私：日本語は思ったよりやさしいのではありませんか。
エミー：ええ、でも数え方がなかなか覚えられなくて、四苦八苦しています。
Shiku-hakku suru
Watashi: Nihongo wa omotta yori yasashii no de wa arimasen fea.
Emii: Ee, demo kazoekata ga nakanaka oboerarenakute, shiku-hakku shite imasu.
Me: Isn't Japanese easier than you'd thought it would be?
Emi: Yes, but I'm having quite a lot of difficulty remembering how to count.
* * *
Shiku-hakku suru means to have difficulty, to be in dire distress or agony, to be under strain, to "sweat blood." The word is of Buddhist origin; according to Buddhist teaching, humans are destined to suffer eight (ha) different forms of pain or turmoil. Of these eight, the most representative four are sei, ro, byo and shi (life, old age, sickness and death). No matter what age or country, these are indeed things all must endure.
Emi is from England and says that she has trouble with Japanese because, compared with English, the number of counters is bewildering. Emii wa, nihongo no benkyoo ni shiku-hakku shite imasu (Emi is having difficulties learning Japanese).
On the other hand, Jo-san from China says, "Compared to Chinese, the number of counters in Japanese is quite limited." Not only is Japanese easy for Jo-san because he can already read many of the kanji used in Japanese, but also because many Japanese words have many points in common with Chinese words.
Emii no yoo ni shiku-hakku shinakute sumu (He can get by without having to struggle and toil like Emi).
Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, Malay-all are languages well-known for having a host of 'counters' (josushi), Japanese is not the only language that doesn't distinguish between singular and plural forms. Even in English there are no single words representing the singular and plural of 'paper'--one must say ichimai no kami (one piece of paper) and nimai no kami (two pieces of paper).
When I was in junior high korera wo oboeru noni, shiku-hakku shita no desu (I 'sweat blood' trying to learn these forms). There's probably a close connection between the way a language deals with singular and plural forms and the number of counters it has.
Many counters in Japanese are derived from Chinese. A list of Japanese counters shows that of the 107, 70 percent are from Chinese. The counters one must teach beginning students of Japanese are those to do with people (hitori, futari, sannin), smaller animals, including fish (ippiki, nihiki, sambiki), long things, like ties, pens, film, trees (ippon, nihon, sambon), things in general, like cups, apples, stones (ikko, niko, sanko), books in general (issatsu, nisatsu, sansatsu), flat things, like plates, papers, towels (ichimai, nimai, sammai), and machines, likes vehicles, cameras, elevators (ichidai, nidai, sandai).
All of these are from Chinese. No wonder Jo-san had an easy time learning them. Korera wo oboeru noni, shiku-hakku shinakutemo ii (There's no need to 'sweat blood' over learning these).
As you can imagine, ryugakusei ni kazoekata wo oshieru noni watashi ga shiku-hakku shite iru'n desu (it's quite a strain for me to teach foreign students how to count in Japanese).