History Main / Omniglot

*** Kitty Pryde speaks a wide number of languages. Kitty herself knows fluent royal and standard Shi'ar and has some moderate knowledge of Gaelic, Hebrew, and German. Her {{Platonic Life Partner|s}} Nightcrawler is similarly gifted. {{Justified|Trope}} in that he spent his youth traveling around Europe as the star performer in a circus and knowing the language of wherever they were that week was very handy. Aside from the Russian and Japanese everyone learned he also speaks German (his native language) English, French (which he also ''teaches''), Spanish, and Italian.

Sometimes there may be justification for this -- perhaps it's a superpower, perhaps the character is immortal (and thus had the time to learn the languages the regular way), or perhaps they had an UpgradeArtifact. Sure, some people genuinely are good at languages, but sometimes it shows a lack of research -- the author is not aware that learning a foreign language properly can be quite difficult and time-consuming (perhaps because the author has never properly attempted to learn a second language themself).

The fact that young children are better at learning languages than older children, adults, or teenagers makes this trope easier to [[JustifiedTrope justify]] if the character in question was either A) raised in a highly multilingual environment or B) a ChildProdigy who learned languages for fun when they were four years old.

Sometimes there may be justification for this -- perhaps it's a superpower, perhaps the character is immortal (and thus had the time to learn the languages the regular way) or perhaps they had an UpgradeArtifact. Sure, some people genuinely are good at languages, but sometimes it shows a lack of research -- the author is not aware that learning a foreign language properly can be quite difficult and time-consuming (perhaps because the author has never properly attempted to learn a second language themself).

* One of the abilities that a ''Literature/{{Campione}}'' has is that they pick up and speak any language whatsoever. Kind of boring for the standards of this series, but very useful for the protagonist Godou.

* In ''WesternAnimation/WallE'', EVE, being a robot, is capable of communicating in various languages. When she first encounters WALL•E , she tries to ask him what his directive is in several languages before finding the one he recognizes: English.

** C-3PO is a protocol droid fluent in over 6,000,000 forms of communication, and thus acts as an interpreter. This was at first treated as a throwaway character trait just to get Luke's uncle Owen to buy him and thus become a part of Luke's life (not to mention relay what [[TheUnintelligible R2-D2]] says to others), but Threepio's linguistic abilities eventually become important in ''Episode VI: Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', when the Ewoks see him as a god and he gets their support in defeating the Galactic Empire. He also occasionally proves useful in being able to identify some codes. Despite his abilities, C-3PO is an absolutely horrible interpreter incapable of understanding any allusion or context of the conversation.

* ''Film/{{Spring}}'': Louise can speak many language, probably due to her [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld very long life]], including Italian, English, Latin, Arabic and Turkish.

* In Creator/JohnGrisham's ''Literature/TheFirm'', Mitchell's brother, Ray, has a natural affinity for languages, and is using the immense free time he has in prison to learn several new ones.

* In Creator/AndreiBelyanin's ''Literature/TsarGorokhsDetectiveAgency'' books, the eponymous tsar is fluent in the language of any nation with which his tsardom has diplomatic relations (English, French, Italian, German, Polish, Finnish, Swedish, Tatar, and Persian). When the amazed modern-day protagonist calls him a "polyglot", the tsar is [[CallingMeALogarithm offended]], being unfamiliar with the term. Then he waves it off, saying it's a requirement of his position. Apparently, they've never heard of interpreters. When he later marries an Austrian princess, his speech to her is filled with both Russian and German phrases, mostly of amorous nature. In a later book, he receives a Japanese delegation, and starts peppering his speech with Japanese words.

* ''Literature/WonderWomanWarbringer'': Diana speaks English, Bulgarian and Greek in the story and mentions she speaks every language on Earth.
* In the Literature/{{Xanth}} cycle we have the friends pair Dor the Magician, who can speak to inanimate objects (endowing them with intelligence, cunning and bad humor) and Grundy the Golem, a rag doll that speaks any living language. Good Magician Humphrey supposedly knows every language dead or spoken, but rarely bothers to show.

