Who are polyglots and how do they differ from bilinguals? Is it true that learning multiple languages is only possible if you start in early childhood? We’ve also compiled a list of 15 well-known Russian writers who were polyglots with an impressive command of foreign languages.
Polyglots Meaning — Who Are They?
According to researchers, polyglots are people who have learned several foreign languages to varying degrees of fluency. However, there’s no fixed number of languages that qualifies someone as a polyglot. Some sources suggest five, others say up to eleven. Still, for the average person, knowing even five languages seems beyond impressive.
Interestingly, polyglots differ from bilinguals and multilinguals in one key way: they usually learn most of their languages consciously in adulthood. In contrast, bilinguals typically grow up learning two or more languages simultaneously from birth, often due to their environment.
Polyglots usually have a deliberate desire to learn languages and put in significant effort to do so. One common myth is that polyglots have a unique kind of memory. In fact, learning the first two foreign languages is often just as difficult for them as it is for anyone else. However, once they grasp the structure of new language systems, learning additional languages tends to become easier—especially if the new languages belong to the same language family.
Russian Writers Who Were Polyglots
Below is a list of famous Russian writers and intellectuals who spoke multiple foreign languages. Many of them translated foreign works into Russian themselves, and some even wrote in other languages. The list is presented in chronological order.
18th Century Writers
- Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711–1765) — A Russian genius, writer, scientist, and inventor. He didn’t learn to read in Russian until age 14. It’s unclear exactly how many languages he knew, but sources say he was fluent in German, French, Italian, and English. He also knew Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. In addition, he is said to have learned Polish, Hungarian, Finnish, Mongolian, Irish, and Norwegian—totaling more than 13 languages!
- Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin (1745–1792) — One of the first Russian playwrights during Catherine the Great’s reign. He knew three foreign languages: German, French, and Latin. He translated fablesby Holberg and Voltaire from German and “Metamorphoses” by Ovid from Latin.
19th Century Writers
- Alexander Sergeyevich Griboyedov (1795–1829) — Writer, poet, diplomat, translator—he wore many hats. According to biographers, he knew nine foreign languages, including rare ones such as Persian, Arabic, and Turkish.
- Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799–1837) — It’s well known that French was Pushkin’s first language. Estimates vary, but it's believed he could read and translate from six languages: French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Church Slavonic.
- Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (1803–1873) — He spoke five foreign languages: French, German, Italian, Latin, and Greek. At age 12, he was already translating Horace’s odes into Russian.
- Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov (1814–1841) — Besides mastering four foreign languages, Lermontov was also a passionate artist and musician. He played four musical instruments.
- Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818–1883) — Turgenev knew classical languages such as Latin and Greek, as well as modern European ones like English, German, French, and Italian. He translated tales by Charles Perrault and poems by Goethe, Heine, and Byron into Russian. He also translated Pushkin’s poetry into French and helped establish a tradition of translating Russian literature into French.
- Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821–1881) — He knew six languages and read original works in all of them. His working languages included English, French, German, Italian, Latin, and Greek.
- Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) — It’s believed he spoke more than 15 foreign languages. His personal library contained tens of thousands of books in 39 languages!
- Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky (1828–1889) — Officially fluent in nine languages, with Greek and Latin being his first foreign languages. He translated historical works by Schlosser, Weber, and Rousseau.
Turn of the 20th Century and Beyond
- Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont (1867–1942) — A remarkable polyglot, Balmont is said to have spoken 30 languages, with fluency in 16. One notable work he translated was the sacred Mayan book Popol Vuh, originally written in the ancient Kʼicheʼ language.
- Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin (1870–1953) — The first Russian Nobel Prize laureate in literature for The Life of Arseniev. He translated from at least six languages: Italian, French, English, Ukrainian, Polish, and Armenian. He received the Pushkin Prize for his translation of The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
- Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890–1960) — Grew up fluent in English, French, and German. He also studied Latin and knew Georgian. He spent over 30 years translating and refining his Russian version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy owes much to Pasternak.
- Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov (1891–1940) — Knew five foreign languages: French, German, English, Latin, and Greek. He corresponded directly with foreign publishers about his books.
- Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (1899–1977) — Was fluent in English and French, and translated literary works from both. He translated Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll into Russian, along with works by Shakespeare.
We also have blog articles exploring the works of Pushkin и Chekhov, as well as a great list of film adaptations of Russian literary classics.
