Timothy "Tim" Doner (born 25 October 1995) is an American hyperpolyglot, former social media personality and a foreign policy analyst at the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies, specializing in the Middle East and Central Asia.[1] A graduate of Harvard University[2] and the University of Cambridge,[3] he rose to prominence at the age of 16 when he released a YouTube video in 2012 in which he spoke 20 different languages.[4] He is a native of Manhattan, New York City and resident of the East Village.
Timothy Doner | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 25, 1995 Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Education | Dalton School |
| Alma mater | Harvard University University of Cambridge |
Early life and education
editTimothy Doner was born to Betsy and Ezra Doner on October 25, 1995 in Manhattan, New York City, United States. Tim's prelude to learning languages apparently began at the age of 13 when he started teaching himself Hebrew out of interest in 2009[5] after memorizing the lyrics of his favorite funk band Hadag Nahash.[6] He then moved to Arabic[7] and other languages, like Persian, Pashto, Hindi, Indonesian, Wolof,[5] Hausa, Swahili, IsiXhosa, Ojibwe, Dutch, Italian, Japanese[disputed (for: Japanese is not mentioned in the Times article. seek reliable source) – discuss], etc. Doner studied at the Dalton School.[4]
Languages
editThe languages that Doner has publicly displayed that he can speak, fluently or not, are these, in no particular order.
| List of languages Doner has been shown to speak | |
| Language | Source |
|---|---|
| English (native language) | [4] |
| French | [4] |
| Yiddish | [4] |
| Hebrew | [4] |
| Arabic | [4] |
| Persian | [4] |
| Turkish | [4] |
| Dutch | [4] |
| German | [4] |
| Pashto | [4] |
| Mandarin Chinese | [4] |
| Swahili | [4] |
| Hausa | [4] |
| Ojibwe | [4] |
| Indonesian | [4] |
| Italian | [4] |
| Hindi | [4] |
| Russian | [4] |
| Bengali | [citation needed] |
| Japanese | [citation needed] |
| Xhosa | |
| Wolof | [5] |
Personal life
editDuring a short interview on the Australian breakfast show program Sunrise, Doner revealed that Persian is one of his favorite languages and is fond of reading the works of 14th-century Iranian poet Hafez-e-Shirazi.[8]
References
edit- ^ "Krost Symposium: Multilingualism Matters". Texas Lutheran University. Archived from the original on 2022-01-29.
- ^ Talkoff, Emma K. (September 25, 2014). "A Talk With the Polyglot". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
- ^ "Achieving Awesomeness Now: Now You're Speaking My Language with Timothy Doner on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Leland, John (March 9, 2012). "Adventures of a Teenage Polyglot". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
- ^ a b c "TIMOTHY DONER: Teen speaks 23 languages". The Week UK. 2013-04-10. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
- ^ "Why I taught myself 20 languages — and what I learned about myself in the process". ideas.ted.com. 2015-04-09. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
- ^ "Teen polyglot speaks of affinity for Hebrew". Ynetnews. Reuters. 2013-04-13. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
- ^ Timothy Doner talks about his favorite language, 27 May 2020, retrieved 2022-01-29