The Possibility of Speaking 30 Languages: A Polyglot's Journey

Is it possible for a person to know 30 languages? Throughout history, there have been individuals such as Emil Krebs and Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti who allegedly spoke and wrote the astonishing number of languages. However, the validity of their claims is subject to debate.

Notable Examples of Polyglots

One example is Governor Bowring of Hong Kong, who was a remarkable language learner, involved with Byron and the independence war in Greece, and a kind leader of workers such as the Salt workers of Bradford. While such figures walked a path that is highly regarded, whether it's possible for a single individual to master 30 languages remains questionable.

What Makes Hyper-Polyglots Possible?

Hyper-polyglots, who make up less than 1% of the population, have been able to achieve this feat. However, for the average person, it's extremely challenging. Learning 30 languages requires a significant amount of time and dedication.

Rough Estimations and Realistic Goals

While the goal of mastering 30 languages might seem audacious, let us break down the numbers. The 24 official EU languages include:

Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, and Swedish

Some belong to the same family, making them easier to learn once mastered. For instance, the Slavic, Italic, Germanic, Uralic, Celtic, and Semitic language families.

Committing to learning 10 languages, rather than 30, might seem more manageable. We can strategically choose languages within each family to maximize our time and skills. For example, once you learn Italian, it becomes easier to understand Spanish, owing to the similarity in grammar and vocabulary. The same logic applies to French, Portuguese, and Romanian.

Strategic Learning Approach

Let's use the EU official languages as our target and break it down even further:

**Slavic (8)**: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Polish, Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, Macedonian, Russian (already included in Slavic other than Russian) **Italic (6)**: Italian, Romanian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin (already included in Italic) **Germanic (5)**: German, Dutch, English, Swedish, Danish **Uralic (3)**: Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian **Celtic (4)**: Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Breton **Semitic (1)**: Maltese (excluding Maltese here) **Greek (1)**: Modern Greek (excluding Greek due to Semitic and Greek differences)

With this breakdown, we can strategically learn 5 languages from each family and then apply a "trick" similar to the Italian-Spanish-French-Portuguese-Romanian example.

Realistic Time Estimates

Learning a language effectively requires significant time and immersion. Assuming a baseline of 5-6 years for mastering Italian, the concept of "trick" learning applies when switching to other languages. For instance, if you learn Italian for 5-6 years, you could dedicate one additional year to learn the remaining Italic languages, taking you about 10 years in total. The Germanic languages would take another 10 years due to the significant differences in language structure.

Conclusion

Based on these estimations and practical considerations, learning 30 languages in a lifetime would be extremely challenging for the average person. While it is theoretically possible for some individuals who start young or dedicate their careers to language learning, it remains a nearly impossible feat for the majority. The journey towards multilingualism is admirable, and even achieving a smaller number of languages can be a significant accomplishment.