* Literature/SisterhoodSeries by Creator/FernMichaels: Some instances of this trope have popped up. The Vigilantes all speak English for starters. Kathryn Lucas reveals in the first book ''Weekend Warriors'' that she knows German (to what extent is not revealed), and she is quite fluent in Spanish. Yoko Akia is quite fluent in Chinese as the book ''Vendetta'' shows, ''Free Fall'' indicates that she can speak Japanese, but she states in ''Hide And Seek'' that she can't speak German, because it's so gutteral and too hard on her tongue. After the book ''Free Fall'', the Vigilantes are required to learn Spanish and German. Despite this, Isabelle Flanders is unable to speak Spanish very well in ''Cross Roads''. The book ''Fast Track'' has the Vigilantes finding out that Rena Gold speaks three languages, but they just scoff and one of them says, "Yeah! Fluent in Brooklynese, Southern belle, and kitchey-coo!" Harry Wong apparently knows a lot of languages, but it is never stated what they are or how many he knows, and it seems that he just uses them for cursing and showing that he is beyond furious.

* [[TheHero Pazel Pathkendle]] from ''Literature/TheChathrandVoyages'' goes through periods where he can instantly learn any language after hearing a few words of it, thanks to a spell cast on him years ago by his witch mother to enhance his strongest natural attribute (in this case, learning languages). Unfortunately, at the end of these periods he'll have a "mind fit" that leaves him [[InvertedTrope incapable of using or understanding language at all]] for several hours. His older sister [[LadyOfWar Neda]], affected by the same spell, acquired a [[PhotographicMemory perfect memory]] instead.

* Omniglot is just one piece of the [[SuperpowerLottery assigned superpower package]] for the [[TheGrimReaper Angels of Death]] in Geoph Essex's ''Literature/LovelyAssistant''. Less pan-lingual (but more impressive, since she learns languages the hard way) is [[spoiler:[[BigBad Carrie]] [[StepfordSmiler Raymond]], who her husband describes as]] a polyglot. She is known to speak English, Latin and flawless Portuguese (leading to an awkward moment!), probably speaks at least some Cantonese and/or Mandarin as well (this may be insinuated from certain plot points), and learns a language that human beings shouldn't even be able to speak! [[spoiler:[[BigBad Vincent]] [[StepfordSmiler Raymond]] himself]] speaks English, Japanese, and some Spanish.

* Croaker, physician, historian, annalist, [[spoiler:and later, Captain]] of ''Literature/TheBlackCompany'' has a gift for languages (including sign language, which he refers to as "finger speak."). This hardly surprising, considering his life as both as a traveling mercenary (requiring him to learn the local tongue, wherever "local" happens to be) and as Company annalist (requiring him to read from the Company's history, meaning he needs to know how to read the older volumes that were written in different/archaic languages). Murgen credits him as speaking twenty languages, [[UnreliableNarrator but later confesses to have been in awe of Croaker at the time.]] Some tongues that Croaker speaks are always referred to as dialects, so he may speak a few languages with local variations.

* Kahlan in the [[Literature/TheSwordOfTruth Sword of Truth]] series speaks virtually every language used within the Midlands, thanks her her childhood training as a Confessor, including the languages of various small tribes who are typically unfriendly or homicidal towards outsiders. Partially averted later, as she never bothers to learn High D'Haran so she can help translate all the ancient books of knowledge the heroes keep needing to read.

