Gujarati and Punjabi sound. Spotting patterns like this is a real thinking skill.
Interesting facts about numbers around the world
- The digits 0 to 9 used across most of the world grew from number signs developed in ancient India, which is why they are often called Hindu-Arabic numerals.
- Chinese, Japanese and Korean count to ten with short, one-syllable words, which makes them fun to chant.
- French 70, 80 and 90 are built from smaller numbers (80 is "four twenties"), a fun fact for older children.
- Hindi numbers from 11 to 99 each have their own word, which is why counting 1 to 100 takes more practice in Hindi than in English.
Keep it calm, kind and inclusive
Praise effort: "You counted to five in Spanish!" If your child gets frustrated, return to the home language and count real objects together. For children with speech delay, let them tap and listen rather than say the words; understanding comes before speaking. Autistic children often enjoy the steady rhythm of Count with me and may want to hear it many times, which is fine. In bilingual homes, counting in both home languages side by side is valuable. Keep screen sessions short, sit together and talk about what you hear. For toddlers under 2, counting real toys with a grown-up is better than any screen.
When your child is confident, practise before and after numbers or simple addition for kids. Everything here is free, with no sign-up, no ads and no tracking, and works in any browser.
How to use this page at home
Say it, then find it
Play for a few minutes, then look for the same thing away from the screen: counting in different languages on the shelf, in the kitchen, on the way to school. A child learns a word properly when they meet it twice, once on the screen and once in their hand.
Ten minutes is enough
Short and happy beats long and tired. Stop while your child still wants more, and come back tomorrow: the same page on five short days teaches far more than one long sitting. Nothing here is scored, so there is no reason to push.
Use both languages
Tap the language button at the top to hear the words in your home language first and the second language after. Hearing the same picture named in two languages is one of the few things research agrees builds attention as well as vocabulary.
