This is a list of notable people with a knowledge of six or more languages.
Deceased
editAntiquity and Middle Ages
edit- Mithridates VI (135–63 BC), King of Pontus. According to Pliny the Elder, Mithridates could speak the languages of all of the twenty-two nations that he ruled.[1]
- Cleopatra (69–30 BC), Queen of Egypt. According to Plutarch, Cleopatra spoke many languages in addition to her native language, Greek, including Latin, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Trogodyte, and the languages of the Hebraioi, Arabes, Syrians, Medes, and Parthians.[2]
- Al-Farabi (870–950), Islamic philosopher. He was reputed to know seventy languages.[3]
- Frederick II (1194–1250), King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor. He knew Italian, French, Latin, Greek, German, and Arabic.[4]
Modern age, pre-18th century
edit- Mehmed II (1432–1481), Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. In addition to his native language, Turkish, he learnt Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Latin, and Greek.[5]
- Elizabeth I (1533–1603), Queen of England and Ireland. She is thought to have known English, Welsh, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, and some German.[6]
- Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680), German Jesuit scholar. He was said to know twelve languages.[7]
- John Milton (1608–1674), English poet. He knew English, Italian, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and to a lesser extent Dutch, French, Spanish, Aramaic, and Syriac.[8]
- Wojciech Bobowski (1610–1675), Polish musician held captive by the Ottoman Empire. He is said to have known Polish, English, German, French, Italian, Latin, Ancient Greek, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Turkish.[9]
- Dimitrie Cantemir (1673–1723), Prince of Moldavia. He spoke Moldavian/Romanian, Italian, Latin, Modern Greek, Russian, Persian, Arabic, and Ottoman Turkish, and had an understanding of French, Ancient Greek, and Old Church Slavonic.[10]
18th century
edit- Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States. He spoke English, French, Italian, and Latin, and could read Spanish and Greek. He may also have had some knowledge of German.[11]
- William Jones (1746–1794), British philologist and jurist. He knew twenty-eight languages to varying degrees: English, Dutch, German, Swedish, Welsh, Russian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Pali, Hindi, Bengali, Persian, Middle Persian, Zoroastrian Dari, Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, Geʽez, Coptic, Turkish, Chinese, Tibetan, and the various forms of early Germanic preserved in runic inscriptions.[12]
- Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti (1774–1849), Italian cardinal. One of his contemporaries recorded that he knew seventy-two languages to varying degrees; another calculated that he knew sixty or sixty-one.[13] Both agreed that there were thirty languages that he had fully mastered: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Latin, English, Dutch, Flemish, German, Danish, Swedish, Russian, Polish, Czech, Illyrian, Greek, Romaic, Albanian, Ancient Armenian, Modern Armenian, Persian, Hungarian, Turkish, Hebrew, Rabbinical Hebrew, Arabic, Maltese, Aramaic, Coptic, and Chinese.[14]
- Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855), German mathematician. He wrote in Latin[15] and could read Greek.[16] In addition to his native language, German, he knew a number of modern European languages. At the age of sixty-two, he began studying Russian and mastered it within two years.[15]
- Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832), French Egyptologist. He knew Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Amharic, and Coptic.[17]
- Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (1800–1891), Prussian field marshal. He knew seven languages, but was habitually taciturn, so that he was said to be "silent in seven languages".[18] Among the languages he knew were German, English, Danish, French, Italian, and Turkish.[19]
19th century
edit- William Rowan Hamilton (1805–1865), Irish mathematician. Encouraged by his uncle, he learnt many languages while still young, including Latin, Greek, Hindustani, Bengali, Marathi, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Malay.[20]
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882), American poet. He knew Latin,[21] Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.[22] He also had some knowledge of Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Finnish.[23]
- Jan Prosper Witkiewicz (1808–1839), Polish-Lithuanian explorer and diplomat. He spoke Polish, Russian, English, German, French, Persian, Pashto, Kazakh, and Chagatai Turkish.[24][25]
- Solomon Caesar Malan (1812–1894), British clergyman. He was conversant with around eighty languages, including German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, and Tibetan.[26]
- Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), Prussian statesman. In addition to his native language, German, he spoke English and French, and to a lesser extent Italian, Russian, Polish, and Plattdeutsch. He also had some knowledge of Latin.[27]
- Herschell Filipowski (1816–1872), Lithuanian-born British actuary and editor. He was conversant with Polish, Russian, German, English, French, Spanish, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, and Chinese.[28]
- C. V. Runganada Sastri (1819–1881), Indian civil servant. The Dictionary of Indian Biography states that he knew English, German, French, Latin, Greek, Persian, Sanskrit, Hindustani, Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Arabic, and some Hebrew.[29] Other sources suggest he also knew Italian.[30]
- Friedrich Engels (1820–1895), German political theorist. He knew many European languages, including German, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Russian, Polish, and Irish.[31]
- Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890), British explorer and writer. He knew twenty-nine languages and eleven dialects, including Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, Provençal, Béarnais, Persian, Sanskrit, Hindustani, Gujarati, Punjabi, Sindhi, Marathi, Telugu, Toda, Arabic, Somali, and Swahili.[32]
- Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890), German businessman and archaeologist. He knew eighteen languages, including German, Dutch, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian.[33]
- Pedro II (1825–1891), last emperor of Brazil. He spoke Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Latin, German, Hebrew, and Tupi-Guarani, and could read Provençal, Greek, Sanskrit, and Arabic.[34]
- Pashko Vasa (1825–1892), Albanian writer. He spoke Albanian, Italian, French, Greek, and Turkish. He also knew some English and Serbo-Croatian, and in his later years learnt Arabic.[35]
- Georg Sauerwein (1831–1904), German translator and private tutor. He spoke and wrote twenty-six languages.[36]
- Pétrus Ký (1837–1898), Vietnamese scholar. He spoke eight languages and had reasonable competence in several others.[37]
- James Murray (1837–1915), Scottish lexicographer. He was familiar with a wide range of languages and dialects, including Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Catalan, Provençal, Vaudois, Anglo-Saxon, Mœso-Gothic, German, Dutch, Flemish, Danish, Russian, Persian, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Syriac, Aramaic, Phoenician, and Coptic.[38]
- Naim Frashëri (1846–1900), Albanian writer. He wrote in Albanian, Greek, Persian, and Turkish. He also knew French, Italian, and Arabic.[39][40]
- Sami Frashëri (1850–1904), Albanian writer. He knew Albanian, Greek, French, Italian, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish.[40]
- Eduardo Toda y Güell (1852–1941), Spanish diplomat. He spoke seven languages.[41]
- Emilio Kosterlitzky (1853–1928), Russian-born Mexican soldier. He spoke Russian, Polish, Spanish, French, Italian, English, German, Danish, and Swedish.[42]
- Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891), French poet. He spoke and wrote five European languages: French, Italian, Spanish, English, and German.[43] He also knew Arabic, Amharic, Harari, Oromo, and Somali, and may have had some knowledge of Argobba, Tigrinya, and a now-extinct language named Kotou.[44]
- Robert Dick Wilson (1856–1930), American Bible scholar. He learnt twenty-six languages and dialects, including Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Arabic.[45]
- Nikola Tesla (1856–1943), Serbian-American inventor. He spoke eight languages,[46] including Serbo-Croatian, English, German, French, and Italian.[47]
- L. L. Zamenhof (1859–1917), creator of Esperanto. He spoke Russian, Polish, Yiddish, German, and French natively or at a native level. He also spoke English, but not well. He knew four classical languages, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, and two constructed languages, Volapük and Esperanto, and may have had some knowledge of Italian and Lithuanian.[48]
