I recently read a story in the Washington Post about a man, named Vaughn Smith, who can speak 24 languages (8 fluently and 16 more in which he can carry on a conversation) and has intermediate to basic familiarity with 17 more languages. This man is a hyperpolyglot (someone who can speak 11 languages or more). Although I consider myself a polyglot, knowing 5 languages fairly well (Dutch, English, French, German, Latin) and knowing enough Spanish “to be dangerous.” This amazing man knows so many more!
He grew up in a bilingual home (English and Mexican Spanish) – as did I (Dutch and English), which was the start of his amazing journey. Living in Washington, DC, he met classmates who spoke a variety of different languages and from there his proficiency in many languages took off.
The monolingual journalist, Jessica Contrera, who was writing a story about him wondered if perhaps the language parts of his brain were different in some way (larger, perhaps?) from a monolingual brain. They both underwent MRIs at the MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences lab. Researchers found that the language regions of his brain were actually smaller and less active and that this was likely due to the high efficiency level of those regions. Researchers have found this to be true in other hyperpolyglots, as well. It is possible that he is on the autism spectrum and is a savant when it comes to languages.
Here is the link in the Washington Post (you may need to have a subscription to access it):
