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The German polyglot Emil Krebs allegedly mastered 68 languages. Which, frankly, I find unbelievable. Unfortunately, I cannot find any reliable and convincing source.

Is there solid evidence that Emil Krebs mastered 68 languages?

The actual number of languages is rather unimportant, it is the order of magnitude that strikes me.

(EDIT: Upon request, I have removed all my research from the question. You might want to have a look at the edit history.)

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    @georgechalhoub I was hoping someone could a) either comment on what I have found so far, telling me whether any of it should count as evidence, or b) find another piece of evidence. – Mathias Müller May 03 '15 at 21:46
  • @MathiasMüller, I deleted my comment because it wasn't really accurate; there might be some pieces of evidence - for example we might find books he has written in different languages or voice recordings for him (but this is highly unlikely). As for what you found isn't evidence at all: testimonials do not prove anything - the study you linked really doesn't prove anything. We can track down the claims form old history books about him but probably that would be it. Worth the research though. – George Chalhoub May 03 '15 at 21:56
  • Similar question: [Did Reverend Mezzofanti fluently speak thirty-four languages?](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/14097/did-reverend-mezzofanti-fluently-speak-thirty-four-languages) – Oddthinking May 04 '15 at 02:11
  • @Oddthinking I saw that question, and your answer, citing a trustworthy source. It's a shame Charles William Russell did not also write up the life of Emil Krebs. So, although the question is indeed similar, the answer is limited to a single polyglot. – Mathias Müller May 04 '15 at 10:16
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_R%C3%BCckert a linguist who lived in my reagion could speak over 30 languages. If you go to the german version of this page there i a list of 44 languages he spoke and/or studied. – Julian May 05 '15 at 14:31
  • @Julian Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately, information about any person other than Emil Krebs does not help. Besides, the Wiki page does not imply Friedrich Rückert "mastered" 44 languages. – Mathias Müller May 05 '15 at 16:57
  • @Mathias Müller: The german version does: Mit folgenden 44 Sprachen hat sich Friedrich Rückert übersetzend, lehrend oder sprachwissenschaftlich beschäftigt:[5] Afghanisch, Albanisch, Altkirchenslawisch, Arabisch, Armenisch, Altäthiopisch, Avestisch, Azeri, Berberisch, Biblisch-Aramäisch, Englisch, Estnisch, Finnisch, Französisch, Gotisch, Griechisch, Hawaiisch, Hebräisch, Hindustanisch, Italienisch, Kannada, Koptisch, Kurdisch, Latein, Lettisch, Litauisch, Malaiisch, Malayalam, Maltesisch, Neugriechisch, Persisch, Pali, Portugiesisch, Prakrit, Russisch, Samaritanisch, Sanskrit, Schwedisch, Spa – Julian May 05 '15 at 19:06
  • As I told you already, this does not imply that Rückert **mastered** those languages, which is different from having conducted research in those languages (I myself have conducted research on a variety of languages, and I do not think I have mastered Shan, or Marathi or Quechua). Also, this is not an answer to my question. – Mathias Müller May 05 '15 at 19:43
  • "it is the order of magnitude that strikes me." @MathiasMüller so if we could prove that someone mastered 10 languages you'd be satisfied? – NPSF3000 Jun 28 '16 at 01:30
  • @NPSF3000 Obviously, "order of magnitude" should not be taken too literally here and is not meant in a mathematical sense. I said that the "actual number of languages is rather unimportant" to anticipate answers saying "No, he only mastered 67 languages!". _"so if we could prove that someone mastered 10 languages you'd be satisfied?"_ - this is not about my satisfaction, but no. My question is whether there is proof that this specific person mastered substantially more than 10 languages. – Mathias Müller Jun 28 '16 at 14:08

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