Talk:List of polyglots

Lead section
There's no reliable citation for Pete Buttigieg speaking 7 languages. Even the citation listed only says that he can order a sandwich in 7 languages. This should be deleted from the list unless there's a better citation.

This edit added some discussion of the difficulty of defining who is a polyglot. At the same time, though, it removed a source and mention of Richard Hudson's notion of "hyperpolyglot". User:LeemanBros and I have communicated on my talk page, but others may wish to contribute to discussion of the lead as well. Cnilep (talk) 03:51, 7 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Hello, Cnilep. Im reverting my edits for the matter of the conversaton. I suggest there be a clearer distinction between "mastering" a language (would that encompass just literally "Speaking" or all of the major 4 areas of Speaking, Writing, Listening, Reading and what exactly?). That term is as controversial as the use of the word "fluent". Earlier versions of the article removed some valid persons from the list who indeed "speak many languages". A detailed expanse upon the polyglot with specific would be useful to assist in those who could be described as a polyglot. Some of the listed persons on the list are second language acquisitors who have admitted that they cant speak well in the foreign language or even read/write at all. Should one included in the list have been documented or tested? Or can the person self-scribe themself as polyglot on the honor system with lack of vetting or instituionally recognized certificate? If that's so, one can make cases for Viggo Mortensen (one of the ones actually listed in an earlier revision), Sarah Chalke, and Dolph Lundgren being included. I also wonder the case of the persons listed on the page have only learned the equivalent of business travel or the niceties of communication in the language. Perhaps the list would serve better for those who have a body of work in all their claimed languages or with certifications? I dont know, but I think starting with a clearer definition would be a start on subsiding many of the above questions and not elucidating users.


 * As for Richard Hudson and hyperpolyglot, I didnt mean to delete that. Although, hyperpolyglot is indeed covered by "polyglot" technically and should fall on it's own line, if not it better being in the main polyglottism article being enough.
 * Cheers! LeemanBros (talk) 16:21, 7 November 2013 (UTC)


 * The definition of the list (not of polyglot as such) is currently, "people who have been noted in news media, historical texts, or academic work as speaking six or more languages fluently". That can obviously be changed if anyone wants to suggest other criteria. Per various Wikipedia policies, though, I think some reference to outside, published sources should be included in whatever criteria are selected. See Manual of Style/Stand-alone lists and No original research, among other policies. Cnilep (talk) 04:42, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

This page should be deleted
This is a strange idea for a page, and should be deleted. How can you have a list of Polygots on Wikipedia. A polyglot is someone who speaks three languages or more. There are millions of people who do that!!!! Deathlibrarian (talk) 11:30, 20 February 2014 (UTC)


 * See Articles for deletion/List of noted polyglots and Redirects for discussion/Log/2013 September 24. You are free to nominate the page for deletion, but may want to bear in mind the arguments made at the earlier discussions. Cnilep (talk) 02:26, 20 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Welp, it looks like most "earlier" discussions have passed into Wikipedia talk history, and the objection stands. The whole concept seems to revolve around inventing a definition for "polyglot" and then finding people who fit that criterion. Merriam-Webster has a straightforward definition for the word, and it seems to involve nothing more than the ability in several languages.
 * M-W's definition for "multilingual" appears to be more stringent: an ability in several languages that is equal to one's native language(s). I suspect that people outside polyglotty interests would gravitate more toward the latter skill, and a list that rigorously vets the set of practitioners of multilingual acquisition might set the barrier at 10 or more languages, with the purpose of having something noteworthy.
 * I think this whole article, and its vagary, should be scrapped and replaced with something like "List of Noteworthy Multilingual Persons", and for another 2-cents worth, scrap any discussion of literacy, which is not the primary concern of linguistic performance. JohndanR (talk) 03:23, 11 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I think the topic is notable enough to warrant a Wikipedia article existing but defining "polyglot" as someone who speaks specifically six or more languages is a bit weird and I can't find any dictionary definition online that supports the six language requisite. "There are millions of polyglots!" is not a good argument for deletion. With any Wikipedia list of people it's implicit that the list is specifically of notable people within that category (since everyday people don't generally have Wikipedia pages). The Wikipedia page "List of Spanish Americans," for example, doesn't list every Spanish American person in the world. Scdsco23 (talk) 20:05, 10 March 2023 (UTC)

Request edit
Hi! I am mentioned in this article and the title of one of my books is written incorrectly.