- José Rizal (1861–1896), Filipino writer and nationalist. He spoke or could read Tagalog, Visayan, Ilocano, Cebuano, Subanen, Malay, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Catalan, Latin, English, Dutch, German, Swedish, Russian, Greek, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese, and Chinese.[49]
- Emil Krebs (1867–1930), German diplomat. By the time he left school, he could speak twelve languages. In 1914, he calculated that he could translate to and from German in thirty-two languages. Later he was said to know sixty or sixty-five languages, including English, Dutch, Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Catalan, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Irish, Greek, Albanian, Armenian, Persian, Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Georgian, Basque, Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, Assyrian, Babylonian, Sumerian, Coptic, Swahili, Turkish, Tatar, Mongolian, Manchu, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese, Thai, Malay, and Javanese.[50]
- Minakata Kumagusu (1867–1941), Japanese scholar. He could read eighteen or nineteen languages, including Latin, Greek, Persian, and Arabic.[51]
- Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı (1869–1949), Turkish politician. He knew Turkish, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Albanian, Armenian, Persian, Arabic, and Hebrew.[52][53]
- Ahatanhel Krymsky (1871–1942), Ukrainian scholar. At the age of twenty-five, he was proficient in seventeen languages.[54]
- Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950), Indian philosopher. He could speak, read, and write Bengali, English, and French; read and write Sanskrit, Latin, and Greek; speak and read Gujarati, Marathi, and Hindi; and read German, Italian, and Spanish.[55]
- Harold Williams (1876–1928), New Zealand journalist. He knew more than forty languages,[56][57] including Maori, Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Ilocano,[58] Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Old Church Slavonic, Lithuanian, Latvian, Greek, Armenian, Persian, Sanskrit, Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Georgian, Turkish, Tatar, Buryat, Japanese, and Chinese.[56][57]
- Hrachia Acharian (1876–1953), Armenian linguist. Among the languages he knew were Armenian, Greek, English, German, French, Italian, Latin, Persian, Sanskrit, Hebrew, and Laz.[59]
- Martin Buber (1878–1965), Austrian philosopher. He spoke German, Yiddish, English, French, Italian, Polish, and Hebrew, and could read Dutch, Spanish, Latin, and Greek.[60]
- Ho Chi Minh (1890–1969), Vietnamese statesman. In addition to his native language, Vietnamese, he knew French, English, Russian, Cantonese, and Mandarin.[61]
- Ahmad Kasravi (1890–1946), Iranian scholar. He knew Persian, Middle Persian, Armenian, English, Arabic, and Esperanto.[62]
- Edmund Wilson (1895–1972), American literary critic. He studied French and Italian at university, and later learnt to read German, Russian, Hebrew, and some Hungarian.[63]
- Roman Jakobson (1896–1982), Russian linguist. He knew around twenty languages, including Russian, Czech, Bulgarian, French, and German.[64]
- William James Sidis (1898–1944), American child prodigy. He knew English, German, Russian, French, Latin, Greek, Armenian, and Turkish.[65]
20th century
edit1900s
edit- Sukarno (1901–1970), Indonesian politician. He spoke Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, Indonesian, Dutch, German, English, French, Arabic, and Japanese.[66]
- Steven Runciman (1903–2000), British historian. He began learning French, Latin, Greek, and Russian at a young age,[67][68] and later learnt Bulgarian, Old Church Slavonic, Armenian, and some Turkish.[69][70] He may also have had some knowledge of Arabic and a number of other languages.[71][72]
- John von Neumann (1903–1957), Hungarian mathematician. He spoke Hungarian, English, German, and French, and also knew Latin and Greek.[73]
- Syed Mujtaba Ali (1904–1974), Bangladeshi writer. He knew Bengali, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Sanskrit, Persian, Pashto, English, German, French, Italian, and Arabic.[74]
- Pent Nurmekund (1906–1996), Estonian linguist. He could read over eighty languages and could speak a great many of them.[75]
- H. S. David (1907–1981) Sri Lankan priest. He reportedly knew thirty-three languages: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Tulu, Kui, Brahui, Sinhalese, Hindi, Vedic, Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali, Avestan, English, Dutch, German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Latin, Greek, Lithuanian, Russian, Malay, Arabic, Hebrew, Assyrian, and Sumerian.[76]
- Muhammad Hamidullah (1908–2002), stateless scholar. He knew ten languages and published works in seven of them (Urdu, Persian, English, German, French, Arabic, and Turkish).[77]
- João Guimarães Rosa (1908–1967), Brazilian novelist. He spoke Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, English, German, Esperanto, and some Russian, and could read with the aid of a dictionary Swedish, Dutch, Latin, and Greek. He studied the grammar of a number of other languages, including Sanskrit, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hungarian, Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese, and Tupi.[78]
- Kató Lomb (1909–2003), Hungarian interpreter. She spoke Hungarian, Russian, German, English, and French, and to a lesser extent Spanish, Italian, Polish, Japanese, and Chinese. She could also translate from Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Ukrainian, Czech, Bulgarian, Romanian, Portuguese, and Latin.[79][80]
- Uku Masing (1909–1985), Estonian scholar. He reputedly knew around sixty-five languages.[81]
1910s
edit- Hugh Nibley (1910–2005), American scholar. He knew fourteen languages.[82]
- Lyuba Kutincheva (1910–1998), Bulgarian traveller. She spoke Bulgarian, Russian, Romanian, French, Turkish, Arabic, and Esperanto.[83]
- Enoch Powell (1912–1998), British politician and classical scholar. He spoke English, German, French, Italian, Modern Greek, and Urdu,[84] and had a reading knowledge of Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Welsh.[85] Among classical languages, he knew Ancient Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic.[85][86][87]
- George L. Campbell (1912–2004), British linguist. He spoke forty-four languages and had a working knowledge of perhaps twenty others.[88][89][90][91][92]
- Meredith Gardner (1912–2002), American linguist and codebreaker. He spoke German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Lithuanian, and Japanese, and could read Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Old High German, Middle High German, and Old Church Slavonic.[93][94]
- Willy Brandt (1913–1992), German politician. He spoke German, English, Norwegian, Swedish, French, and Italian.[95]
- Toshihiko Izutsu (1914–1993), Japanese scholar. He knew more than thirty languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Persian, Sanskrit, Pali, Hindustani, Russian, Greek, and Chinese.[96][97][98][99]
- Aziz Ahmad (1914–1978), Pakistani novelist. He spoke Urdu, Persian, English, German, French, Italian, Arabic, and Turkish.[100]
- Charles Berlitz (1914–2003), American publisher and author. He learnt to speak English, German, French, and Spanish as a child, and ultimately came to speak thirty-two languages with varying degrees of fluency.[101]
- Vernon A. Walters (1917–2002), American soldier and diplomat. He spoke English, Dutch, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian.[102]
- Nabi Bakhsh Baloch (1917–2011), Pakistani scholar. He wrote in Sindhi, Seraiki, Urdu, Balochi, Persian, English, and Arabic.[103]
- Henryk Szeryng (1918–1988), Polish violinist. He spoke Polish, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.[104]
- Omeljan Pritsak (1919–2006), Ukrainian scholar. He spoke twelve languages.[105]
- Shūichi Katō (1919–2008), Japanese scholar. He spoke Japanese, Chinese, English, German, French, and Italian.[106]
- Fazlur Rahman Malik (1919–1988), Pakistani scholar. In addition to his native language, Urdu, he knew Arabic, Persian, English, German, French, Latin, and Ancient Greek.[107]
1920s
edit- Pope John Paul II (1920–2005), former leader of the Catholic Church. In addition to his native language, Polish, he knew Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, English, and German.[108]
- Ahmad Hasan Dani (1920–2009), Pakistani archaeologist. He spoke fifteen languages, including French, Tamil, and Turkish.[109]
- Alessandro Bausani (1921–1988), Italian scholar. He had a good knowledge of as many as thirty languages,[110] including Persian, Urdu, Arabic, Turkish, Indonesian, and Basque.[111]
- P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004), Indian politician. He spoke seventeen languages, including English, German, Spanish, and French.[112]
- Max Mangold (1922–2015), Swiss linguist. He spoke almost forty languages.[113]
- Christopher Lee (1922–2015), British actor. He spoke English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish, and had some knowledge of Swedish, Russian, and Greek.[114]
