FAMOUS

POLYGLOTS &
THEIR BEST WAYS
TO LEARN A
LANGUAGE

THE TERM “POLYGLOT” IS OFTEN USED TO

DESCRIBE PEOPLE WHO CAN SPEAK MORE
THAN THREE LANGUAGES. IF YOU SPEAK
TWO LANGUAGES YOU’RE BILINGUAL, IF
YOU SPEAK THREE YOU’RE TRILINGUAL. IF
YOU SPEAK MORE, YOU MAY BE
CONSIDERED A POLYGLOT.

Polyglots are certainly rare and

interesting people: only about
3% of the world’s total
population can speak four or
more languages.
RICHARD SIMCOTT
Languages
spoken:
English (native), French, Spanish, Welsh, German, Macedonian,
Swedish, Italian, Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian, Portuguese, Czech,
Catalan, Russian, Dutch, Romanian, Albanian.

“ Look at the quality of the dialogues or the

texts. Are they things that you can find
interesting? Are they things that maybe you
think will help you stay motivated to learn the
language? Are they things that are appropriate
for your level?”
LÝDIA MACHOVÁ
Languages
spoken:
Slovak (native), English, German, Spanish, French, Polish,
Esperanto, Russian, Swahili.

“I personally think that if I have some talent

for languages, that it helps me maybe 15%
more than other people who are not talented.
That means I need to work just 15% less than
those who are not talented. And that is not
really very much, is it?”
LUCA LAMPARIELLO
Languages
spoken:

Italian (native), English, French, German, Spanish, Swedish,

Russian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin
Chinese.

“Languages cannot be taught, they can only be

learned.”
LINDIE BOTES
Languages
spoken:
Afrikaans (native), English (native), French, Korean, Japanese,
Mandarin, Vietnamese, Malay, Arabic and Hungarian.

“To reward yourself and stay motivated, keep

track of your progress. This will help you when
you feel like you are not getting anywhere.”
KERSTIN CABLE
Languages
spoken:
German (native), English, French, Italian, Latin, Russian, Spanish,
and Welsh.

“If I had held myself to the high standards that

I see some language learners trying to achieve,
I would have never passed [a training course to
be a “multilingual secretary”]. Instead, I
learned how to adopt a positive approach.”
IKENNA
Languages
spoken:
English (native), Japanese, Russian, Chinese, Dutch, French,
Spanish.

“My philosophy is that language learning needs

to be as fun as possible in order to be as
efficient as possible.”
LINDSAY WILLIAMS
Languages
spoken:
English (native), Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese,
Esperanto, Japanese, Indonesian, Dutch, Mandarin, and Korean.

“The basic idea is that language learning

doesn’t happen with a straight line upwards of
progress. Instead it’s made up of phases of
steady growth (most of our time language
learning) and speedy gains.”
EVEN JUST LEARNING ONE
LANGUAGE IS ENOUGH TO
OPEN UP YOUR WORLD,
EXPAND YOUR
OPPORTUNITIES, AND TO
EXPERIENCE THE
CONNECTIONS THAT MAKE
LIFE WORTH LIVING.
THANK YOU
FOR
ATTENTION