Today, with rapid advances in language education and global understanding, we are seeing more and more polyglot speakers in the world. Polyglots speak multiple languages, usually 3 or more. Then there are those who take it even a step further by becoming a hyperpolyglot!
But what is that? Let’s do a little research, shall we?
People’s ability to encode and remember various languages is strengthening and given the injection of new tools to aid learners, more and more people are equipped to become hyperpolyglots who can speak many, many languages fluently.
Throughout history, there have been a number of hyperpolyglots who have made major contributions the field of linguistics but now, it’s perhaps easier than ever to learn languages with an omni-directional approach.
What is a hyperpolyglot?
Becoming a hyperpolyglot obviously involves supreme dedication to language learning or a tremendous talent and affinity for language learning, or more likely, both! There is no easy route towards multilingualism but it is also true that fluency in one language may lead more naturally to fluency in another and over time, it may become easier to add more languages to your repertoire.
Once you have a method you’re familiar with, the process of learning a language may be accelerated. For example, some may easily make the transition between various European Romance languages like Italian, French and Spanish and then, they may pick up English and German relatively easily.
After that, some languages of Eastern Europe may become clearer until eventually, one can speak many European languages with fluency. Learning lots of languages across the world is a different matter, though, and those that criss-cross between lots of different language families are the most serious linguists that walk amongst us.
What is the difference between a linguist and a hyperpolyglot?
Both linguists and polyglots have an in depth and detailed understanding of language. Linguists are those which study language as a science, focussing on grammar, vocab, syntax or history, etc. Linguists may well speak many languages but they don’t have to – you can study other elements of language without learning it.
A hyperpolyglot has to speak multiple languages to earn that title and whilst many of these individuals are formally or practically linguists, they don’t need to actually study other elements of the language, as long as they can learn it!
How many languages do you need to speak to be a hyperpolyglot?
Hyperpolyglotism hasn’t been formally defined so its definition is up to interpretation. Broadly speaking, a hyperpolyglot is someone who speaks more languages than a polyglot, which is 5 – 6 languages, though this hasn’t been formerly defined either!
Basically, though, you ought to be able to speak a fair few languages with fluency to name yourself a polyglot. Some say 10 or more, others say more than 15 – it’s a broad range that’s impossible to narrow down.
In theory the only limit to this is time. If you dedicated every waking minute of every day all your life to learning languages then maybe you’d be able to learn hundreds and hundreds of languages and understand thousands of dialects but no one has achieved this. The thing is, you’d also need to spend a lot of time speaking and practicing with natives – you can’t become a hyperpolyglot via a textbook alone!
Some people have claimed to be able to speak over 60 languages fluently but many of their claims have been refuted and they’ve been routed out as frauds. Still, there are many polyglots who can speak any amount of languages near to this mark and some that can speak more than 60 and that is a crazy feat in itself!
Who can speak the most languages fluently?
Historically, there are many written accounts of hyperpolyglots that could speak many languages.
Sir Richard Francis Burton could allegedly speak 29 languages and many, many dialects. He explored Asia, Africa and many parts of the Americas and throughout his education, he’d already mastered French, Italian, Latin and other European languages.
Emil Krebs, a German diplomat could speak and write some 68 languages with some degree of fluency. He studied 120 languages in total and had collected 3,500 books on language.
William James Sidis was a true genius with one of the highest IQs ever recorded. As a child, we knew 8 languages and by adulthood, he could speak 40 languages and could allegedly learn the fundamentals of any language in a matter of hours.
Today, the most famous hyperpolyglot may be Alexander Arguelles who, since his university days, has amassed knowledge on around 50 languages and can speak most of them with fluency. He states that it’s a domino effect – the more you learn, the greater the cascade and the more familiar you get with language as a whole entity.
Kenneth Hale is a professor of linguistics at MIT and he’s an exceptional hyperpolyglot who can speak 45 languages from all over the world. Reportedly, he can listen to a native conversation for just 15 minutes before joining in!
A famous linguist is Ziad Fazah, who actually holds the Guiness World Record for speaking the greatest number of languages. He’s was the centre of controversy, though, when he appeared on a Chilean TV show where he was quizzed with basic questions from a number of languages he claimed to know. He failed to understand even simple phrases and was labelled a fraud.
Can anyone be a hyperpolyglot?
The short answer to this is yes. Many of us will know if we have an affinity for languages or not, but if you feel strongly inclined to think you do not, then press on and you might end up changing your mind. Not all great polyglots started learning languages early – many of them began at university. You always have a chance and the great thing is, the more you learn, the easier it will get after a while.
At first, though, the leap between a couple of languages and a whole handful will be very hard to grasp and for many, a lacking ability to practice using the languages may hinder their expanding knowledge. If you want to learn many languages then be prepared to practice speaking them in whichever way you can.
Check out these articles on methods to learn a new language:
7 Science-Based Methods to Thinking in a Foreign Language