Please change the title of Susanna Zaraysky's book to "Travel Happy, Budget Low". It was mistakenly written as "Travel Happy, Budget Law". If you need the Amazon links to my books, here they are:

Language is Music: http://www.amazon.com/Language-Is-Music-Foreign-Languages/dp/0982018991

Travel Happy, Budget Low: http://www.amazon.com/Travel-Happy-Budget-Low-Saving/dp/0982018983/ref=la_B003M95PHO_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397106876&sr=1-2

Sincerely, Susanna (nisamsuzi@yahoo.com) 76.237.2.186 (talk) 05:17, 10 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done. Sam Sailor Sing 17:59, 12 April 2014 (UTC)

Translation represented as direct quotation
The quote attributed to João Guimarães Rosa ("I speak: Portuguese, German, French" etc.) is in fact a translation from Portuguese ("VI – Falo: português, alemão, francês," etc.). The translation doesn't misrepresent the sense of the quote the blogger attributes to Guimarães Rosa, but it is not his exact words, either. Unfortunately Manual of Style/Register is currently an empty section, so I'm not sure how such issues are generally handled. My personal advice would be to paraphrase rather than quote the source. Do others have thoughts on styling this? Cnilep (talk) 02:21, 20 May 2014 (UTC)


 * ✅. Hearing no objections, I changed the pronouns, removed the quotation marks, and [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_polyglots&diff=612294427&oldid=612293576 made other similar changes]. Cnilep (talk) 01:53, 10 June 2014 (UTC)

Unreliable or questionable sources
The section "Notable living polyglots" cites a number of primary sources, user-generated web content, or other possibly unreliable material.Self-published or user-generated material such as YouTube or blogs is not considered reliable except in cases where the user is recognized as an established expert in the field. User-generated content generally should not be used to verify self-serving or exceptional claims such as speaking an unusual number of languages. Specifically: Please find better sources to replace these questionable ones. Cnilep (talk) 02:04, 21 May 2014 (UTC)
 * YouTube videos, six of which are cited here, are user-generated and therefore less reliable.
 * Two TED talks by Benny Lewis about himself are likewise self-generated and self-serving.
 * A story about Steve Kaufmann is published by LingQ, Kaufmann's own company. It may be considered as a primary source, though its content may be self-serving.
 * The other two sources about Kaufmann are Kaufmann's own comments on Twitter or blogs, which are clearly unreliable for purposes of verification.
 * The bloggers "Ryan" and "sgendreau" may be experts in their fields, but since we don't know their full names, it is best not to assume so.
 * The article about Alexander Arguelles is in a publication with a reputation for reliability (The Guardian), but is attributed to Alexander Arguelles. It should therefore be treated as only slightly more reliable than user-generated sources.

What's the point of this list if there are no good sources?
I listened to a couple of people on Youtube who are mentioned here as polyglots and who claim to speak German and Russian. Their ability according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages could be best described as something between A1 and A2 level. One example: someone here was speaking Russian with more than half the declension endings wrong. His German syntax was also pretty wrong and he was using a rather basic vocabulary, almost always talking about the same things he says in other languages.

And yet: even sites as The Economist say the person speaks Russian and German. Well: if A1 or A2 levels are enough for a given language, there are many more polyglots on Earth. What is the point to list these?

You can as well create a list of people who "know mathematics" based on the fact they know a little bit of arithmetic, a little bit of algebra and so on.

