Numerous research studies over the past five years indicate that a high percentage of college students have severe deficiencies in their ability to use mathematics as a language for representing simple quantitative relationships. In the United States these problems are nearly as common among students with strong computational skills in algebra and calculus as among those with very limited mathematical preparations. Several specific difficulties seem to stem from differences between the structure of mathematics and that of English. Data are presented from a quiz admininstered in four countries: Japan, Israel, Fiji, and the United States. Additional information is provided on China, Great Britain, and Nigeria. Although Japanese and Chinese students far out perform those from other countries there are certain common features across all groups which suggest that the oriental strength stems from education rather than culture or language. (Author)