Here's a guy who can speak 24 languages and is learning more - a hyperpolyglot!

[Ocelot II]

This is fascinating.

...He can read and write in eight alphabets and scripts. He can tell stories in Italian and Finnish and American Sign Language. He’s teaching himself Indigenous languages, from Mexico’s Nahuatl. to Montana’s Salish. The quality of his accents in Dutch and Catalan dazzle people from the Netherlands and Spain.

In a city where diplomats and embassies abound, where interpreters can command six-figure salaries at the State Department or the International Monetary Fund, where language proficiency is résumé rocket fuel, Vaughn was a savant with a secret. “A real, live polyglot,” Kelly said.

I’d never heard of that word — meaning, a person who can speak several languages — before meeting Vaughn. But Kelly, who dabbles in Cantonese, Mandarin and “beer in most languages,” had seen polyglots on YouTube, promising that anyone can become multilingual if they try.

Far more unusual are the world’s “hyperpolyglots,” people who, by one expert’s definition, can speak 11 languages or more. The higher the number, the rarer the person. But there have been many documented cases of such linguistic legends, each one raising questions about the limits of human potential — the same questions I had about Vaughn...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2022/multilingual-hyperpolyglot-brain-languages/

[Nikossitti]

1. Incredible

Incredible story! Our brains are amazing, no doubt. Well written, too. I happen to know the writer. She’s a real talent!

[Mme. Defarge]

2. Your Morning Splash of Happiness!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216564518

A truly phenomenal story.

[unblock]

3. having learned french and spanish, i've always felt i could learn as many as i cared to.

but it's a major undertaking to learn a language, and while i'd love to be able know many more, i'm not inclined to dedicate that much of my time and effort to achieve that.

so to me the impressive thing about someone learning 11+ languages is that they put in the effort to do so, which is a massive undertaking.

if you've been to europe, you know that people speaking more than one language is quite common and really no special skill. if you can learn one language, you can learn more than one language. it's just that most people don't have the motivation or the need to do so. people in europe often do because so many languages are spoken in a relatively small area.

[mitch96]

4. My Mom was from central Europe. She only had an 8th grade US education and spoke

5 languages... I was impressed!!!
m

[Emile]

5. Wow, I had a hard time with Spanish in Jr High. Must have a high IQ.

[2naSalit]

6. A dear friend...

And long ago French prof of mine is one of those. He has more than one PhD in linguistic specialties. Last I knew it was 17 or 18 languages. His daughter is a friend and she speaks four languages, I'm so jealous! His wife was also a friend and she spoke four languages also. Only the daughter became a US citizen about twenty years ago.