- Michael Ventris (1922–1956), British architect and decipherer of Linear B. By the age of ten, he spoke English, German, Swiss German, French, and Polish. As an adult, he learnt Swedish, Danish, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Modern Greek, and some Turkish.[115]
- Stephen Wurm (1922–2001), Hungarian-born Australian linguist. "He was a genuine rapid language learner, and before he was 40, was fluent in five of the Germanic languages, five of the Romance languages, three Slavic languages, in Arabic, Swahili, Turkish, Uzbek, Mongol, Mandarin, Tok Pisin, and Police Motu, and could get by in perhaps 30 other languages—over 50 in all."[116]
- Jambuvijaya (1923–2009), Jain monk. He could read twenty-two languages, including Sanskrit, French, German, and Japanese.[117]
- Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022), former leader of the Catholic Church. In addition to his native language, German, he spoke English, Italian, French, Spanish, and Latin, and could read Ancient Greek and Biblical Hebrew.[118]
- Hans Eberstark (1929–2001), Austrian interpreter. He interpreted into English and German from Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, and Catalan. He also had some knowledge of Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Surinamese Creole, Haitian Creole, Papiamento, Yiddish, several varieties of Swiss German, Albanian, Hebrew, and Amharic.[119]
1930s
edit- Barry Farber (1930–2020), American radio host. When inducted into the army, he qualified for work in fourteen languages. He had some knowledge of twenty-five languages in total.[120]
- George Fernandes (1930–2019), Indian politician. In addition to his mother tongue, Konkani, he spoke Marathi, Hindi, Urdu, English, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Tulu. He also knew Latin.[121]
- P. B. Sreenivas (1930–2013), Indian singer. He spoke eight languages, including Kannada, Urdu, and English.[122]
- Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou (1930–1989), Iranian politician. He spoke Kurdish, Persian, English, German, French, Russian, Czech, Slovak, Turkish, Azerbaijani, and Arabic.[123]
- Jon Elia (1931–2002), Pakistani poet. He knew Urdu, Sanskrit, Persian, English, Arabic, and Hebrew.[124]
- Corazon Aquino (1933–2009), former president of the Philippines. She spoke Kapampangan, Tagalog, English, Spanish, French, and Japanese.[125][126][127]
- Kenneth L. Hale (1934–2001), American linguist. He spoke over fifty languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Irish, Polish, Basque, Turkish, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Navajo, Jemez, Hopi, Oʼodham, Wômpanâak, Ulwa, Miskitu, Warlpiri, and Lardil.[128][129][130][131][132]
- Madeleine Albright (1937–2022), former U.S. secretary of state. She spoke Czech, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Russian, English, German, and French.[133]
- Ivan Argüelles (1939–2024), American poet. He knew most of the Romance languages (including Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Provençal, and Romanian) and a number of Indic languages (Hindi, Bengali, Sinhala, and Nepali), as well as Persian, German, Russian, Arabic, and some Chinese. He also studied Latin, Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Old Scandinavian, and Old Icelandic.[134]
Post-1930s
edit- Michael Henry Heim (1943–2012), American literary translator. He knew twelve languages and translated from eight of them: Russian, Czech, Serbo-Croatian, German, Dutch, French, Romanian, and Hungarian.[135]
- John Boswell (1947–1994), American historian. He spoke or read several Scandinavian languages, Old Icelandic, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, early and modern Russian, Old Church Slavonic, Armenian, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Akkadian.[136][137]
- Daniel Kane (1948–2021), Australian linguist. He knew English, Italian, French, Spanish, Latin, Russian, Chinese, Jurchen, Khitan, and Esperanto.[138][139]
- J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016), Indian politician and actress. She spoke Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, and English.[140]
- Sergei Starostin (1953–2005), Russian linguist. He spoke Russian, Polish, English, German, and French, and could read a further thirteen Slavic languages, as well as Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit. Through his research, he had some knowledge of a wide range of other languages.[141]
- Shahab Ahmed (1966–2015), Pakistani scholar. He mastered around fifteen languages.[142]
- Moses McCormick (1981–2021), American YouTuber. He spoke around twenty languages at a basic conversational level.[143]
Living
editAfrica
edit- Peter Turkson (1948–), Ghanaian Catholic cardinal. In addition to his native language, Fante, he speaks a number of other Ghanaian languages, as well as English, French, Italian, German, and Hebrew. He also knows Latin and Greek.[144]
- Dikembe Mutombo (1966–), Congolese former basketball player. He speaks English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Tshiluba, Swahili, Lingala, and two other Central African languages.[145]
- Trevor Noah (1984–), South African comedian. He speaks English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Tsonga, and some German.[146]
Asia
edit- Lokesh Chandra (1927–), Indian scholar. He knows Sanskrit, Pali, Hindi, Avestan, Old Persian, Greek, Latin, French, German, English, Russian, Chinese, Tibetan, Mongolian, Japanese, and Indonesian.[147]
- Jeong Su-il (1934–), Chinese-born North Korean spy. He speaks Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Tagalog, Malay, Arabic, Persian, Russian, French, Spanish, German, and English.[148]
- Mickey Curtis (1938–), Japanese actor and singer. He speaks Japanese, English, German, French, Italian, and Thai.[149]
- Bartholomew (1940–), Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. He knows Turkish, Greek, English, German, French, Italian, and Latin.[150]
- Levon Ter-Petrosyan (1945–), former president of Armenia. He speaks Armenian, Russian, French, English, German, Arabic, and Assyrian. He also knows a number of ancient languages.[151][152]
- Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (1947–), former president of the Philippines. She speaks Tagalog, Kapampangan, Ilocano, Cebuano, Spanish, and English.[153]
- Malcolm Ranjith (1947–), current archbishop of Colombo. He speaks Sinhala, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Tamil, and Indonesian. He also knows Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.[154]
- Rambhadracharya (1950–), Indian religious leader. He speaks English, French, Sanskrit, Hindi, Bhojpuri, Maithili, Odia, Gujarati, Punjabi, Marathi, Magahi, Awadhi, and Braj, as well as a number of other Indic languages.[155]
- Péter Frankl (1953–), Hungarian mathematician, now living in Japan. He speaks eleven languages, including Hungarian, Japanese, Chinese, English, and French.[156]
- Kamal Haasan (1954–), Indian actor. He speaks Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, and English.[157]
- Shabnam Mausi (1955–), Indian politician. She speaks twelve languages.[158]
- Naela Chohan (1958–), Pakistani diplomat. She speaks Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Persian, English, French, and Spanish.[159]
- Prakash Raj (1965–), Indian actor. He speaks Kannada, Tulu, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi, and English.[160]
- Hikmat Hasanov (1975–), Azerbaijani military officer. He speaks Azerbaijani, Turkish, Armenian, Russian, English, and Persian.[161][162]
- Priya Anand (1986–), Indian actress. She speaks Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Spanish, and English.[163]
- Henrikh Mkhitaryan (1989–), Armenian footballer. He speaks Armenian, Russian, English, German, French, and Portuguese.[164]
Europe
edit- John C. Wells (1939–), British phonetician. He studied Latin and Ancient Greek at university, and speaks English, German, Welsh, French, Spanish, Italian, Modern Greek, and Esperanto with varying degrees of fluency. He also has some knowledge of Polish, Russian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Japanese.[165]
- Werner Herzog (1942–), German filmmaker. In addition to his native Bavarian, he knows German, English, Ancient Greek, Modern Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, and some Italian.[166][167]
- Queen Silvia of Sweden (1943–), spouse of King Carl XVI Gustaf. The daughter of a German father and a Brazilian mother, she speaks German and Portuguese natively. She also knows Spanish, French, English, and Swedish,[168] and has some knowledge of Swedish sign language.[169]
- André Rieu (1949–), Dutch violinist and conductor. He speaks Dutch, English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian.[170]
- Arsène Wenger (1949–), French football manager. He speaks French, German, English, Spanish, and Italian, and has some knowledge of Japanese.[171][172]
- Noel Malcolm (1956–), British historian. He speaks most Western and Eastern European languages.[173]
