- Contrary to what we may assume, numbers are not innate to human beings and there are a lot of cultures that are anumeric. There are quite a few anumeric languages as well. - It's interesting to observe these cultures and understand how they view the world. It teaches us something about how children learn numbers. Most children learn numbers like letters first. They recognise that there is a sequence but it takes time before they understand that a number represents a quantity. --- Numbers do not exist in all cultures. There are numberless hunter-gatherers embedded deep in Amazonia, living along branches of the world’s largest river tree. Instead of using words for precise quantities, these people rely exclusively on terms analogous to “a few” or “some.” Cultures without numbers, or with only one or two precise numbers, include the Munduruku and Pirahã in Amazonia. Researchers have also studied some adults in Nicaragua who were never taught number words. In fact, acquiring the exact meaning of number words is a painstaking process that takes children years. Initially, kids learn numbers much like they learn letters. They recognize that numbers are organized sequentially, but have little awareness of what each individual number means. With time, they start to understand that a given number represents a quantity greater by one than the preceding number. This “successor principle” is part of the foundation of our numerical cognition, but requires extensive practice to understand. - [Link](https://getpocket.com/explore/item/anumeric-people-what-happens-when-a-language-has-no-words-for-numbers)