When you meet someone who speaks one or two second languages, it’s impressive. But when you meet a hyperpolyglot, it will blow your mind…
But what exactly is a hyperpolyglot?
Before we can define a hyperpolyglot, we need to define other language labels. These definitions come from those stated on ILanguages.org.
- Monolingual- someone who speaks only one language. Monolingualism constitutes roughly 40% of the world’s population.
- Bilingual- someone who speaks two languages to an equal level of fluency. Bilingualism constitutes roughly 43% of the world’s population.
- Trilingual- someone who speaks three languages to an equal level of fluency. Trilingualism constitutes roughly 13% of the world’s total population
- Multilingual- someone who speaks four or more languages to an equal level of fluency. Multilingualism constitutes only 3% of the world’s population.
- Polyglot- someone who speaks 5 or more languages. This only constitutes around 1% of the world’s population. If you know a polyglot that is very rare!
You can see that there is a pattern. If you meet someone with proficiency in 10 languages, be seriously impressed- you’ve met a hyperpolyglot. Someone who is an incredibly rare.
A few well known Hyperpolyglots
One of the most well known hyperpolyglots is Cardinal Guiseppe Mezzofanti. He was able to speak around 40 languages, however, some claim he could speak around 100 languages!
Here are some notable polyglots
- Alexander Pask- British teenaged businessman and translator who speaks 11 languages!
- Alexander Argüelles- American linguist who speaks 12 languages!
- Jeong Su-Il- South Korean linguist and historian who speaks 12 languages!
- Dilip Kumar- Indian actor who speaks 12 languages!
- Péter Frankl- Hungarian educator, mathematician, street performer and columnist who speaks 12 languages!
- Lokesh Chandra- Indian Buddhism scholar who speaks 16 languages!
- Fernando De Castro- a linguist, translator, interpreter and philologist who speaks 16 languages!
- Richard Simcott- British linguist residing in Chester, UK. He is famous for being able to speak a new language within a short period
- Swami Rambhadracharya- Indian Sanskrit scholar and Hindu religious leader who speaks 22 languages!
- Ioannis Ikonomou- Greek translator for the European Commission, he speaks a whopping 32 languages!
- Ghil’ad Zuckermann- Israeli-born linguist who resides in Australia. He’s a hyperpolyglot, linguist and revivalist who is a linguistics professor at the University of Adelaide
Ziad Youssef Fasah is a Liberian linguist, he claims he can speak 59 languages fluently. He‘s officially listed by Guinness Book of World Records as the person who can speak the most languages. However this was only until the 1998 edition. In 1997, Ziad appeared on Chilean TV show “Viva el Lunes”.
Whilst on air, guest speakers asked him questions in many languages. Guest speakers asked him questions in: Greek; Hindi; Persian; Chinese; Russian; Finnish and Egyptian Arabic. In the interview, he only managed to answer the first question.
Later in 2015, he claimed the show was a ‘trap’. He claims that he wasn’t aware that he was going into a test. Therefore he had no chance to prepare. In the same interview, he claimed he could switch among 15 languages without preparation.
Is it possible to learn several languages?
It’s difficult to say exactly, however, these people are living proof it is true. There are several factors and many schools of thought regarding this issue. Whilst some learn languages through reading, others do by film, others by radio, others by TV.
The argument seems to have a concrete answer: in 2012 Michael Erard published a book. This book laid out what made a good linguist “disciplined study and good genes are keys to a person’s ability to learn a language.”
This brings up further debate in the Linguistics world. Is a linguist’s skill innate? Or is it gained from years of experience?
How many languages is the brain capable of learning throughout your lifetime?
Such as many things in life, the answer is, well, there isn’t one. There is no definite answer, mainly because the motives are different. Some learn languages for the thrill, some do it for necessity, others do it for the love of languages.
Some may also learn them to help with another language they’re learning. Indeed, one may learn Dutch in order to help their German. Or one learns Portuguese to help their Spanish.
There is also the question of fluency. Whilst someone can claim to have learned several languages, this may not make them fluent. The question is really… how many can you speak fluently? How many can you hold an in depth conversation in?
Fluency in a language has different stages. You are considered fluent in a language when you can have an in depth conversation in that language.
A person can learn as many languages in their lifetime as they want. However, speaking them with high levels of fluency is an entirely separate discussion. Gaining fluency in a few languages is a feat in and of itself. So next time you meet a polyglot or hyperpolyglot, remember they are a rare breed of people.
How many hyperpolyglots are there in the world?
The BBC reports that hyperpolyglots are not very common. Whilst we may have named a few, they are the most examples. Some more may exist, but they keep to themselves.
Will we continue to see more hyperpolyglots?
Despite the fact that there is a teenager on the list, the answer is: no. Whilst there may be a few new hyperpolyglots every year, that number will decline.
These hyperpolyglots will unfortunately die. It’s unlikely that in this globalised world that more hyperpolyglots will be born. After all, there’s only a handful of languages that most people speak. Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian and Chinese.
Even I have seen this, when I visited a local school and sat in on a French lesson, people didn’t care. “Why learn French when they speak English?” I heard one girl say. Sadly, this is the mindset of the younger generations, Pask is an outlier. He’s an exception to the rule, not the rule itself.
Wow!
I wonder what it feels like to be part of such an exclusive group- I wonder if they have a special club or a yearly meet-up- I would love it if I could meet just one of these amazing people!