- Ranga Yogeshwar (1959–), Luxembourgish physicist and science journalist. He speaks Luxembourgish, German, English, French, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam.[174]
- Johan Vandewalle (1960–), Belgian linguist. In 1987, at the age of twenty-six, he won the Polyglot of Flanders/Babel Prize, after demonstrating communicative competence in nineteen languages (Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Kyrgyz, Persian, Russian, Swahili, Tajik, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Tuvan, Uyghur, and Uzbek).[175][176]
- Frans Timmermans (1961–), Dutch politician. He speaks Dutch, English, German, French, Italian, and Russian.[177]
- Sigrid Kaag (1961–), Dutch politician. She speaks Dutch, English, German, French, Spanish, and Arabic.[178]
- José Mourinho (1963–), Portuguese football manager. He speaks Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, Catalan, and English.[179]
- Ioannis Ikonomou (1964–), translator at the European Commission. He speaks thirty-two modern languages, including twenty-one of the twenty-four official languages of the European Union (the three exceptions being Estonian, Maltese, and Irish). Among the other languages that he speaks are Russian, Bengali, Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic, and Mandarin. He has also studied a number of ancient languages, such as Old Church Slavonic, Classical Armenian, Sanskrit, Sogdian, and Assyro-Babylonian.[180]
- Karin Kneissl (1965–), Austrian diplomat and politician. She speaks German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Arabic, and has some knowledge of Russian, Hungarian, and Hebrew.[181]
- Connie Nielsen (1965–), Danish actress. She speaks Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, English, German, French, Italian, and some Spanish.[182]
- Anatoly Moskvin (1966–), Russian linguist, arrested in 2011 after twenty-six mummified bodies were discovered in his home. He has studied thirteen languages.[183]
- Mikheil Saakashvili (1967–), former president of Georgia. He speaks Georgian, Russian, Ukrainian, English, and French,[184] and has some command of Spanish[185] and Ossetian.[186]
- Gianni Infantino (1970–), current president of FIFA. Born in Switzerland to Italian parents, he speaks Italian, French, and Swiss German natively. He also knows English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic.[187]
- Željko Joksimović (1972–), Serbian singer-songwriter. He speaks Serbian, Russian, Polish, Greek, English, and French.[188]
- Clarence Seedorf (1976–), Dutch former footballer. He speaks Dutch, English, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Surinamese.[189]
- Richard Simcott (1977–), British language consultant. He speaks sixteen languages (English, French, Spanish, Welsh, German, Macedonian, Swedish, Italian, Serbian, Portuguese, Czech, Catalan, Russian, Dutch, Romanian, and Albanian)[190] and can use around fifty languages in total to some degree.[191]
- Zdeno Chára (1977–), Slovak ice hockey player. He speaks Slovak, Czech, Polish, Russian, Swedish, German, and English.[192]
- Daniel Tammet (1979–), British author. In his book Born on a Blue Day, he states that he knows ten languages: English, German, Icelandic, French, Spanish, Romanian, Welsh, Lithuanian, Finnish, and Esperanto.[193]
- Victor Bayda (c. 1981–), Russian linguist. He speaks Russian, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Icelandic, Swedish, English, Dutch, German, and French.[194]
- Philip Crowther (1981–), Luxembourgish journalist. He speaks Luxembourgish, German, English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.[195]
- Mikel Arteta (1982–), Spanish football manager. He speaks Basque, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, French, Italian, and English.[196]
- Novak Djokovic (1987–), Serbian tennis player. He speaks Serbian, English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish.[197][198]
- Ivan Rakitić (1988–), Croatian footballer. He speaks Croatian, English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish.[199]
- Miralem Pjanić (1990–), Bosnian footballer. He speaks Bosnian, Luxembourgish, German, English, French, and Italian.[200]
- Romelu Lukaku (1993–), Belgian footballer. He speaks Dutch, English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Lingala.[201]
North America
edit- Powell Janulus (1939–), Canadian court interpreter. According to the 1986 Guinness Book of World Records, he "has worked with 41 languages in the Provincial Court of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada."[202]
- Stephen Krashen (1941–), American linguist. He knows English, German, Yiddish, Spanish, French, Hebrew, and Amharic.[203]
- Steve Kaufmann (1945–), Canadian businessman. He has some understanding of twenty languages, although his ability to speak and write these languages varies to a considerable degree. Some of the languages he has studied are French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Swedish, Russian, Japanese, Mandarin, and Cantonese.[204][205]
- Viggo Mortensen (1958–), Danish-American actor. He grew up bilingual in English and Spanish, and later learnt Danish, Italian, and French. He also has some knowledge of Arabic.[206]
- Julie Payette (1963–), former governor general of Canada. She speaks French and English natively, and can converse in Spanish, Italian, Russian, and German.[207]
- Alexander Argüelles (1964–), American linguist. He speaks most of the Germanic and Romance languages (in particular, German, Dutch, Swedish, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian), as well as Russian, Korean, and Arabic, and he has a reading knowledge of many more languages, such as Persian and Old Norse.[208][209][210]
- Alberto Lati (1978–), Mexican sports journalist. He speaks Spanish, English, Hebrew, Portuguese, German, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese, French, Greek, and Zulu with varying degrees of fluency.[211]
- Timothy Doner (1995–), American analyst focusing on the Middle East. He speaks English, German, French, Persian, Arabic, and Hebrew,[212] and has some knowledge of a number of other languages, including Dutch, Yiddish, Italian, Latin, Russian, Croatian, Hindi, Pashto, Kurdish, Turkish, Indonesian, Mandarin, Hausa, Swahili, Xhosa, and Ojibwe.[212][190]
Oceania
edit- Sam Lim (1961–), Malaysian-born Australian politician. He can speak ten languages, including Malay, Indonesian, Mandarin, and Burmese.[213]
- Ghil'ad Zuckermann (1971–), Israeli linguist, now living in Australia. He can speak eleven languages, and has some knowledge of eleven more.[214]
South America
edit- Pope Francis (1936–), current leader of the Catholic Church. Born in Argentina and of Italian descent, he speaks Spanish and Italian natively. In addition, he knows Latin, and can converse in German, French, Portuguese, and English.[215]
- Ziad Fazah (1954–), Liberian-born Lebanese language teacher, now living in Brazil. He is famous for claiming to speak more than fifty languages, and for a time was listed in The Guinness Book of Records. It is unclear how many languages he can in fact speak.[216]
- Andrew Divoff (1955–), Venezuelan actor and producer. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, French, Italian, English, German, and Russian.[217] At one time he also knew Romanian, but forgot it through lack of use.[218]
- Sérgio Meira (1968–), Brazilian linguist. He speaks Portuguese, French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, English, German, and Esperanto, and to a lesser extent Catalan, Dutch, Russian, and Tiriyó.[219] He can read with a dictionary Swedish, Latin, and Greek (both classical and modern),[219] and has considerable knowledge of Volapük.[220]
References
edit- ^ Summerer, Lâtife (2009). "The Search for Mithridates: Reception of Mithridates VI between the 15th and the 20th Centuries". In Højte, Jakob Munk (ed.). Mithridates VI and the Pontic Kingdom (PDF). Aarhus: Aarhus University Press. pp. 15–34. ISBN 978-87-7934-443-3.
- ^ Roller, Duane W. (2010). Cleopatra: A Biography (PDF). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 46–48. ISBN 978-0-19-536553-5.
- ^ Landau, Rom (1959). Islam and the Arabs. New York: The Macmillan Company. p. 147.
- ^ Köhler, Walther [in German] (1903). "Emperor Frederick II., The Hohenstaufe". The American Journal of Theology. 7 (2): 225–248. doi:10.1086/478355. JSTOR 3153729.
- ^ Runciman, Steven (1965). The Fall of Constantinople 1453. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 56.
- ^ "Queen Elizabeth I: facts and myths". Royal Museums Greenwich. Archived from the original on 2 March 2021.
- ^ Findlen, Paula, ed. (2004). Athanasius Kircher: The Last Man Who Knew Everything (PDF). New York & London: Routledge. p. 19. ISBN 0-415-94016-8.
- ^ Fowler, Alastair (1998). "Review: Milton's Languages: The Impact of Multilingualism on Style, by John K. Hale". Translation and Literature. 7 (2): 231–237. doi:10.3366/tal.1998.7.2.231.
- ^ Kępa, Marek (25 April 2019). "Wojciech Bobowski: The Pole Who Bridged the East & West". Culture.pl. Archived from the original on 10 January 2023.
