Ioannis Ikonomou

Ioannis Ikonomou (Greek: Ιωάννης Οικονόμου; born 1964 in Heraklion, Crete) is a Greek translator who has been working for the European Commission in Brussels since 2002.[1] Considered a notable contemporary example of a polyglot, he knows 32 living languages including Greek, English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Finnish, Danish, Russian, Swahili, Hebrew, Arabic, Mandarin and Bengali, and reportedly as many as 47 languages including dead languages like Old Church Slavic. He speaks 21 out of 24 official EU languages.[2][3][4] He considers the Mandarin language as the most complicated language to learn.[5] Chinese is also his favorite language. He is the only in-house translator of the European Commission who is trusted to translate classified Chinese documents.[6]

Ioannis Ikonomou
Native name
Ιωάννης Οικονόμου
Born1964 (age 55–56)
Irakleio, Crete, Greece
OccupationTranslator
NationalityGreek
EducationUniversity of Thessaloniki
Alma materColumbia University
SpouseJohannes

Education

Inspired by foreign tourists visiting Crete,[7] he began to study foreign languages at a young age: English at age five, when he moved to Athens with his family, German at seven, Italian at 10, Russian at 13, East African Swahili at 14, and Turkish at 16.[8] He had learned 15 languages by the age of 20. He studied linguistics at the University of Thessaloniki before pursuing an MA in Middle Eastern languages and cultures at Columbia University in the United States. He continued with a PhD in Indo-European linguistics at Harvard University.[9] The subject of his dissertation in Harvard was a text by Zarathustra written in Avestan, a form of Old Iranian.

Personal life

He is married to Tomek, who is Polish. To maintain his language skills, he chats online with native speakers from around the world.[3] His favorite hobby is reading Chinese books and taking notes.

See also

References
  1. "European Commission - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - FAQs on multilingualism and language learning". europa.eu. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  2. Rice, Xan (2015-08-03). "The man who speaks 32 languages - and counting". New Statesman. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  3. Schiltz, Christoph B. (2014-06-09). "Der Mann, der 32 Sprachen fließend spricht" [The man who speaks 32 languages fluently]. Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  4. Jovanovska, Svetlana (2009-06-05). "Ioannis Ikonomou beherrscht 47 Sprachen" [Ioannis Economou mastered 47 languages]. Neue Ruhr Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  5. This Man Speaks 32 Different Languages.. Great Big Story.
  6. Ioannis Ikonomou: The man who speaks 32 languages. linguesenzasforzo. 2013-01-15.
  7. Doulami, Maria-Christina (2013-12-18). "i speak 32 languages". Cafébabel. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  8. Tsagari, Daphne (2014-09-19). "A Greek Translator Equipped with 32 Different Languages". Greek Reporter.
  9. "Nee's Language Blog: A Greek Who Speaks 32 Languages". Nee's Language Blog.


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