I can’t calculate in any other language than German. Counting is OK but if I see some multipliers or alike, I first translate the numbers in German, do the calculation and translate the result back in the original language. After doing this for a few years, I got pretty fast in English and French.
Anyway, tonight in the Spanish class: numbers and calculations. Only that the teacher hadn’t heard of the good old Punkt- vor Strichrechnung; or as the English say: Parentheses / Exponents / Multiplication & Division / Addition & Subtraction (P=please, e=excuse, m=my, d=dear, a=aunt, s=sally)*. Trying to explain that a mathematical rule doesn’t depend on el idioma was quite tough; I’m not quite sure that prioridad de operación did the trick. In the end, Ana-Maria is right, she always is, but I would have liked to give a proper explaination. Quand même…
*A very beautiful expample of mnenomic or “donkey bridge” as the Germans say.
La puce, die Welt and everything else 