- ^ Leezenberg, Michiel (2013). "The Oriental Origins of Orientalism: The Case of Dimitrie Cantemir". In Bod, Rens; Maat, Jaap; Weststeijn, Thijs (eds.). The Making of the Humanities: Volume II: From Early Modern to Modern Disciplines. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp. 243–264. doi:10.1515/9789048517336-013. hdl:11245/1.378634. ISBN 9789048517336. S2CID 163949301.
- ^ "Languages Jefferson Spoke or Read". Monticello.org. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022.
- ^ Edgerton, Franklin (1946). "Sir William Jones: 1746–1794". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 66 (3): 230–239. JSTOR 595570. (The source refers to Middle Persian as Pahlavi, Zoroastrian Dari as Deri/Gabri/Gebri, Geʽez as Ethiopic, Tibetan as Tibetian, and the various forms of early Germanic as Runick.)
- ^ Erard, Michael (26 June 2012). "The Polyglot of Bologna". The Public Domain Review.
- ^ Erard, Michael (2012). Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners. New York: Free Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-4516-2825-8. (The source refers to Aramaic as Chaldean.)
- ^ a b Dunnington, G. Waldo (2004). Carl Friedrich Gauss: Titan of Science. Washington, D.C.: Mathematical Association of America. pp. 237–239. ISBN 0-88385-547-X.
- ^ Dunnington, G. Waldo (2004). Carl Friedrich Gauss: Titan of Science. Washington, D.C.: Mathematical Association of America. pp. 310–311. ISBN 0-88385-547-X.
- ^ Acocella, Joan (22 November 2021). "How the Rosetta Stone Yielded Its Secrets". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 24 November 2021. (The source refers to Aramaic as Chaldean.)
- ^ Wilkinson, Henry Spenser (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 677–681.
- ^ Poten, Bernhard von (1906). "Moltke, Helmuth Graf von". In Liliencron, Rochus von (ed.). Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German). Vol. 52. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. pp. 447–458.
- ^ Bruno, Leonard C. (1999). Math and Mathematicians: The History of Math Discoveries around the World (Volume 1: A–H). Farmington Hills, Michigan: UXL. p. 208. ISBN 0-7876-3813-7. (The source refers to Aramaic as Chaldee.)
- ^ Arvin, Newton (1963). Longfellow: His Life and Work. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 11.
- ^ Arvin, Newton (1963). Longfellow: His Life and Work. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 25.
- ^ Sullivan, Wilson (1972). New England Men of Letters. New York: The Macmillan Company. p. 189.
- ^ Kamalakaran, Ajay (3 December 2016). "How a Russian spy outfoxed the British in 19th century Afghanistan". Russia Beyond The Headlines. Archived from the original on 16 May 2017.
- ^ Dalrymple, William (2013). Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839–42. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-307-95828-0.
- ^ Simpson, R. S. (2004). "Malan, Solomon Caesar [formerly César Jean Salomon] (1812–1894)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17854. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Lowe, Charles (1885). Prince Bismarck: An Historical Biography (Volume II: The German Empire). London: Cassell & Company. pp. 538–540.
- ^ Morais, Henry Samuels (1880). Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century: A Series of Biographical Sketches. Philadelphia: Edward Stern & Co. p. 74.
- ^ Buckland, C. E. (1906). Dictionary of Indian Biography. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co. p. 375. (The source refers to Marathi as Mahratti and to Kannada as Canarese.)
- ^ "The 'most enlightened Indian' and a polymath unrivalled". Press Institute of India. 24 June 2023. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024.
- ^ Lafargue, Paul (15 August 1905). "Personal Recollections of Engels". The Social Democrat. 9 (8): 483–488. Archived from the original on 21 November 2022.
- ^ Erard, Michael (2012). Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners. New York: Free Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-4516-2825-8.
- ^ Jahn, Jürgen (1979). "A Self-Motivated and Self-Directed Second Language Learner: Heinrich Schliemann". The Modern Language Journal. 63 (5/6): 273–276. doi:10.2307/324234. JSTOR 324234.
- ^ Romanelli, Sergio; Mafra, Adriano; de Souza, Rosane (2012). "D. Pedro II tradutor: análise do processo criativo" (PDF). Cadernos de Tradução (in Portuguese). 2 (30): 101–118. doi:10.5007/2175-7968.2012v2n30p101.
- ^ Elsie, Robert. "Pashko VASA". Albanianliterature.net. Archived from the original on 13 September 2016.
- ^ Erard, Michael (2012). Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners. New York: Free Press. pp. 73–74. ISBN 978-1-4516-2825-8.
- ^ Osborne, Milton E. (1970). "Truong Vinh Ky and Phan Thanh Gian: The Problem of a Nationalist Interpretation of 19th Century Vietnamese History". The Journal of Asian Studies. 30 (1): 81–93. doi:10.2307/2942724. JSTOR 2942724. S2CID 162810338.
- ^ Winchester, Simon (2003). The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 72–73. ISBN 0-19-860702-4.
- ^ Elsie, Robert. "Naim FRASHËRI". Albanianliterature.net. Archived from the original on 31 July 2016.
- ^ a b Uslu, Günay (2017). Homer, Troy and the Turks: Heritage and Identity in the Late Ottoman Empire, 1870–1915 (PDF). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. p. 101. doi:10.5117/9789462982697. ISBN 978-94-6298-269-7. JSTOR j.ctt1zkjxv2.
- ^ "El mundo de Eduardo Toda". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 20 June 2020. Archived from the original on 9 February 2022.
- ^ Truett, Samuel; Young, Elliott, eds. (2004). Continental Crossroads: Remapping U.S.-Mexico Borderlands History. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. p. 245. ISBN 0-8223-3389-9.
- ^ Robb, Graham (2000). Rimbaud. New York: W.W. Norton. p. 290. ISBN 0-393-04955-8.
- ^ Robb, Graham (2000). Rimbaud. New York: W.W. Norton. pp. 339–340. ISBN 0-393-04955-8.
- ^ Nicks, Brian (2008). "Life and Work of Robert Dick Wilson" (PDF). The Master's Seminary Journal. 19 (1): 91–106.
- ^ O'Neill, John J. (2008). Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla. Kempton, Illinois: Adventures Unlimited Press. p. 282. ISBN 978-1-931882-85-9.
- ^ O'Neill, John J. (2008). Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla. Kempton, Illinois: Adventures Unlimited Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-931882-85-9.
- ^ Kiselman, Christer [in Esperanto] (2008). "Esperanto: Its Origins and Early History" (PDF). In Pelczar, Andrzej (ed.). Prace Komisji Spraw Europejskich. Vol. 2. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umiejętności. pp. 39–56.
- ^ Ocampo, Estaban A. de (1962). "Dr. Jose Rizal, Father of Filipino Nationalism". Journal of Southeast Asian History. 3 (1): 44–55. doi:10.1017/S0217781100000545. JSTOR 20067366. (The source refers to Subanen as Subano and to Malay as Malayan.)
- ^ Erard, Michael (2012). Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners. New York: Free Press. pp. 149–151. ISBN 978-1-4516-2825-8.
- ^ Blacker, Carmen (1983). "Minakata Kumagusu: A Neglected Japanese Genius". Folklore. 94 (2): 139–152. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1983.9716272. JSTOR 1260487.
- ^ Özoğlu, Hakan (2011). From Caliphate to Secular State: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic (PDF). Santa Barbara, California: Praeger. p. 48. ISBN 9780313379567.
- ^ Heper, Metin; Criss, Nur Bilge (2009). Historical Dictionary of Turkey (PDF) (3rd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-8108-6065-0.
- ^ Ostash, Ihor (2020). "'Beirut Stories' by Ahatanhel Krymsky: For the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of the Prominent Ukrainian Orientalist" (PDF). Diplomatic Ukraine. XXI: 289–298. doi:10.37837/2707-7683-2020-16. S2CID 235013947.
- ^ Heehs, Peter (2008). The Lives of Sri Aurobindo. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-231-14098-0.
- ^ a b Pares, Bernard (1929). "Harold Williams". The Slavonic and East European Review. 7 (20): 327–333. JSTOR 4202278.
