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Meet the Eight-Year-Old Linguistic Prodigy from Denmark
Believe it or not: Ankjær Nørgaard, an eight-year-old from Denmark, astonishingly speaks 32 languages, including Yiddish and Hebrew. Despite being offered a scholarship at the University of Copenhagen, his parents prefer to keep him at home. "We know it's a gift, but sending him to university might disrupt his normal social development," they say.
In Denmark, eight-year-old Ankjær Nørgaard is making headlines as a linguistic maestro, fluently speaking an impressive 32 languages and dialects. This young prodigy is the youngest person ever recognized for such linguistic prowess.
Among the languages he speaks are Arabic, Bengali, Danish, Dutch, English, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mandarin (a category for Chinese dialects still in use today in northern and southwestern China), Maori, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Quechua, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Urdu, Vietnamese, Zulu, and even Yiddish and Hebrew.
"I can't really explain it, but it comes very easily to me," Nørgaard expressed during interviews with the media. "Learning Arabic took me a few weeks; Swahili was a bit more complex. I guess when it comes to languages, I have a quick and good grasp. Essentially, as thinking individuals, we don't have that many differences between languages. Once you know a dozen, the others come pretty easily," he said.
Ankjær's mother, Frida Müller, stated that they, his parents, are fully aware that their son has a remarkable gift, but they aim to channel this talent in a way that allows him to lead a regular life. "Even though our son was recently offered a scholarship by the University of Copenhagen, we prefer to keep him at home and 'normalize' his life as much as possible, because it is safer for him here. Sending such a young child to university might interfere with the normal socialization process that every child his age goes through," the mother explained.
Among the languages he speaks are Arabic, Bengali, Danish, Dutch, English, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mandarin (a category for Chinese dialects still in use today in northern and southwestern China), Maori, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Quechua, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Urdu, Vietnamese, Zulu, and even Yiddish and Hebrew.
"I can't really explain it, but it comes very easily to me," Nørgaard expressed during interviews with the media. "Learning Arabic took me a few weeks; Swahili was a bit more complex. I guess when it comes to languages, I have a quick and good grasp. Essentially, as thinking individuals, we don't have that many differences between languages. Once you know a dozen, the others come pretty easily," he said.
Ankjær's mother, Frida Müller, stated that they, his parents, are fully aware that their son has a remarkable gift, but they aim to channel this talent in a way that allows him to lead a regular life. "Even though our son was recently offered a scholarship by the University of Copenhagen, we prefer to keep him at home and 'normalize' his life as much as possible, because it is safer for him here. Sending such a young child to university might interfere with the normal socialization process that every child his age goes through," the mother explained.
