Every measure we have shows that Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese students achieve at a higher level than American students, beginning in first grade. Now, Ian Thompson, a lecturer at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in England, offers a new and intriguing explanation of the achievement gap. Thus, we understand the difference between 46 and 64, even though the individual numbers are the same, because of the concept of place value. According to Thompson, the number words in Chinese and Japanese are logical and regular. Counting from one to ten proceeds as it does in English.
Place value is just as clear in the words as it is in the numbers themselves.
The words 'eleven' and 'twelve' give no hint of the fact that they mean ten and one and ten and two. And he stresses the extreme regularity of comparable words in Asian languages. In English, we use three different words to mean ten. The word ten is used only once. The suffix 'teen' signifies ten in the numbers from 13 to 19, and then 'ty' abruptly takes its place.