Cunning Linguist
“He is still underselling his abilities. By his count, it is actually 37 more languages, with at least 24 he speaks well enough to carry on lengthy conversations. He can read and write in eight alphabets and scripts. He can tell stories in Italian and Finnish and American Sign Language. He’s teaching himself Indigenous languages, from Mexico’s Nahuatl to Montana’s Salish. The quality of his accents in Dutch and Catalan dazzle people from the Netherlands and Spain … How did he get this way? And what was going on in his brain? But also: why was he cleaning carpets for a living?” WaPo (Gift Article): The remarkable brain of a carpet cleaner who speaks 24 languages. “In a city where diplomats and embassies abound, where interpreters can command six-figure salaries at the State Department or the International Monetary Fund, where language proficiency is résumé rocket fuel, Vaughn was a savant with a secret.” Most people in his home town of Washington speak only two languages. English and doublespeak. (Wait, maybe that counts as three languages?)