* Practically a running gag with the number of people in Diana Gabaldon's ''Literature/{{Outlander}}'' series who know multiple languages. Jamie and Lord John are both fluent in English, French, German, Ancient Greek, and Ancient Latin, though Jamie outdoes him with additional fluency in Gaelic, proficiency in Spanish, and being conversational in Cherokee. Roger is fluent in English, Gaelic, Ancient Greek and Ancient Latin; Ian in English, Gaelic, Mohawk and a few other Indian languages; Jenny in English, Gaelic and French; and Claire in English, French, and limited Gaelic(she understands more than she can speak). Fergus, Marsali and their children are implied to be fluent in English, French(from Fergus) and Gaelic(from Marsali). Inverted with Brianna, who apart from English only speaks Gaelic and what is referred to as "bastard(basic) French".

* ''Literature/OksaPollock'': Pavel Pollock can speak Russian, French, German, Chinese, Spanish and Swedish. It was implied that his family members are also fluent in many languages because the inhabitans of Edefia have the power to learn every language they want to speak in a few hours.

* In ''The Fated Sky'' (Book two of the ''Literature/LadyAstronaut'' series), it's revealed that Stetson Parker has an ear for languages, and makes it a point to learn every language of the thirteen other astronauts on his voyage to Mars. Due to Elma's late addition to the crew, he does not speak Yiddish, but is eager enough to learn it that he will temporarily bury the hatchet he and Elma bear in order to learn more.

* ''Literature/AgatonSax'': It would be impossible to provide a list of all the languages Agaton Sax speaks, since such a large list would take up all our available server space. It would also be impossible to provide a list of all the languages that he doesn't speak, since that would require us to find a language like that.

** George "Sticky" Washington is able to ''read'' numerous languages, but has trouble actually speaking anything besides English. In ''The Perilous Journey'', the Society encounters a man that they need to ask how to get to the train station, who speaks Portuguese. Sticky hands him a note written in Portuguese, only for them to discover that he can't read and doesn't speak English. Reynie, however, speaks rudimentary Spanish and as the man does too, this is enough to get them what they need.

* In ''Literature/TheHampdenshireWonder'', the ChildProdigy Victor can pick up new languages almost instantly, and has read the Bible in the original languages by age five.

** Tommy apparently matches his skill handling a quiz on obscure topics responding in whatever language Dick asks him in.

* On ''Series/TheATeam'' Murdock can apparently speak several languages including Spanish, German, Vietnamese, Japanese, Russian and Mandarin Chinese. He can also speak Italian, but it quickly strays into MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels territory.

* ''Series/{{Alias}}'': Sydney Bristow can speak every language that is plot important, but it's never stated how many languages she can speak. The [[https://alias.fandom.com/wiki/Sydney_Bristow fandom wiki]] has reported her speaking 25 languages.

** Beckett can understand Russian, having spent several months as an exchange student in Ukraine. She never speaks it on the show, though, and instead goes with JustAStupidAccent. Note that Stana Katic, who plays Beckett, can speak 5 languages: Serbian, Croatian, French, English and Italian; and can do the accents in British, Irish, Eastern European, Italian, Spanish, Greek, and South African.

** Played more straight with Sarah, whose repertoire at minimum contains fluent German, Russian, and Polish. Possibly French too.

** Then there's Prentiss's replacement, ''linguist'' Alex Blake. Though she only demonstrates English and American Sign Language, she's shown to at least understand written French (and recognize the dialect as creole, rather than just French) and German and the International Phonetic Alphabet. Her academic focus seems to be more on English itself, though the one class we see her teaching has her discussing variation and pidgin languages.

** This joke continues with Eleven being able to speak ''horse''. He must have learned both Baby and Horse at some point before that incarnation since Nine and Ten spoke to a baby Rose, several cats and a horse from pre-revolutionary France lost on a spaceship.

* Dr. ''Series/{{House}}'' speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Hebrew, and Hindi. He probably also knows quite a bit of Dutch -- his family is originally from the Netherlands and he calls his grandmother "Oma". Though he can't speak much of Mandarin, he can only count to ten, say hello and say "your daughter is pregnant." The Japanese is justified -- his father was in the military and he spent part of his childhood on Okinawa. He can also ask if one's sister is of legal age in Korean. He could also correctly guess that Chase's father is of Czech origin just from his accent. Joked about by other characters: ''"Do you actually speak six languages, or were you betting on never being interviewed by someone who does?"''

