Ioannis Ikonomou

Ioannis Ikonomou (Greek: Ιωάννης Οικονόμου) is a Greek translator who has been working for the European Commission in Brussels since 2002. Considered a notable contemporary example of a polyglot, he knows 32 living languages including Greek, English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Finnish, Danish, Russian, East African Swahili, Hebrew, Arabic, Mandarin and Bengali, and reportedly as many as 47 languages including dead languages like Old Church Slavic. He speaks 21 out of 24 official EU languages.[1][2][3]

Education

He studied linguistics at the University of Thessaloniki before pursuing an MA in Middle Eastern languages and cultures at Columbia University in the United States. He continued with a PhD in Indo-European linguistics at Harvard University.[4]

Personal life

He is married to Tomek, who is Polish.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rice, Xan (2015-08-03). "The man who speaks 32 languages - and counting". New Statesman. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  2. 1 2 Schiltz, Christoph B. (2014-06-09). "Der Mann, der 32 Sprachen fließend spricht" [The man who speaks 32 languages fluently]. Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  3. ↑ Jovanovska, Svetlana (2009-06-05). "Ioannis Ikonomou beherrscht 47 Sprachen" [Ioannis Economou mastered 47 languages]. Neue Ruhr Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  4. ↑ "Nee's Language Blog: A Greek Who Speaks 32 Languages". Nee's Language Blog.
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