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Hall of Fame & Infamy
Famous polyglots: Hall of Fame & Infamy
The short answer
This directory profiles famous polyglots, historical and modern, with the languages they speak, the methods they use and a Kungfucius verdict on their claims. It is a field guide, not a fan club.
Alexander ArguellesAmerican · dozens languagesAmerican scholar and hyperpolyglot known for popularising shadowing (walking outdoors while repeating audio aloud) and for gruelling daily study routines across dozens of languages, including Korean, which he used while teaching in Korea.Benny LewisIrish · 12+ languagesIrish language blogger behind Fluent in 3 Months, famous for 'speak from day one' and short immersion missions, including a Mandarin mission spent in Taiwan.Emil KrebsGerman · 68 (claimed) languagesGerman diplomat in China (Qingdao and Beijing) from 1893 to 1917 who reportedly mastered 68 languages in speech and writing; his brain is preserved for research in Düsseldorf.Gabriel WynerAmericanAmerican opera singer turned author of Fluent Forever (2014), which popularised picture-based Anki cards, pronunciation-first learning and minimal-pair training; later launched the Fluent Forever app.Giuseppe Caspar MezzofantiItalian · 38+ (reported) languagesItalian cardinal and Vatican librarian (1774 to 1849), the most famous historical hyperpolyglot, reported to speak at least 38 languages fluently, including Chinese, which he practised with students at the Collegio Cinese in Naples.Ho Chi MinhVietnamese · 6+ languagesVietnamese revolutionary and first president of North Vietnam (1890 to 1969) who worked in France, Britain, the USSR and China and wrote his Prison Diary in Classical Chinese.Ioannis IkonomouGreek · 32 (reported) languagesCretan-born translator (born 1964) at the European Commission since 2002, reported to speak 32 languages, and the Commission's in-house translator for Chinese.Kató LombHungarian · 16 (claimed) languagesHungarian interpreter and translator (1909 to 2003), one of the first simultaneous interpreters, who taught herself 16 languages including Chinese and Japanese, mainly by reading.Lindie BotesSouth AfricanSouth African UX designer and YouTuber, based in Singapore, known for videos on language-learning habits and for Korean, Japanese, Mandarin and Vietnamese study.Luca LamparielloItalian · 10+ languagesItalian language coach and YouTuber known for bidirectional translation, who has studied Mandarin among roughly a dozen languages.Lýdia MachováSlovak · 7+ languagesSlovak language mentor, organiser of the Polyglot Gathering and speaker of the TED talk 'The secrets of learning a new language' (2018), who learns a new language every two years.Matteo RicciItalian · 6+ languagesItalian Jesuit (1552 to 1610) who lived in Ming China for 28 years, mastered Classical Chinese, co-created an early Portuguese-Chinese dictionary and died in Beijing.Moses McCormickAmericanAmerican YouTuber (Laoshu505000) from Columbus, Ohio, famous for videos speaking Mandarin, Hmong, Wolof and dozens of other languages with surprised strangers; died in 2021.Olle LingeSwedishSwedish Mandarin teacher and writer based in Taiwan, founder of Hacking Chinese.Olly RichardsBritish · 8+ languagesBritish language teacher and founder of StoryLearning, author of the Short Stories series of graded readers in many languages.Richard SimcottBritish · 20+ languagesBritish polyglot and founder of the Polyglot Conference (first held in Budapest), known for his calm multilingual videos and work as a language consultant.Stephen KrashenAmerican · 5+ languagesAmerican linguist (born 1941), professor emeritus at the University of Southern California, whose Input Hypothesis and comprehensible input theory underpin today's immersion and input-based learning.Steve KaufmannCanadian · 20 (claimed) languagesSwedish-born Canadian former diplomat and lumber trader, co-founder