Richard Simcott

Richard Simcott
Born Chester, England
Nationality British
Known for Polyglotism

Richard Simcott is a hyperpolyglot who lives in Chester, United Kingdom. He speaks 16 languages fluently. Harper Collins referred to him as "One of the most multilingual people from the United Kingdom".[1] Besides the languages that he exhibits fluency in, he also has actively studied more than 50 languages at some point in his career.[2]

Background

Simcott was born in the UK, with English as his first language, quickly learning French at a young age (he says he does not remember not speaking French). He grew up in the English Wales Border districts so quickly learnt Welsh as well. His Father re-married a Thai woman, so he started to learn Thai on some trips there as a teenager. Since that time he has learned a range of languages including Turkish, Polish, Hebrew, Chinese, Icelandic, Macedonian[3] and Esperanto.[4][5] Simcott has worked with languages in the UK diplomatic service, he has been a production manager for Emoderation as well as being the languages director for Polpea. He has also hosted a range of Polyglot conferences internationally, and is the current head of the Polyglot conference.[6] he was featured in the Canadian documentary on Polyglots "Word Play" [7] along with Axel Van Hout, Alexandre Coutu and Steven Kaufmann. Simcott runs his own Blog "Speaking Fluently" and has published a book on French Short Stories. In 2015 the Goethe Institut named him Ambassador for Multilingualism.[8][9]

Language abilities

He is regarded as one of the most proficient polyglots in the UK. Simcott can learn languages in very short periods of time, and has passed C1 Fluency exams after 3 months of study. He can speak about 30 languages in total to some degree.[10] Unlike many polyglots, Simcott continues to study languages in a university environment.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Fotheringham, John Jan 16, 2015 http://l2mastery.com "Interview with Hyperpolyglot Richard Simcott of SpeakingFluently.com"
  2. ↑ "An extraordinary story: Richard Simcott - The Polyglot Dream". www.thepolyglotdream.com. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  3. ↑ Alex Gentry "My Favorite Language Learners Series: Richard Simcott" Medium https://medium.com/@gentryalex13/my-favorite-language-learners-series-richard-simcott-c2c0ab0b7d8b
  4. ↑ "an-extraordinary-story-richard-simcott" thepolyglotdream Jan 13, 2013 http://www.thepolyglotdream.com/an-extraordinary-story-richard-simcott/
  5. ↑ Fotheringham, John Jan 16, 2015 http://l2mastery.com "Interview with Hyperpolyglot Richard Simcott of SpeakingFluently.com"
  6. ↑ Mello, Jimmy "Richard Simcott – A polyglot from Chester and a life-long language learner speaking Portuguese" MyPolyglot http://mypolyglot.com/2015/07/09/richard-simcott-a-polyglot-from-chester-and-a-life-long-language-learner-speaking-portuguese/
  7. ↑ 16x9onglobal (7 May 2012). "Word Play" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  8. ↑ Polyglotconference 2017 "Organisers Page" http://polyglotconference.com/index.php?/organizers
  9. ↑ Williams, Martin "Multilingual speakers language learning" The Guardian 5 September 2013 https://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/sep/05/multilingual-speakers-language-learning
  10. ↑ Robson, David 2015 "How to learn 30 languages" BBC http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150528-how-to-learn-30-languages
  11. ↑ Williams, Martin "Multilingual speakers language learning" The Guardian 5 September 2013 https://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/sep/05/multilingual-speakers-language-learning
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