The most famous polyglots

According to the academic dictionary of foreign words, POLYGLOT (from Greek polyglottos - “multilingual”) denotes that people speak many languages. But many is how many? Consider yourself a polyglot: in addition to native need to know in perfection at least four languages: absolutely free and preferably without an accent to speak them as accurately as possible to translate recorded speech and written text, competently and to write clearly. There is also a view that people with average abilities may, in the course of life to master five languages.

And now I would like to introduce You to the most famous polyglots, some of which You probably knew, but perhaps had no idea that they had mastered several languages.

Let's start from the beginning: from the Buddha and Mohammed. The legend says that the Buddha spoke 150 languages, and Mohammed knew all the languages of the world.

The most famous polyglot of the past is the custodian of the library of the Vatican, cardinal Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti (1774 - 1849). Mezzofanti was legendary during his lifetime. In addition to the main European languages, he knew Estonian, Latvian, Georgian, Armenian, Albanian, Kurdish, Turkish, Persian and many others. It is believed that he translated one hundred fourteen languages and seventy-two “dialects”, as well as several dozen dialects. Fluent in sixty languages, he wrote almost in fifty poems and epigrams. The cardinal never traveled outside Italy and learned it is an incredible amount of languages themselves. “Guinness world records” says that Mezzofanti was fluent only twenty-six or twenty-seven languages.

There was a polyglot in Soviet Russia too, albeit slightly. Here are two examples.

The national Commissar of education Anatoly Lunacharsky, when he was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences, began his speech in Russian language, continued in German, French, English, Italian and finished in the tradition of classic Latin.

The first Deputy of the Dzerzhinsky and the Chairman of the OGPU Vyacheslav R. Menzhinsky knew except the Russian another thirteen languages: German, English, French and Italian fluent in. The Dzerzhinsky knew three foreign languages, one of which was Russian, which he spoke without an accent and well-written (native to him was Polish).

Lenin was not a polyglot, although in some editions of reason argued that he knew eleven (?!) languages. It's all total nonsense. Lenin, like everyone who finished the pre-revolutionary school, knew French and German, later in English. These three foreign languages he knew perfectly what has been written. After Lenin, who owned three foreign languages, few of the leaders of the Soviet state knew at least one or two languages other than Russian. Stalin knew Georgian, able to speak Abkhaz. Khrushchev once boasted that he knows the Ukrainian language. Andropov knew English. Chernenko in Russian explained somehow.

Knowledge of foreign languages has long been considered an integral sign of high culture. Many historical figures, diplomats and generals had mastered several foreign languages.

Few people know that Bohdan Khmelnytsky spoke five languages.

Empress Catherine II, in addition to his native German and Russian, she was fluent in three languages.

Many polyglots among scholars and writers.

Аlexander Griboyedov spoke French, German, English and Italian from his youth, and studied Latin and Greek. Later he mastered Persian, Arabic and Turkish.

Writer Senkovsky (Baron Brambeus) was a famous polyglot: in addition to Polish and Russian, knew Arabic, Turkish, French, German, English, Italian, Icelandic, Basque, Persian, modern Greek. He studied Mongolian and Chinese.

Fabulist Krylov knew perfectly French, Italian and German. Later learned Greek. Studied English language.

Leo Tolstoy spoke fluent English, French and German, fluent reading Italian, Polish, Czech and Serbian. He knew Greek, Latin, Ukrainian, Tatar, old Church Slavonic, studied Hebrew, Turkish, Dutch, Bulgarian and other languages.

Nikolai Chernyshevsky very thoroughly studied nine languages in 16 years: Latin, ancient Greek, Persian, Arabic, Tatar, Hebrew, French, German and English.

Johann Ludwig Heinrich Julius Schliemann, a German businessman and Amateur archaeologist, famous for his discoveries in Asia Minor, in the place which he considered ancient (Homeric) Troy. Doing totally independently, it is less than three years managed to master the Dutch, English, French, Italian and Portuguese. He soon began to study Russian language. Just six weeks later, Schliemann was able to write in Russian business letter. At the time he was only 24 years old.

Many linguists knew the language well.

Among foreign linguists, the biggest polyglot was, apparently, Rasmus Christian Rask, a professor at the University of Copenhagen. He spoke two hundred and thirty languages and compiled dictionaries and grammars of several dozen of them.

Polyglots around us

Belgian Johan Vandewalle is known outside his country as the preeminent polyglot: he knows thirty-one language. For outstanding achievements in the study of foreign languages special European jury, composed of well-known Western European linguists, was awarded the honorary Belgian “Babylonian prize.” Johan categorically denies that he has any special linguistic abilities. By education he is a engineer-architect.

Italian Professor-linguist Alberto Talabani is fluent in all European languages. He is a member of the fifty academies of science around the world. In 12 years, the future polyglot owned seven languages. At 22, he received the diploma of graduate of the University of Bologna. Then he knew fifteen languages. Annually Professor Roman takes hold of two or three languages! One of the linguistic congresses (in 1996) he played with a greeting in fifty languages.

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In Budapest not so long ago, there lived a translator and writer Kato Lomb, who is fluent in Russian, English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Polish, Chinese and Japanese languages and six languages translate fiction and technical texts. Most interesting is that Kato Lomb all languages learned in adulthood and in the short term. Spanish, for example, she learned in just a month. In high school she was considered the language generally incompetent and incapable student.

In the UK a consummate polyglot today can be regarded as the journalist Harold Williams, who knows eighty languages. Interestingly, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French and German Harold learned when he was only eleven years old.

The most important polyglot planet of 1997, recognized as forty Ziad Fawzi, a Brazilian of Lebanese descent which owns fifty eight languages. Despite the outstanding talent, sir Fawzi man is extremely modest. Modestly teaches foreign languages at the University of são Paulo. Modestly translates. From any of fifty-eight languages. And wants to translate from one hundred. And any to any. Now he is preparing to publish textbooks in multiple languages using his method of rapid assimilation of the material.

Famous Russian polyglots:

• Vyacheslav Ivanov, philologist, anthropologist - about 100 languages

• Sergei Alipov, associate Professor, Department of Scandinavian Philology of St. Petersburg University 44 languages

• Yuri Solomakhin, the Moscow journalist - 38 languages

• Evgeny Chernyavskiy, philologist, translator-interpreter - 38 languages

• Dmitry Petrov, translator, lecturer at the Moscow linguistic University - 30 languages

• Willy Melnikov, a Russian polyglot, researcher, Institute of Virology, owns more than 100 languages. Nominated for the Guinness Book of records. Enjoys photography, drawing, architecture, history, caving.

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