of LingQ, who learned Mandarin in Hong Kong in the 1960s and claims around 20 languages, many learned after 60.Stuart (Stu) Jay RajAustralianAustralian polyglot and corporate trainer based in Thailand, known for Thai television work and the Cracking Thai Fundamentals course; speaks Thai, Mandarin, Cantonese, Indonesian and others.Timothy DonerAmericanAmerican hyperpolyglot who went viral as a teenager in 2012 for speaking around 20 languages on YouTube, later studied at Harvard.Aaron MyersAgustina BasálicaArgentinian · 6+ languagesLanguage Learner|YouTuberAlex RawlingsBritishBritish polyglot and language teacher who won the 2012 competition for the UK's most multilingual student and later co-organised the Polyglot Conference.Alicia VikanderAnthony LauderAntoine Collard · 5+ languagesAuthor / Language SkillsAnton Wilhelm AmoGhanaian (Nzema) · 5+ languagesPhilosopher born in today's Ghana (around 1703, died around 1759), the first African known to earn a doctorate and teach at a European university (Halle, Wittenberg, Jena), working in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, Dutch and French.Audrey HepburnBritishBritish actor (1929 to 1993), born in Brussels, who spoke English, Dutch, French, Italian and Spanish.Benedict XVIGerman · 9+ languagesPope|TheologianBill PorterAmerican · 3 languagesAmerican translator (born 1943), pen name Red Pine (赤松), who lived in Taiwan in the 1970s and 1980s and translates Chinese Buddhist texts and poetry.Brian KwongSmart Language Learner blogger focused on learning Cantonese, Mandarin and Japanese.Carl Friedrich GaussGerman · 5+ languagesMathematician|PhysicistCarlos do Amaral Freire · 10+ languagesLinguist Polyglot Translator EducatorCesco RealeChristoph WaltzGerman-AustrianGerman-Austrian actor (born 1956) who acts in German, English and French.CleopatraPtolemaic Egyptian · 9+ languagesLast active Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt (69 to 30 BCE), described by Plutarch as speaking many languages and the first of her dynasty to learn Egyptian.Conor ClyneDavid James · 7+ languagesGoldlist MethodDavid MansarayDiego López de Zúñiga (theologian)SpanishSpanish humanist scholar (died 1531) who worked on the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, the first printed polyglot Bible, using Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Aramaic.Dikembe MutomboCongolese|American · 8+ languagesCongolese-American NBA centre and humanitarian (1966 to 2024) famous for his finger wag and for speaking around nine languages including Lingala, Tshiluba, Swahili, French, English, Spanish and Portuguese.Donovan NagelAustralianAustralian founder of The Mezzofanti Guild blog and Talk In Arabic, known for blunt reviews of language apps.Dorota Maczuga · 5+ languagesAuthor / Business FounderEliezer Ben-YehudaJewish (Israeli) · 5+ languagesLexicographer|Reviver of HebrewElisa PoleseElizabeth IEnglish · 6+ languagesQueen of England (1533 to 1603) who spoke or read Latin, Greek, French, Italian and Spanish, translating classical works herself.Ellen JovinAmericanAmerican writer and polyglot, author of Rebel with a Clause (2022), known for her travelling Grammar Table and a co-organiser of the Polyglot Conference.Emanuele MariniErmanno KrummItalian · many languagesItalian poet, critic and translator; seed dates (1944 to 2023) need checking.Fasli AdimIndonesian · 7+ languagesLanguage Learner|YouTuberFiel SahirGabriel GelmanGareth Popkins · 4+ languagesGeorg SauerweinGerman · dozens languagesLinguist|Orientalist|HumanitarianHans ØrbergDanishDanish linguist (1920 to 2010), author of Lingua Latina per se Illustrata, the best-known textbook teaching Latin entirely in Latin.Helmuth von Moltke the ElderGerman · 5+ languagesPrussian field marshal (1800 to 1891), born in Mecklenburg, said to speak several languages and nicknamed 'the great silent one in seven languages'.IkennaJ. R. R. TolkienBritishEnglish