- ^ a b Borman, Arkady (1969). "Harold Williams: A British Journalist and Linguist in Russia". The Russian Review. 28 (3): 327–337. JSTOR 127399.
- ^ Charlotte, Alston (2004). Russian Liberalism and British Journalism: The Life and Work of Harold Williams (1876–1928) (PDF). Doctoral thesis. University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 August 2016.
- ^ Աճառյան Հրաչյա. Encyclopedia.am (in Armenian). Archived from the original on 18 May 2011.
- ^ Friedman, Maurice (1981). Martin Buber's Life and Work: The Early Years, 1878–1923. New York: E. P. Dutton. p. 8. ISBN 0-525-15325-X.
- ^ Duiker, William J. (2000). Ho Chi Minh: A Life. New York: Hyperion. pp. 4, 142, 628. ISBN 0-7868-6387-0.
- ^ Melville, Charles, ed. (2012). A History of Persian Literature: Volume X: Persian Historiography (PDF). London & New York: I. B. Tauris. p. 384. ISBN 978-1-84511-911-9. (The source refers to Middle Persian as Pahlavi.)
- ^ Menand, Louis (8 August 2005). "Missionary". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016.
- ^ Frank, Joseph (1990). Through the Russian Prism: Essays on Literature and Culture (PDF). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 3. ISBN 0-691-06821-6.
- ^ Sperling, A. P. (1947). Psychology for the Millions. New York: Frederick Fell. p. 332.
- ^ Ludwig, Arnold M. (2002). King of the Mountain: The Nature of Political Leadership. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. p. 150. ISBN 0-8131-2233-3.
- ^ Clive, Nigel (3 November 2000). "Obituary: Sir Steven Runciman". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014.
Indeed, an academic career was foreshadowed by his precocious ability to read French at three, Latin at six, Greek at seven and Russian at 11.
- ^ "Sir Steven Runciman". The Telegraph. 2 November 2000. Archived from the original on 11 September 2014.
Steven could read Latin and Greek by the time he was six.
- ^ Malcolm, Noel (5 October 2016). ""I have the temperament of a harlot": on the life of Steven Runciman". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016.
…learning Russian, Bulgarian, Old Church Slavonic and Armenian in order to do so.
- ^ Bryer, Anthony (2003). "James Cochran Stevenson Runciman 1903–2000" (PDF). In Marshall, P. J. (ed.). Proceedings of the British Academy: Volume 120: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows II. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 365–381. ISBN 0-19-726302-X. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 July 2020.
SR's next virtue was a skill with languages, begun early with Latin and Greek. Slavonic brought him Bury's respect—SR's mother had engaged the future Mrs Arthur Waley to teach him Russian as early as 1915. He taught himself Armenian for Lecapenus. His lectures in French were acclaimed in Belgium. He spoke basic Turkish with Rudolph Nureyev but wisely examined his students in Istanbul through an interpreter. He avoided Hungarian, but gave his last speech, on Mount Athos, in Greek katharevousa.
- ^ Constable, Giles (2003). "Sir Steven Runciman". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 147 (1): 95–101. JSTOR 1558132.
He was familiar with the sources not only in Latin and Greek but also in Arabic, Armenian, Russian, and the Balkan languages.
- ^ "The library of Sir Steven Runciman". University of St Andrews. May 2005. Archived from the original on 11 April 2017.
The collection also reflects Runciman's wide linguistic abilities: only around half is written in English, with French, Greek, Bulgarian, Latin and German being the main other source languages, and there are materials in a wide variety of other languages from Italian and Romanian to Armenian and Arabic.
- ^ Ulam, S. (1958). "John von Neumann 1903–1957" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. 64 (3): 1–49. doi:10.1090/S0002-9904-1958-10189-5.
- ^ "A Man of Many Hues". The Daily Star. 11 February 2014. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014.
- ^ Gethin, Amorey; Gunnemark, Erik V. (1996). The Art and Science of Learning Languages. Oxford: Intellect Books. p. 318. ISBN 1-871516-48-X.
- ^ Rajendra, J. C. N.; Mukunthan, T. "A Brilliant Scholar". Academia.edu.
- ^ Parekh, Rauf (14 December 2009). "Dr Hamidullah: a silent soldier, rare scholar". Dawn. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
- ^ "Entrevista: João Guimarães Rosa por Lenice Guimarães de Paula Pitanguy". Germina: Revista De Literatura & Arte (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 23 October 2006.
- ^ Lomb, Kató (2008). Polyglot: How I Learn Languages (PDF). Berkeley & Kyoto: TESL-EJ Publications. p. xvii. ISBN 978-1-60643-706-3.
- ^ Lomb, Kató (2018). Harmony of Babel: Profiles of Famous Polyglots of Europe (PDF). Berkeley & Kyoto: TESL-EJ Publications. pp. 149–150. ISBN 978-1-5323-6611-6.
- ^ "Uku Masing - Writer, theologian, philologist". Eesti Välisministeerium. 14 August 2003. Archived from the original on 24 October 2003.
- ^ Oliver, Myrna (2 March 2005). "Hugh Nibley, 94; Mormon Scholar, Professor and Author". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 5 September 2020.
- ^ Борисов, Теодор (23 April 2020). "Мистериозната авантюристка Люба Кутинчева". Българска история (in Bulgarian). Archived from the original on 29 May 2022.
- ^ Heffer, Simon (1999). Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell. London: Phoenix. p. 140. ISBN 0-75380-820-X.
- ^ a b Heffer, Simon (1999). Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell. London: Phoenix. pp. 581–582. ISBN 0-75380-820-X.
- ^ "Enoch Powell: John Enoch Powell, political maverick, died on February 8th, aged 85". The Economist. 12 February 1998. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023.
He added systematically to his store of languages, among them Hebrew, which he learnt at 70 to help his studies of the Bible.
- ^ Cosgrave, Patrick (9 February 1998). "Obituary: Enoch Powell". The Independent. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009.
His Aramaic, his Greek and his Hebrew all came into play here.
- ^ Holley, Joe (20 December 2004). "George Campbell Dies; Spoke 44 Languages". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 26 July 2008.
- ^ Holley, Joe (21 December 2004). "George Campbell, fluent in 44 languages". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 3 December 2021.
- ^ Holley, Joe (21 December 2004). "George L. Campbell, 92; Fluent in More Than 40 Languages". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022.
- ^ "George Campbell, linguist". The Scotsman. 21 December 2004. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022.
- ^ "George Campbell". The Herald. 27 January 2005. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021.
- ^ Barnes, Bart (21 August 2002). "Meredith K. Gardner, 89; Cracked Codes to Unmask Key Soviet Spies". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 7 August 2021.
- ^ Jackson, Harold (16 August 2002). "Obituary: Meredith Knox Gardner". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013.
- ^ "Langer Leidensweg". Der Spiegel (in German). 16 June 1974. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021.
- ^ "Japanese religion expert Toshihiko Izutsu under spotlight in "The Eastern"". Tehran Times. 10 July 2018. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018.
- ^ Muzaqqi (2016). "Semantic Approaches in Islamic Studies: The Review of Toshihiko Izutsu's Thought" (PDF). Pedagogik: Jurnal Pendidikan. 4 (1): 45–53.
- ^ "Toshihiko Izutsu: The Genius That Bridged East & West". Keio Times. 28 May 2021. Archived from the original on 17 October 2021.
- ^ Chittick, William C. (1994). Foreword. Creation and the Timeless Order of Things: Essays in Islamic Mystical Philosophy (PDF). By Toshihiko Izutsu. Ashland, Oregon: White Cloud Press. pp. vii–ix. ISBN 1-883991-04-8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 December 2022.
- ^ Parekh, Rauf (17 December 2012). "Aziz Ahmed, literary research and controversies". Dawn. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017.
- ^ McLellan, Dennis (1 January 2004). "Charles Berlitz, 90; Linguist and Author on the Paranormal". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019.
- ^ Smith, J. Y. (14 February 2002). "Gen. Vernon A. Walters". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 3 December 2019.
- ^ Parekh, Rauf (23 November 2009). "Dr Nabi Bukhsh Baloch: a nonagenarian scholar". Dawn. Archived from the original on 11 March 2014.
