Let me introduce you to Vaughn Smith. He is a carpet cleaner by profession, living in the Washington, D.C. area. Earlier this year, he came to the attention of various media for one particular reason: he is a “hyperpolyglot.” That is, he is not just an ordinary, everyday polyglot who speaks three or four languages. He is an individual whose linguistic capabilities – assuming they are reported correctly – surpass those of any other real person I know of.
But are these reports accurate? Various articles give somewhat differing accounts of his capabilities. This one says he speaks eight languages fluently, with 37 more that he knows on some level. If I’m reading the article right, he can speak 25 of these additional 37 well enough to hold long conversations. That means he can claim, in total, knowledge of 45 languages.
However, a second article gives a different picture. It says that Vaughn Smith can speak 24 languages fluently and 37 languages in all. Yet another article states that he “has at least the basics of 41 languages.” This means that, choosing three articles at random, we get three different estimations of Smith’s abilities. Depending on the source, he speaks either 37, 41 or 45 languages, at differing levels of fluency.
If you want to see Smith in action, watch this video. Unfortunately, it only shows him speaking one sentence of each of the languages he is demonstrating. In no way does this give us any idea of his real depth of knowledge.
Reading through the different takes on the supernaturally talented carpet cleaner is an exercise in frustration. I think we can safely assume that Vaughn Smith is linguistically very talented. However, reading the articles and watching the videos does not allow us to conclude just how skilled he is to any degree of certainty.
The real story here is not the limitations of a particular polyglot, but the limitations of modern media. Most articles of this kind can only skim the surface of a phenomenon, and in many cases, journalists have to take on faith what they’ve been told by their interlocutors.
So – is Vaughn Smith the real thing? Is he as impressive as fictional characters like Father Sandoz from The Sparrow or Missandei from Game of Thrones? We will only know the truth if he undergoes some rigorous testing in every language he claims to speak. Something like having him translate parts of the Acquis Communautaire from French into Nahuatl, or describe the various monuments and attractions of the D.C. area in Bulgarian, which he says is his favorite language. However, given that his 15 minutes of fame have already passed, I doubt this will ever happen.