Since people started learning languages, some have been more successful than others, some have even become more famous. So who are the most famous polyglots?
Some of these famous linguist may be dead, but their legacy lasts even to this day! However, most of the most famous polyglots are still alive and learning new languages every year!
11. Richard Simcott
Richard Simcott is one of the most famous linguists. But more than that, Richard Simcott is a hyperpolyglot. Simcott speaks an impressive 40 languages, and is the co-organizer of the annual Polyglot Conference.
Residing in Skopje in the Northern Macedonia (born in Cheshire, UK), Simcott is able to speak 16 languages fluently, although he claims he has attempted to learn 50 languages throughout his life.
Born on 27 January 1977, Richard Simcott, as with so many linguists, wasn’t a natural language learner. As a teenager, his father married a Thai woman, and they traveled there often, as such, Richard began to pick up the language.
What resulted was one of the most famous British linguists who has continued to learn new languages even today! Simcott actually combines university-style study with language immersion, meaning that Simcott can speak a new language in less than three months!
10. Ioannis Ikonomou
Ioannis Ikonomou is considered to be the most trusted polyglot on the planet! Thanks to this, he is generally considered to be one of the most famous linguists to have ever lived!
This is mostly down to the incredible number of languages he speaks- 47 languages, including a mixture of living and dead languages. To put this in perspective, he speaks 21 of the 24 EU official languages!
To add to his life’s accomplishments, Ikonomou is also the first openly gay translator for an international body. He is married to a Polish man called Tomek, both he and Ikonomou try to live very low profile as a result.
Unlike most other famous polyglots or famous linguists, Ikonomou uses his language skills on a daily basis! He is actually so good at his job, that he is a translator for the European Commission!
9. Sir John Bowring
Sir John Bowring is most commonly cited as being one of the most famous linguists. He is most famous for being the fourth governor of Hong Kong and for his many works int he field of economics.
Bowring is somewhat controversial in terms of his language capabilities. Throughout his life, Bowring claimed that he could speak between 100 and 200 languages.
However, many linguists have argued that it is impossible for Bowring to have known this many languages. Nevertheless, Bowring is considered to be the person who could speak the most amount of languages.
Sir John Bowring was born on 17 October 1792, to a poor English family. After a failed stint as a businessman, Bowring son became an economist and diplomat, where he learnt so many languages!
8. Ghil’ad Zuckermann
When it comes to the most famous linguists, Ghil’ad Zuckermann is one that almost always pops up! Ghil’ad is famous for two reasons- the number of languages he speaks and his contributions to languages.
The main reason, Ghil’ad is so famous is because he has made it his life’s work to reviving several extinct languages or endangered languages. He has done this mainly through establishing courses in those languages for people to learn.
Ghil’ad Zuckermann was born in Tel Aviv, Israel on 1 June 1971. He soon found a passion for languages, and managed to learn 13 languages, and publish in many of them. He now resides in Australia.
Unlike some famous linguists, Ghil’ad Zuckermann doesn’t run a blog or YouTube channel, instead, he’d much rather spread the love of languages through interviews than through a blog!
7. Alexander Argüelles
When it comes to famous linguists and polyglots, Alexander Argüelles is one that pops up regularly. He is most famous for his works on the Korean language, having written four books on the subject.
However, Alexander Argüelles doesn’t just speak Korean. Alexander Argüelles is one of the learned polyglots on the planet speaking 50 languages in total, 12 to a fluent standard.
Alexander Argüelles was born 30 April 1964 in Chicago. As a kid, he often traveled with his father abroad. Without him knowing, this subtly changed him, and once he was introduced to German, his quest for 50 began!
He claims that he continually reads, speaks and writes in many of the languages he speaks. According to Argüelles, he has taught his sons French so that he can practice with them, similarly to how he practices Korean with his wife.
6. Jeong Su-Il
Jeong Su-Il is the oldest living polyglot on this list. Partly thanks to his age, and his impact on history, Jeong Su-Il is on of the most famous polyglots to have ever lived, speaking 12 languages.
Of these 12 languages, Jeong Su-Il speaks a mixture easy and hard languages. Unlike most other linguists, Jeong Su-Il doesn’t run a blog or a YouTube channel- he’s a historian.
His specialty is Silk Road history, most importantly, the impact it had on Korea an the Middle East. However, he is also an expert on North Korea- after all, he was a North Korean spy during the Korean War!
He often translates Arabic works from the time of the Silk Road. He has actually been instrumental in the translations so of several works by Ibn Battuda, translating them into Korean and English!
5. Cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti
Cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti is one of the oldest linguists in recorded history. However, this hasn’t prevented Cardinal Mezofanti from being one of the most famous linguists on the planet.
The Cardinal was born on 19 September 1774 in Bologna, Italy. Unlike many hyperpolyglots, as a young child, he actually showed a talent for languages, once he began being educated by the Piarists.
From the Piarists, Mezzofanti learnt several languages, including Latin. He soon became a vicar and later a priest and later a cardinal. At one point, Mezzofanti could speak anywhere between 30 and 70 languages!
Despite speaking so many languages, and being one of the most influential holy men of his time, that was not his legacy for fellow polyglots. His name helped to inspire several schools, but most importantly, the Mezzofanti Guild blog.
4. Alex Rawlings
Alex Rawlings is yet another British hyperpolyglot, speaking 11 languages! Thanks to being a hyperpolyglot, Alex Rawlings is considered to be one of the most famous linguists.
Surprisingly, Alex Rawlings is one of the youngest polyglots on the planet, and the second youngest on this list! In 2012, Rawlings was crowned Britain’s most multilingual student.
Alex Rawlings was born in 1991 in London, UK. As a child he traveled with his parents to Greece, to visit relatives, which began his quest to learn more languages. Today, he has tried to learn 15 languages!
As with most other hyperpolyglots, Alex Rawlings uses his passion for languages for other linguists. He runs his own YouTube channel talking about everything languages, and runs his own blog to go with his YouTube channel.
3. Sir Richard Burton
Sir Richard Burton is most commonly remembered as one of the most famous British soldiers and explorers. However, by becoming an explorer, Richard Francis became a linguist, and is remembered as being one of the most famous linguists!
After being an explorer and soldier, Burton returned home to become a diplomat, a job he did until his death in 1890. His previous job as an explorer, and current job as a diplomat left him fluent in 26 languages, or 40 dialects.
However, what made Richard Burton one of the most famous polyglots was his translation work. Over the years, he translated some of the most famous classic texts into English, including the Kama Sutra.
Sir Richard Burton also wrote several books in English too, which have gone on to be classics in their own right! He is also the husband of famed British writer Isabel Burton.
2. Steve Kaufmann
Steve Kaufmann is often cited as being one of the most famous polyglots on the planet. As with many of the other linguists and polyglots on this list, Steve is considered to be a hyperpolyglot- he speaks 16 languages.
Of these 16 languages, Kaufmann speaks a mixture of easy languages and hard languages. Together with his son, Mark, Kaufmann set up LingQ, a website/app designed to help to learn a language fluently, just how Steve would!
Kaufmann was born on 8 October 1945 in Sweeden. He later moved to the English-speaking parts of Montreal with his parents. As an adult he decided to become a diplomat which led to him self-teaching himself 14 out of 6 languages.
As with many famous polyglots, Steve has a passion for language-learning. What has resulted is two of the largest outlets for language-learning- The Linguist blog and the Lingosteve YouTube channel.
1. Ziad Fazah
Ziad Fazah is one of the most famous polyglots who is still alive, he also happens to be one of the most controversial ones. Ziad claims to speak 58 languages, and is considered to be the greatest living polyglot.
However, when he was challenged to prove whether or not he spoke 58 languages, on a TV interview, he failed dramatically. However, he claims that he wasn’t told he would have to prove himself so “couldn’t prepare”.
Ziad Fazah was born on 19 June 1954 in Monrovia, Liberia. He claims that, as a Greek Orthodox Christian, God gifted him his incredible polyglot skills. He has also claimed that thanks to living in so many different places, he has picked up new languages.
In 1998, Fazah was included in the Guinness Book of World Records as the best living polyglot, speaking 58 languages. In 2015, Fazah claimed that he could only fluently speak 15 languages without preparation.
Honorable Mentions
Here are a few famous linguists that didn’t make the article itself:
- Alexander Pask- British teenaged businessman and translator who speaks 11 languages (owner of Raptor Consolidated Media Group- our parent company) and contributor to Raptor Translations Magazine.
- Elizabeth I- former Queen of England who spoke seven languages
- Benny Lewis- Irish polyglot, founder of the Fluent in 3 Months blog who speaks eight languages.
- Timothy Doner- American translator and hyperpolyglot who speaks 23 languages.
- Luca Lampariello- former owner of The Polyglot Dream blog who speaks 13 languages.
Got any more famous polyglots? Tell me in the comments!