- ^ Wise, Brian (22 January 2018). "Violinist Henryk Szeryng Was Both an Accomplished Violinist & Diplomat". Strings. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018.
- ^ "Omeljan Pritsak, noted scholar of Ukraine, is dead at 87". Boston.com. 3 June 2006. Archived from the original on 3 December 2021.
- ^ Hassan, Ihab (1996). Between the Eagle and the Sun: Traces of Japan. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 73. ISBN 0-8173-0819-9.
- ^ Masud, Muhammad Khalid; Naqvi, Ali Raza; Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (1988). "In Memorium: Dr. Fazlur Rahman (1919–1988)". Islamic Studies. 27 (4): 390–400. JSTOR 20839922.
- ^ Celeste, Sofia (15 April 2005). "Language may be key for next pope: John Paul II's abilities set high standard". Boston.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2017.
- ^ Joffe, Lawrence (31 March 2009). "Ahmad Hasan Dani". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013.
- ^ Quinn, Sholeh (2003). "Review: Religion in Iran: From Zoroaster to Baha'ullah, by Alessandro Bausani, trans. by J. M. Marchesi". Iranian Studies. 36 (1): 103–106. doi:10.1080/021086032000062866. JSTOR 4311495. S2CID 161069401.
- ^ Amoretti, Biancamaria Scarcia (7 April 2008). "Bausani, Alessandro". Encyclopædia Iranica. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011.
- ^ Brown, Derek (24 December 2004). "PV Narasimha Rao". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 August 2013.
- ^ Dogil, Grzegorz (2009). "Beyond Talent: A Short Language Biography of Prof. Max Mangold". In Dogil, Grzegorz; Reiterer, Susanne Maria (eds.). Language Talent and Brain Activity. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 352. ISBN 9783110215496.
- ^ Wills, Dominic. "Christopher Lee Biography". Tiscali. Archived from the original on 6 January 2002.
- ^ A Very English Genius. BBC. 2002. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021.
- ^ Pawley, Andrew (2002). "Stephen Wurm, 1922–2001: Linguist Extraordinaire". Oceanic Linguistics. 41 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1353/ol.2002.0026. JSTOR 3623325. S2CID 144577922.
- ^ "Jain monks cremated". The Times of India. 13 November 2009. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012.
- ^ "Pope Benedict XVI: Quick Facts". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archived from the original on 20 July 2006.
- ^ Bernstein, Jeremy (1996). A Theory for Everything. New York: Copernicus. pp. 205–207. ISBN 0-387-94700-0.
- ^ Farber, Barry (1991). How to Learn Any Language Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably, and On Your Own. New York: Citadel Press. p. 4. ISBN 0-8065-1271-7.
- ^ Rajamani, R. C. (15 August 2004). "George Fernandes, Socialist Who Speaks Many Tongues". Asian Tribune. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012.
- ^ Khajane, Muralidhara (15 April 2013). "P.B. Sreenivas was the voice of Rajkumar". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013.
- ^ Fatehi, Tara (27 September 2012). "Dr Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou". Medya Magazine. Archived from the original on 9 September 2016.
- ^ Warsi, Ali (8 November 2015). "Jaun Elia - An anarchist, a nihilist, and a poet". Dunya News. Archived from the original on 9 July 2022.
- ^ McKee, Vincent; Wallerstein, Claire (1 August 2009). "Obituary: Corazon Aquino". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 September 2013.
- ^ Obice, Jon Christoffer (1 August 2015). "10 interesting facts you may not know about Cory Aquino". NewsCentral.PH. Archived from the original on 12 April 2017.
- ^ "9 Things You May Not Know About Corazon Aquino". FilipiKnow. 5 September 2014. Archived from the original on 8 September 2014.
- ^ "Obituary: Kenneth Hale". The Economist. 1 November 2001. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012.
- ^ Keyser, Jay (10 November 2001). "Obituary: Kenneth Hale". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 May 2014.
- ^ Yengoyan, Aram A. (2003). "Kenneth L. Hale (1934–2001)". American Anthropologist. 105 (1): 222–225. doi:10.1525/aa.2003.105.1.222. JSTOR 3567366.
- ^ Ross, John Robert; et al. (2002). "Remembering Kenneth L. Hale (1934–2001)" (PDF). Linguistic Typology. 6 (2): 137–153. doi:10.1515/lity.2002.005. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 July 2020.
- ^ "Kenneth Hale. 2000. (Parte 1)". YouTube. 25 December 2015. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021.
- ^ Elliott, Dorinda (14 April 2008). "A Conversation with Madeleine Albright". Condé Nast Traveler. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021.
- ^ Erard, Michael (2012). Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners. New York: Free Press. pp. 118–119. ISBN 978-1-4516-2825-8.
- ^ Fox, Margalit (4 October 2012). "Michael Henry Heim, Literary Translator, Dies at 69". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013.
- ^ Dunlap, David W. (25 December 1994). "John E. Boswell, 47, Historian Of Medieval Gay Culture, Dies". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 May 2014.
- ^ Kamensky, Jane (1998). "Fighting (over) Words: Speech, Power, and the Moral Imagination in American History". In Fox, Richard Wightman; Westbrook, Robert B. (eds.). In Face of the Facts: Moral Inquiry in American Scholarship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 120. ISBN 052162133X.
- ^ "World-renowned linguist an expert in ancient Chinese script". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 June 2021. Archived from the original on 18 June 2021.
- ^ "Daniel Kane 1948–2021". Australian Esperanto Association. 25 April 2021. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021.
- ^ "Jayalalithaa to debut in Hindi for campaigns". The Economic Times. 8 April 2007. Archived from the original on 19 January 2014.
- ^ Woodward, Richard B. (2006). "The Man Who Loved Languages" (PDF). The American Scholar. 75 (4): 44–57. JSTOR 41222651. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2021.
- ^ Feldman, Noah (20 September 2015). "An Extraordinary Scholar Redefined Islam". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 16 October 2019.
- ^ Ha, Thu-Huong (8 May 2017). "An American conversant in 20 languages delights strangers in their native tongues". Quartz. Archived from the original on 8 May 2017.
- ^ Jones, Sam; Hirsch, Afua (11 February 2013). "Who will be the next pope? The contenders for Vatican's top job". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 September 2013.
- ^ Stuter, Bret (26 August 2015). "Former Sixer Dikembe Mutombo Prepares For HOF Induction Ceremony". FanSided. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015.
- ^ "Trevor Noah Says He Grew Up 'In The Shadow Of A Giant' (His Mom)". NPR. 22 November 2016. Archived from the original on 23 November 2016.
- ^ "Lokesh Chandra New ICCR President". Outlook. 30 October 2014. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014.
- ^ 문명을 교류하면 모든 갈등 극복…남북 교류 땐 머잖아 통일 이룰것 (in Korean). 23 November 2014. Archived from the original on 8 October 2017.
- ^ ミッキー・カーチス|ワタナベエンターテインメント (in Japanese). Watanabe Entertainment. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014.
- ^ "Biography of His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew". Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Archived from the original on 1 August 2021.
- ^ Լևոն Տեր-Պետրոսյան. Av Production (in Armenian). Archived from the original on 18 February 2015.
- ^ Hakobyan, Tatul (27 March 2009). "Armenia is a homeland for the Assyrians, who have no homeland". The Armenian Reporter. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009.
- ^ "Profiling Gloria Macapagal Arroyo: 10 Things That Make Her Royally Unsinkable". Spot.ph. 1 September 2010. Archived from the original on 3 September 2010.
- ^ "Sri Lanka overjoyed as prelate named cardinal". Catholic News. 7 November 2010. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017.
- ^ "Brief profile of Guruji". Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015.
- ^ Maruko, Mami (15 March 2011). "Juggler of two professions in Japan". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017.
- ^ "Movies: Kamal, as we know him". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2003.
- ^ "8 Indian transgender people who were the firsts in their fields". India Today. 3 July 2018. Archived from the original on 3 July 2018.
- ^ "Interview with Naela Chohan". International Association of Hyperpolyglots. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020.
- ^ Dutta, Amrita (13 January 2018). "What lies behind the dissent of Prakash Raj?". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018.
