Learning to speak mathematically at the Japanese supplementary school in Sweden
Résumé
Natural language is known to play a crucial and specific role for children in school mathematics. It
not only carries a special vocabulary but also subtle differences between natural languages that may
lead to surprising challenges for learners who are not simply taught mathematics in their mother
tongue. In this paper, we shall consider some cases from the teaching of mathematics at Japanese
schools abroad, while following at the same time a regular school in the local language (in this case,
Swedish). In turns out that Japanese teachers spontaneously emphasise certain subtle particularities,
not only in how mathematical symbols are “read out” in natural language, but also in the terminology
required to explain crucial techniques – a terminology which may have no equivalent in their pupils’
regular school experience or, indeed, in daily life Japanese.
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