A New York City teen has earned himself the title of world’s youngest polyglot and boasts the ability to fluently speak 23 languages!
Timothy Doner is only 17 years old and, in the last five years, has already masters 23 languages! Doner’s interest in languages first began when he had to learn some Hebrew for his Bar Mitzvah and found that he really enjoyed it and so taught himself modern Hebrew. He then moved on to Arabic and within a week was able to read the language fluently!
Since then, Donre has taught himself tons of languages ranging from Italian, Spanish, French and Russian to Swahili, Dutch, Farsi and Ojibwe. What’s even more impressive is that Doner has taught himself these languages with only online apps and grammar books! He begins by learning to pronounce the alphabet correctly and then teaches himself the grammar. After that, he frequently visits chat rooms to practice the language and has even befriended an Ohio polyglot who has mastered 50 languages!
Doner has no plans of slowing down, though. He now plans to master Sudanese and Malay. He says his extensive language skills come in handy, especially in a city like New York where there are so many different cultures living together. He also says a perk of being a polyglot is that he is able to eavesdrop on some funny and interesting conversations!
Do you speak any languages besides English? Which ones are your favourite? Join the discussion on Facebook or Twitter!