- ^ "Erməni dilini mükəmməl bilən generalımız - Hikmət Həsənovun doğum günüdür". Femida.az (in Azerbaijani). 9 October 2018. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020.
- ^ "Aprel qəhrəmanı: Azərbaycan Ordusunun 5 xarici dil bilən generalı - FOTOLAR". Sumqayitxeber.com (in Azerbaijani). 9 October 2018. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020.
- ^ "Interview with Priya Anand". Idlebrain.com. 13 April 2010. Archived from the original on 17 April 2010.
- ^ "Генрих Мхитарян: "Каждый получает свой шанс"". Golos Armenii (in Russian). 13 February 2017. Archived from the original on 13 February 2017.
- ^ "Professor J.C. WELLS: brief curriculum vitae". University College London. Archived from the original on 14 November 2003.
- ^ Brooks, Xan (19 June 2020). "Werner Herzog: 'I'm fascinated by trash TV. The poet must not avert his eyes'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 June 2020.
- ^ O'Reilly, Séamas (31 January 2022). "Werner Herzog Explains This Screenshot". Vulture. Archived from the original on 31 January 2022.
- ^ "Biography". Swedish Royal Court. Archived from the original on 23 June 2010.
- ^ "Essener LVR-Schule zu Gast bei Königin Silvia von Schweden". Taubenschlag.de (in German). Archived from the original on 25 April 2010.
- ^ "André Rieu: Concerts, wife, net worth and more facts about the violinist". Classic FM. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023.
- ^ McCarra, Kevin (16 April 2003). "United by passion, divided by ambition, Ferguson and Wenger define an era". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 October 2013.
- ^ Griffiths, Nia (19 January 2018). "7 languages: Has Wenger finally met his multilingual match in Mkhitaryan?". Daily Cannon. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020.
- ^ "Noel Malcolm". HarperCollins. Archived from the original on 19 May 2022.
- ^ Dohnke, Kay (April 2018). "We Need to Change". Schaeffler. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023.
- ^ Erard, Michael (2012). Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners. New York: Free Press. pp. 249–253. ISBN 978-1-4516-2825-8.
- ^ "Polyglot of Flanders/Babel Prize certificate". 23 January 1987. Archived from the original on 7 June 2020.
- ^ O'Leary, Naomi (16 May 2019). "Frans Timmermans' greatest strength is his greatest weakness". Politico. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023.
- ^ Yoon, Sangwon (16 May 2014). "Sigrid Kaag: Woman who's 'more man than any man'". Gulf News. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020.
- ^ "Jose Mourinho: Five top facts you might not know". BBC. 26 May 2016. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023.
- ^ Rice, Xan (3 August 2015). "The man who speaks 32 languages – and counting". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023.
- ^ "Dr. Karin Kneissl". Kkneissl.com. Archived from the original on 8 April 2023.
- ^ Vaughan, Brendan (29 January 2007). "A Woman We Love: Connie Nielsen". Esquire. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015.
- ^ "Russian historian kept 29 mummified bodies at home, police say". The Guardian. 7 November 2011. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013.
- ^ "Profile: Mikhail Saakashvili". BBC. 25 January 2004. Archived from the original on 6 January 2023.
- ^ Murray, Don (29 February 2008). "Can bountiful Georgia escape the Russian bear?". CBC. Archived from the original on 2 March 2008.
- ^ Smock, John (13 August 2004). "As prospect of South Ossetian conflict grows, Georgia prepares to send troops to Iraq". Eurasianet. Archived from the original on 26 August 2004.
- ^ "Gianni Infantino". FIFA. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
- ^ "Željko Joksimović: Ne promatram se kao da sam zgodan!". Dnevnik.hr (in Croatian). 11 December 2010. Archived from the original on 12 December 2010.
- ^ "6 reasons why Clarence Seedorf Is AC Milan's Best Bet". Swide. 17 January 2014. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
- ^ a b Leland, John (9 March 2012). "Adventures of a Teenage Polyglot". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 July 2022.
- ^ Simcott, Richard (12 August 2022). "Experience: I speak more than 50 languages". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 August 2022.
- ^ Bishop, John (21 July 2010). "Bruins by the Numbers: 33". BostonBruins.Com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017.
- ^ Tammet, Daniel (2007). Born on a Blue Day. London: Hodder. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-340-89975-5.
- ^ Mac an tSíthigh, Seán (21 February 2019). "Russian man appointed Irish language officer in Kerry Gaeltacht". RTÉ. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019.
- ^ Makoni, Abbianca (13 January 2021). "Journalist Philip Crowther wows Twitter with TV reports - in six different languages". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 13 January 2021.
- ^ Marland, Daniel (19 July 2020). "Mikel Arteta spoke to his Arsenal players in three different languages during Manchester City game". SPORTbible. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020.
- ^ Bevis, Marianne (22 December 2012). "Bleacherreport: Has the Djoker in the Pack Come of Age?". Novakdjokovic.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2015.
- ^ Meyer, Luke (11 September 2023). "Speaking Fluent Spanish. Novak Djokovic confirms he will the Davis Cup in Spain, While Carlos Alcaraz…". Tennistonic.com. Archived from the original on 14 September 2023.
- ^ Rakitić, Ivan (19 September 2017). "A Croatian Guy Walks into a Bar". The Players' Tribune. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020.
- ^ "Miralem Pjanić - a polyglot". Sarajevo Times. 10 April 2013. Archived from the original on 12 June 2020.
- ^ Varley, Ciaran (10 June 2020). "Footballer or teacher? The stars who could do both". BBC. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020.
- ^ McWhirter, Norris, ed. (1986). 1986 Guinness Book of World Records. New York: Bantam Books. p. 191. ISBN 0-553-25454-5.
- ^ "Montreal Language Festival 2017 at Concordia's downtown campus Aug. 25-27". The Suburban. 12 August 2017. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021.
- ^ Little, Oliver (2 October 2019). "20 languages? Not enough! The polyglot adding Catalan to his résumé". Catalan News. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022.
- ^ "How to Learn Any Language". YouTube. 20 August 2020. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021.
- ^ Anderson, Ariston (2 September 2014). "Venice: Viggo Mortensen Talks Mastering New Languages". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021.
- ^ "Biography of Julie Payette". Canadian Space Agency. February 2008. Archived from the original on 19 September 2017.
- ^ Erard, Michael (2012). Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners. New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-1-4516-2825-8.
- ^ Lim, Yan Liang (1 April 2012). "One man, 50 languages" (PDF). The Sunday Times. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2015.
- ^ "A Stroll with Alexander Arguelles (For International Mother Language Day)". Writeparagraphs.blogspot.com. 21 February 2014. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014.
- ^ "Mandarín, zulú, griego y todos los idiomas que habla Alberto Lati". Milenio (in Spanish). 13 May 2020. Archived from the original on 21 May 2020.
- ^ a b Talkoff, Emma K. (25 September 2014). "A Talk With the Polyglot". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on 29 September 2014.
- ^ Chen, Helen (29 January 2021). "Officer who speaks 10 languages wins top police award for pandemic outreach". Special Broadcasting Service. Archived from the original on 5 January 2023.
- ^ Goldsworthy, Anna (September 2014). "Voices of the Land". The Monthly. Archived from the original on 5 September 2014.
- ^ Vallely, Paul (2013). Pope Francis: Untying the Knots. London: Bloomsbury. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-4729-0370-9.
- ^ Erard, Michael (2012). Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners. New York: Free Press. pp. 106–110. ISBN 978-1-4516-2825-8.
- ^ Lanyon, Mary-Justine (Winter 2015–2016). "A 'Bad Guy' with a Heart of Gold" (PDF). Lake Arrowhead Magazine. pp. 41–43. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 February 2018.
- ^ "Toxic Shock TV - Actor Andrew Divoff Interview". Archived from the original on 8 December 2008.
- ^ a b "Curriculum Vitae: Dr. Sérgio Meira de Santa Cruz Oliveira" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2020.
- ^ "Dö Kadäm Volapüka". International Community of Friends of Volapük (in Volapük). Archived from the original on 9 November 2014.