** [[BigGood Jacob]] is fluent in (at least) Latin ([[spoiler:his mother tongue]]), English, Russian, Korean and presumably other languages as well.

* The shorted lived British Sitcom ''Series/APrinceAmongMen'' has Gary's wife Lisel, who can speak in German and enough English to be able to work as a German to English translator. There is also mention of her knowing French, and some Japanese words.
* Chuck from ''Series/PushingDaisies'' is a passionate student of language, speaking French, Japanese and Mandarin (though her grasp of the latter is 'rusty'), and probably others.

* Hoshi from ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' can speak 40 plus languages. This is justified in one episode where a telepathic alien notes that she has an unusual mind which is hardwired to understand languages. Hoshi eventually programs the early UniversalTranslator that the later series take for granted.

** Used for humour when seventeen-year old Indy engages in a duel of languages with the daughter of a British diplomat. They go through French, German, Italian, Hungarian, Swedish, Greek and Arabic. She finally tries another language, and this time it's unsubtitled. Indy doesn't even recognize what language it is, and she asks: "[[TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes You mean your name is Jones, yet you don't speak Welsh?]]"

* In ''Series/{{Benidorm}}'' it's revealed that in addition to Spanish and English, Mateo can also speak Italian, French and German.

* Creator/ChristopherLee, known for his linguistic ability in real life, recorded the duet "The Wizard's Dream" with [[HeavyMithril Italian power-metal band]] Music/RhapsodyOfFire in four different language versions: English, French, Italian and German.

* Music/TeresaTeng recorded songs in her native Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and English.

* Podcast/DiceFunk: Anne speaks Common, Halfling, Orc, Goblin, and Abyssal. Unfortunately, she isn't quite smart enough to translate accurately....

* Swiss wrestler [[Wrestling/ClaudioCastagnoli Claudio Castagnoli[=/=]Antonio Cesaro]] is said to be able to speak five languages (English, French, German, Italian and Romanch.) However, WWE would say that he is speaking "Swiss."

* Wrestling/{{Meng}} is an interesting case. He can speak English, his native Tongan and other languages, though, in character, he chose not to most of time.

** 1[[superscript:st]] Edition employs the same mechanic as above, with the same numbers. In addition, most nonhuman races start with a fluency in a fair number of different languages. Finally, bards gain more languages as they level up: a maximum-level Magna Alumnae has fluency in no less than fifteen languages from class progression alone.
** In 3.5 Edition, multilingualism is extremely easy. Characters start out fluent in a number of extra languages proportional to their intelligence, and just one skill point enables them to read, write and speak an entire new language. On top of that, the "Master Linguist" feat lets them learn one new language whenever they gain a level.

** 5[[superscript:th]] edition also provides the Linguist feat, though without the high intelligence requisite - anyone can just learn 3 extra languages! Though as 5e contains 16 core languages this is probably a necessity.
*** Spells such as Comprehend Languages and Speak With Animals temporarily extend a character's linguistic abilities, while Monk ability Tongue of the Sun and Moon shows that the character is so in touch with people's energies they can understand all speech, and be understood in turn.

** There's also the Pattern Recognition [[PsychicPowers psi-slight]], which gives a + 20 modifier to interpreting any human language that they have had a few hours of exposure too, but can't automatically learn the language and only reduces training time by half. But it can be used to interpret alien languages as well, Hyper Linguist only works with human languages, and given a week or so can crack most ciphers. It also costs half as much, assuming the [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity slightly insane]] prerequisites are already met.

* ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' has the Language skill -- for every rank, you speak an extra language. One Power Point at character creation gives you four skill points, so for one point, you can know five languages (the native one's free). Fans and some later books have tried to devise ways to make it a little closer to reality. A standard "fix" is to make each language cost two points instead: one to speak, and another to be literate. Although that ratio seems less impressive in a system where one point can also let you breathe in space or casually stroll at 10 MPH and two points lets you speak and understand all languages for every species everywhere.

* In ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'', Mike Thorton is noted as having an unusual gift for languages, which is why the agency recruited him. If you pick the soldier background, the e-mail describing Mike says he picked up Arabic during his tour of duty in Iraq, just by interacting with native speakers. He apparently speaks the language at a fluent level, as well as being capable of understanding and conversing in Russian, Italian and Mandarin Chinese with no apparent difficulty. Technical specialist Mike, meanwhile, has a [=PhD=] in linguistics and is outright stated to know English, Farsi, Arabic, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Mandarin (Chinese) and Japanese.

** in VideoGame/FinalFantasyX the main character, Tidus, can learn the [[CypherLanguage Al Bhed Language]] after completing a world spanning CollectionSidequest to find Al Bhed Primers. By the end of the game once you've collected all 26 primers, Tidus will be completly fluent in speaking Al Bhed.

* The Spy from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is French, and is fluent (apparently) in English, French, Spanish and Italian (and possibly other languages too).

* ''{{VideoGame/Yakuza 4}}'': Tanimura is noted for his language skills, and proves to be conversational in Mandarin, Thai, Korean and Tagalog, on top of his native Japanese.

* Tuuri from ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'' is a native to Finland who took Icelandic and Swedish as second languages, living in a world in which Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland are the only known surviving nations. To add to this, Swedish is close enough to both Danish and Norwegian that she can actually communicate with people speaking those languages.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Rhapsodies}}'', bandmember, Hsin, has been shown to be fluent in several Chinese dialects, Russian, Korean and may know several more. Because of his atrocious English, this usually catches his friends by surprise. English, he's quick to point out, is his "last" language.

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': Blue Devils have a natural talent for languages and can speak just about anything they hear fluently with a little training; the essence of Blue Devils (Blue Devil Liquor) serves as the TranslatorMicrobes of the setting. Cio at one point mentions that she tried learning English to speak with Allison in her native language, but found the language too ornerous.

* ''WebVideo/TheAutobiographyOfJaneEyre'': Miss Blanche Ingram is a model and serious businesswoman, and she claims she's fluent in eight languages. However, at one party she owns to he friend Warren she hated when her Nanny used to make him "conjugate, conjugate, conjugate" as a kid.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': According to Episode 69, Kaeloo can speak English, French, Spanish and German, understand duck language, and possibly knows even more languages.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'': Jenny is showed to language disks in her mouth that allow her to speak any language, however, we have only seen her speaking English and Japanese.

* Drew Saturday from ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'' states she speaks 37 languages. Ulraj claims to speak 15 of their "surface languages," though he doesn't seem to know what countries they come from, but what do you expect for someone who lives underwater?

** Homer can also speak Chinese as demonstrated when he said "Its my first day" to the Chinese navy.

* Moe Berg, a third-string catcher who played for six MLB teams, spoke seven languages fluently and had passing ability in three more. During a tour of Japan by MLB all-stars, Berg was sent along primarily because he could act as a translator. Or to get information on Japanese progress on shipbuilding during WWII (he was an operative of the OSS).

* Creator/JRRTolkien was a [[CunningLinguist polyglot]] who spoke well over a dozen languages and had some comprehension of up to forty, as well as [[{{Conlang}} creating several of his own.]] In fact he was a linguist first and a writer second, himself stating that his stories grew out of his languages rather than the other way around. Certainly not many other authors whose works were translated into many different languages kept pointing out that the translators weren't translating things properly into their own native languages. (See for instance Swedish translator Creator/AkeOhlmarks.)

* Creator/JackieChan speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, Shanghainese, Shangdong dialect, Japanese, Korean, English, and American Sign Language and also speaks some Thai, German, Spanish, Moroccan and Russian.