philologist and author (1892 to 1973) who knew Old English, Old Norse, Gothic, Finnish, Welsh, Latin and Greek, and invented Quenya and Sindarin.Jackie ChanChinese (Hong Kong)Duplicate of jackie-chan; merge.Jan Van Der AaJimmy MelloJohann Andreas SchmellerGerman · 3+ languagesLinguist|PhilologistJohann Martin SchleyerGermanCatholic Priest|InventorJohn FotheringhamAmerican language coach behind Language Mastery, who learned Japanese and Mandarin while living in Japan and Taiwan.John Paul IIPolish · 10-12 languagesPope|Religious LeaderJose MourinhoPortuguese · 6+ languagesFootball ManagerJudith MeyerGerman · 10+ languagesLinguist|Author|PolyglotKaren ChungAmerican (Taiwan-based) · 3+ languagesLinguist and long-time associate professor at National Taiwan University known for the Echo Method of pronunciation practice and for her Mandarin and Taiwanese Hokkien teaching videos.Kerstin CableGerman-born, UK-based language coach behind Fluent Language and the Fluent Show podcast.Kris BroholmDanishDanish host of the Actual Fluency podcast, interviewing language learners and polyglots.Lee Fu-lanTaiwaneseAcademic|Language EducatorLindsay WilliamsBritishBritish language teacher and creator of Lindsay Does Languages, known for language-learning podcasts and courses.Ludwik Lejzer ZamenhofPolish · 8+ languagesOphthalmologist|InventorMaha YakoubMatt ArcherAmerican · 3+ languagesMattvsJapan is an American YouTuber who learned Japanese through immersion in North America, popularised AJATT-style immersion, co-founded Refold and later learned Mandarin.Natalie PortmanIsraeli-AmericanIsraeli-American actor (born 1981) who speaks Hebrew and English and has studied French, Japanese, German and Arabic.Nikola TeslaSerbian|American · 8+ languagesSerbian-American inventor (1856 to 1943), born in Smiljan in today's Croatia, who reportedly read and spoke eight languages.Noel van VlietNovak DjokovicSerbian · 8+ languagesSerbian tennis champion (born 1987) who gives interviews in Serbian, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.Peter TurksonGhanaian · 8+ languagesCardinal|TheologianPope FrancisArgentinian · 7+ languagesArgentine pope (Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 1936 to 2025) who spoke Spanish and Italian fluently and German, French, Portuguese, English and Latin to varying degrees.Pope Leo XIIIItalian · 6+ languagesPope|TheologianRanga YogeshwarLuxembourgish · 5+ languagesPhysicist|Science Journalist|AuthorRoger FedererSwissSwiss tennis champion (born 1981) who gives interviews in Swiss German, German, French and English.Sam GendreauSandra OhCanadianCanadian actor (born 1971) of Korean heritage who speaks English and French and some Korean.ShakiraColombianColombian singer (born 1977) who performs in Spanish and English and speaks Portuguese, with some Italian, French and Catalan.Simon AgerBritishBritish founder of Omniglot, the online encyclopedia of writing systems and languages, and a regular at polyglot events.Sir Richard Francis BurtonBritishBritish explorer and translator (1821 to 1890) said to have spoken around 29 languages, including Hindustani, Arabic and Persian.Teddy NeeSingaporean · 7+ languagesChinese-Indonesian language learner, founder of the Nee Language blog, who studied in Taiwan and writes about learning Asian languages.Tetsu YungTom HiddlestonBritishBritish actor (born 1981) who speaks English, French, Spanish and some Italian and Greek.Viggo MortensenAmerican-DanishAmerican-Danish actor (born 1958) who speaks English, Spanish and Danish and some French, Italian, Swedish and Norwegian.Vladimir SkultetyZack from TaiwanTaiwanese · 10+ languagesTaiwanese YouTuber sharing language learning from a Taiwanese perspective (seed details unverified).Ziad FazahLebaneseLiberian-born Lebanese-Brazilian who claimed to speak 59 languages and was listed in Guinness records, but struggled with basic questions in several languages on a 1997 Chilean TV show.