--Periergeia (talk) 15:01, 25 July 2014 (UTC)


 * This article should be removed, as it's opinion without sources. I agree! And it was filled with ads. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A01:E35:8A8D:FE80:41D8:EED3:50E2:7C93 (talk) 00:42, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
 * While I understand your concern if the consensus was to keep the list, then the list MUST point to articles already written, which go into detail asserting notability. The corresponding articles must of course mention and source the claim that these people are polyglots. -- -Alexf(talk) 16:33, 5 October 2017 (UTC)

Languages by family
I'm surprised that the polyglots arn't listed the langauge family group they know rather than the geography 75.61.129.158 (talk) 23:02, 22 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Some polyglots speak in multiple language group families, so it's not practical to group them that way. SageGreenRider (talk) 00:25, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

How is this list determined?
It only mentions Richard Simcott (25+ languages) and Alex Rawlings (12+ languages) in passing, even though these were publicly recognized to be the most multilingual people in Britain (Alex as the "most multilingual student), and then mentions a whole lot of other people who don't even pass the "hyperpolyglot" criteria of speaking 11 languages, just because they're famous for something else entirely, like that Armenian football player.

Wouldn't it make more sense to list more people who speak 11+ or 25+ languages? Speaking 11+ languages still gives you a very long list of people; I am the head organizer of the Polyglot Gathering, where at least 80 participants spoke that many languages. If we can agree on what makes a person notable for this list, I am happy to contribute any number of names with citations of newspaper articles and similar.

Do keep in mind that other in the case of Alex Rawlings, Johan Vandewalle and similar, few polyglots have undergone an official examination, simply because it wasn't offered, and newspapers like to cite inflated numbers. For example, Timothy Doner himself said in an interview with the Economist that he is only fluent in 3-4 languages and speaks another 3-4 languages well, so nowhere near the 20+ that some journalists like to stick on him. However, polyglots are generally aware of each other and will test each other if someone makes an unlikely claim. Such was the case for Emanuele Marini, who showed up to the Polyglot Conference as an unknown with a name tag claiming 30+ languages: he got drafted into an impromptu on-camera demonstration of his skills, at least in the 16 languages for which native speakers were present. The result was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Deu-ayVcT-k, becoming an overnight sensation. Do such videos count if they involve more people than just the person himself? Otherwise it should be possible to find references to him in Polish news, he got interviewed on Polish national TV after they heard his flawless Polish...

So: what are the criteria for this list?

Junesun (talk) 18:46, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Where is Emil Krebs?
He knew 68 languages! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Krebs 84.112.151.27 (talk) 18:14, 23 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Added. -- Alexf(talk) 16:37, 5 October 2017 (UTC)

Swiss German is not a language
Swiss German is listed as one of the languages two (or possibly more) people on the list speak. But Swiss German is not a language. There are two reasons for that: Firstly, there is no (single) language called Swiss German. Swiss German is the expression used for (all the) German dialects spoken in Switzerland. There is no Standard Swiss German language. I am from Berne, Switzerland and a native Bernise German speaker. Most of the time I refer to myself as a native German speaker, since calling myself a native Bernise German speaker would hardly make sense. But to call myself a native Swiss German speaker would not make sense at all. There is no such language. Secondly, as already mentioned, the term Swiss German is used to refer to all German DIALECTS spoken in Switzerland. They are just dialects. So no langauges of their own. Learning (Standard) German as a Swiss toddler from the German speaking part of Switzerland does not mean the same as learning another language like for example Dutch or French. It just means to learn a different version of your native language. I speak the German dialect spoken in Berne, the German used in print media, English and French. This makes me a person who speaks three languages, not four.178.197.236.9 (talk) 18:41, 26 February 2016 (UTC)
 * It might be a "dialect" but neurologically speaking, they can be just a hard to learn.--Prisencolin (talk) 23:34, 18 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Are you serious? If you know the language, the dialect are not ""just as hard to learn". Let's be scientific, languages are languages, dialects are dialects. If you want to mention a dialect, mention it, but call it a dialect.
 * Of course the editor was "serious." WP:Assume good faith. BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 17:51, 10 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Prisencolin is correct. A dialect is not a full separate language and shouldn't count as one. People in Japan who speak the Kansai dialect of Japanese(spoken in Osaka), for instance don't regard themselves as speaking two languages (standard Japanese and Kansai dialect). The tricky bit is that some dialects are so different that they are sometimes regarded as a separate language (for instance, Okinawan). Deathlibrarian (talk) 00:09, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