* Robert Stiller, Polish translator, linguist and essayist makes professional literary translations from and to at least dozen languages (including Polish, German, English, Russian, French, Czech, Ukrainian, Hebrew, Yiddish, Hindi, Old English and Old Icelandic), knows of at least twenty more and possesses cursory knowledge of further few dozen languages and dialects. Although he claims to really 'know' only languages he uses on a daily basis in his work.

* Sir Richard Francis Burton, GeniusBruiser that he was, spoke 29 European, African and Asian languages.

* Andrew Divoff, a Russian-Venezuelan actor you probably know best for playing Mikhail Bakunin on ''Series/{{Lost}}'' speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Catalan, Portuguese and Russian. And he knew how to speak Romanian, but forgot when he had nobody to speak to with it.
* Creator/ChristopherLee spoke English, French, Italian, Spanish, and German; had proficiency in Swedish, Russian, and Greek; and if Sir Creator/IanMcKellen [[http://www.mckellen.com/cinema/lotr/010828.htm is to be believed,]] could handle a little bit of Afrikaans, Zulu, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, and Swahili!

* German politician Willy Brandt, who was born in Lübeck spoke Low German (which gave him a reasonable understanding of Dutch) as a mother tongue, learned High German in school and later acquired reasonable fluency in English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Spanish. When he was Secretary of State from 1966 to 1969, he took French classes because he thought his linguistic abilities weren't enough for such a position. Most of his languages were acquired during his life in exile (Denmark, Norway, and Spain for a short time), but probably his most enduring act of communication involved no talking at all, being a [[DramaticSitDown dramatic genuflection (i.e., kneeling)]] in Warsaw.

* Alfred Nobel knew five languages (Swedish, Russian, German, English, and French) by age seventeen. He once ran an ad in those languages looking for a personal assistant and got a response in all five languages from one applicant: Bertha von Suttner. He hired her on the spot. She was a well-known pacifist and may well have been responsible for the inventor of dynamite and dealer in weapons-grade explosive dedicating his fortune to the Nobel Peace Prize (along with that whole "Merchant of Death" obituary). [[note]] She'd later win it, becoming the first ever woman to do so. [[/note]]

* Member of the British Parliament and current Master World Trader for the City of London Robert Woodthorpe Browne speaks English, French, Spanish and German which makes sense as all those languages are under the Livery's purview.

* A slight aversion: many people from the Balkans understand Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin... because it's all basically the same language.

* In the Torne valley, the border region between Sweden and Finland, multi-linguality is the norm, with everyone speaking ''meänkieli'' (Torne valley language), Finnish and Swedish natively and learning English in school. On top of this, many people speak at least a smattering of North Sami and/or German. The Torne valley is a melting-pot of languages to the point that the ''meänkieli'' word for "foreigner" or "outsider", "ummikko", literally means "monolingual".
* UsefulNotes/PedroII of Brazil, Brazil's second and last monarch, had a passion for linguistics and studied several languages because of that. Besides his native Portuguese, he was able to read and speak in Latin, French, German, English, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Chinese, Occitan and Tupi.
* Luxembourg's former Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, the son of a French woman and a Luxembourgish man, can fluently understand and speak French, Luxembourgish, German and English at a near, if not native level.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansTroubleInTokyo'', Raven is wandering around the eponymous city looking for something to do. She arrives at a news-stand and asks if they carry anything in English, German, Latin, Romanian, Ancient Sumerian, or Sanskrit. Apparently, Starfire and her kind have the ability to gain and understand another's language just by kissing them (which she demonstrated by smooching a Japanese stranger), though her [[StrangeSyntaxSpeaker odd speech patterns]] suggest that these kisses only teach her species the ''words'' of each new language, not necessarily the grammar [[BluntMetaphorsTrauma and certainly not metaphors]].