Rosetta Stone
This sounds like advertising. And this following sentence doesn't make sense at all: "It is difficult to judge which individuals are polyglots, as there is no uncontroversial definition for what it means to "master" a language, and because it is not always clear where to distinguish a dialect from a language."

These two things have nothing to do with each other. Mastering a language does not mean knowing all its dialects. It doesn't even apply to native speakers. So there are no native speakers who have mastered their native tongues? --2.245.113.233 (talk) 12:50, 16 July 2016 (UTC)
 * You misunderstand. The two points don't relate to one another, but both relate to the parent comment, ‘it is difficult to judge which individuals are polyglots’. The use of two explanatory conjunctions, one for each point, makes clear that they are intended to be distinct. The dialect point is referring to the idea that one could be fluent in two distinct dialects which are commonly thought as part of the same language, but which in reality have the same lack of mutual intelligibility as some other recognised distinct languages. Therefore the number of languages you could count someone as speaking could vary based on whether you consider the matter linguistically, or socio-politically. 2A00:23C4:9F81:6600:4852:DB15:C80B:9B20 (talk) 20:11, 21 September 2016 (UTC)


 * Yes, it was really advertising. I removed this part. You don't have to mention a software if you don't mention other, and if you mention Rosetta Stone, we will be happy to mention why it's not efficient, so stop your ads.

Threshold for inclusion
Shouldn't there be some kind of threshold for inclusion? E.g. being bilingual and apart from that fluent in 3 additional languages doesn't really sound like being a polyglot.--Fennomaani (talk) 20:42, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

This article is mainly an essay about the author's opinion
This article is really mainly a bunch of ininteresting blablablah with no academic source, and the authors giving his opinion about what is fluency or mastering language. Without sourcing, it's only opinion and is really not interesting to have on Wikipedia.

I removed the Rosetta Stone part, as it's not the purpose of this site. If you mention a software, mention other ones too. Anyway, Rosetta Stone has not really proved to be efficient. And everyone has a different opinon or different sources about it. Don't mention a software unless you mention the other ones, and research papers. Thanks.

List of African polyglots
This list is so small. According to the strict definition that a polyglot speaks three languages then a significant proportion of Africans should be listed here - speaking multiple languages is a way of life. And many Africans speak more languages than the people listed. For example Trevor Noah is a remarkable comedian but he is not a remarkable polyglot - I know plenty of South Africans that speak more languages than him. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.161.116.190 (talk) 19:01, 8 May 2017 (UTC)

Edit dispute of cleanup and notability of Riccardo Bertani
Twice you have reverted my contributions of removing Cleanup from the article without explaining in the edit summary why. Furthermore you have removed Riccardo Bertani from the list claiming unnotability, without making a counter-argument to my claim of WP:REDLINK and potential existing significance at Italian Wikipedia. I feel like you've also used rollback disruptively to take credit for the removal of other two unnotable persons, instead of reverting each of the revisions individually. So please, explain your actions. 2001:2003:54FA:D2:0:0:0:1 (talk) 03:22, 30 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Dear anon, it was explained as "rm nn persons" - not notable persons removed. Please read WP:LISTBIO for understanding. --Yopie (talk) 16:58, 30 July 2017 (UTC)

Here it's not a matter of being "notable" people, it's a matter of actually speaking a lot of languages. And, I repeat, it's very easy to verify whether someone actually knows many languages or not. - Michele San Pietro — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.53.203.97 (talk) 17:17, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