** Savage's cousin (again, according to [[Creator/PhilipJoseFarmer Farmer]]) Literature/{{Tarzan}} can barely speak English in the movies; thus, most people who saw the pictures first are surprised to learn that in the books he speaks a variety of languages, including at least one non-human one (Ape or "Mangani" -- his "native tongue"). His talent in this area may exceed Doc's; by the end of the second book, after only a year or so around other humans he has mastered French, English, Arabic, and the language of his adopted African tribe, Waziri, roughly in that order.

* Series/{{Angel}}, though not a professional scholar, is also heavily multilingual, well versed in both human and demonic tongues. As a vampire born in 1727 and having lived in most of Europe and the U.S., he presumably has had plenty of time to learn.

* On ''Series/TheATeam'' Murdock can apparently speak several languages including Spanish, German, Vietnamese, Japanese, Russian and Mandarin Chinese. He can also speak Italian, but it quickly strays into MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels territory.
-->'''Murdock:''' What can I say? One day I had a gonzo headache and before it went away I could read and speak Chinese. And it was a bad afternoon, too, lemme tell you.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' has {{Literature/Wulfrik}} the Wanderer, a warrior who drunkenly boasted he could kill any warrior anywhere, and now wanders reality for eternity proving that. He has the ability "Gift of Tongues", which lets him speak any language anywhere. He uses this to deliver the most heinous insults possible to his enemies; in game terms, if he issues a challenge to another character, they ''cannot'' refuse, because they're too pissed off by his insults to back down.

* Dabbler from ''Webcomic/GrrlPower'' claims to know lots of languages -- ''lots''. Mind you, most of them are probably not from Earth.

** ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'''s Detective Serena Stevens is said to be a "linguistic savant". Largely an InformedAbility; in her entire (admittedly short) run on the show, she uses the skill exactly once, in her first episode.

* Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, the son of a French woman and a Luxembourgish man, can fluently understand and speak French, Luxembourgish, German and English at a near, if not native level.

* When the cast was running after a couple of suspects in Chinatown, the eponymous character of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' revealed that he could speak Chinese, apparently fluently, as he talks to a pair of terrified bystanders. When asked, [[Series/{{Firefly}} he claims to have learned it]] [[ShoutOut from a TV show he used to love]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansTroubleInTokyo'', Raven is wandering around the eponymous city looking for something to do. She arrives at a news-stand and asks if they carry anything in English, German, Latin, Romanian, Ancient Sumerian, or Sanskrit. Apparently, Starfire and her kind have the ability to gain and understand another's language just by kissing them (which she demonstrated by smooching a Japanese stranger).

** ComicBook/CaptainAmerica can speak English, German, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, French and Italian. There might be even more that he is lingual in.

** ''ComicBook/XForce'': Shatterstar possesses enhanced learning capabilities and mastered Spanish by watching television. He's since been shown to be fluent in at least one other language (German), and probably speaks several others.
** ''ComicBook/XMen'': One of the benefits of having so many {{telepath|y}}s running around the various teams of X-Men is that they've mastered how to hit field operatives with short-duration language programming, mostly by reading the minds of people in the area they're visiting. Examples include teaching Frenzy several local African dialects; programming the entire field team with local customs and languages when they visit a spaceship graveyard in Indonesia; and Cyclops becoming fully fluent in Cantonese for a couple of weeks when the team undertakes a mission in Hong Kong. In earlier comics, [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Professor X]] often uses his telepathic powers to teach members new languages as neccesary. For example, Colossus (being a rural Russian farmboy) originally spoke no English, so Xavier telepathically taught him the language, so thoroughly that Piotr speaks with an American accent (minus the occasional smattering of GratuitousRussian). Similarly, when Piotr's sister Illyana came to stay with the team, Xavier taught her fluent English over the course of a single night by programming it into her brain while she slept and telepathically taught the X-Men to all speak fluent Russian, and when the team went to Japan for Wolverine's wedding to Mariko Yashida, he likewise taught them Japanese.