I'm a hyperpolyglot
I've just added my name to the list of hyperpolyglots because I'm actually one and can prove what I say, the knowledge of a language is something very easy to verify. - Michele San Pietro — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.53.203.97 (talk) 17:14, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

Reversion of MoulZit edit
There are reliable sources that state that she is a polyglot and that she is fluent in several languages. Thinker78 (talk) 07:46, 9 May 2018 (UTC)

Too much detail
This WP:list has too much detail. Each item should have just one link, to the WP:Article about the person mentioned. What do others think? BeenAroundAWhile (talk)L
 * Lacking commment by anybody else, I'll make the fixes. BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 16:23, 29 July 2018 (UTC)

Needs linking uniformity
Throughout the many people listed on this page, sometimes the languages they speak are linked and sometimes they are not.

Some examples taken from the list:


 * C. V. Runganada Sastri (1819–1881) was an Indian jurist described as 'a linguist unrivalled in India'. He was known to have mastered English, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Urdu and Hindi, Farsi, Arabic, Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, French, and German; he was additionally known to have had some proficiency in Hebrew.
 * Pete Buttigieg, politician, United States: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, Arabic, Maltese and Dari.

In the first example, all languages are linked, while in the second, none are. Shouldn't the list follow a more consistent linking system? - Alumnum (talk) 11:06, 12 August 2019 (UTC)
 * I would say not to link the languages. Anybody who wants to investigate any given language can simply type it into the search bar. The links should go to the people involved. I am prepared to make those fixes unless there is an objection. Sincerely, BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 17:49, 10 October 2019 (UTC)


 * I'd agree that linking the languages is unnecessary, especially for entries with really long lists of 20+ languages. Right now, the majority of the entries don't have links on them, but there are a few outliers in the Deceased section that still do. I can remove the links unless there's a reason we should keep them. Manong Kimi (talk) 17:00, 13 March 2022 (UTC) Manong Kimi

Steve Kaufmann
I have added Steve Kaufmann, as he speaks 16 languages, which certainly qualifies him as a polyglot...in fact, he is currently living, one of the top 5 people currently living in terms of number of languages spoken. - see this article Please discuss the matter here before you remove him. Deathlibrarian (talk) 15:33, 24 August 2020 (UTC)

African Polyglot list
Greetings! Mbote! Jambo! Bonjour! MY NAME IS ZEKEH GBOTOKUMA The list of Living African Polyglots is too short and understandably celebrity-oriented. While I would not speak for many African living polyglots who are on this list, I would not mind adding myself to the list. I am a Congolese-born U.S. citizen. I spent 12 years in Europe before migrating to the USA. I speak Ngbaka (native language), Lingala (one of DRC's four national languages), French, English, Italian, German, some Spanish. I am literate in Latin. I am the editor/author of "A Polyglot Pocket Dictionary of Lingala, English, French and Italian" (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016); Founder and President of Polyglots in Action for Diversity, Inc. (PAD), Baltimore Polyglots Meetup Group organizer. Last but not least, I am an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. I would not mind being added to the list of Polyglots, African and/or American. Thanks! Merci! Gracias! Grazie! Obrigado! Danke! Botondi! Matondo! Asante! Xie xie! Arigato! Gamsa hamnida! 2601:147:282:19D0:B441:9227:C300:1C24 (talk) 21:02, 9 February 2022 (UTC)


 * This is a list of notable polyglots. Do you have a source for your multilingualism? One cannot add their own name to their list, much less an article about themself. Find one or more reliable secondary sources, and you might be able to be on the list. Asparagusus (talk) 14:58, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Pope Benedict speaking Spanish
I can't find a video of Pope Benedict XVI speaking Spanish. On the contrary, he gives interviews in English to Spanish TV. He indeed speaks German, Latin French and Italian. Besides, he needed Greek and Hebrew to get through his studies. So he still qualifies as a hyperpolyglot but barely. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.198.175.7 (talk) 15:43, 2 June 2022 (UTC)