Which US President spoke the most languages and which languages did he speak?

Favorite Answer

Honestly, I'm not sure. But we know it wasn't George Bush. He has enough trouble with English....Show more

It had to be Thomas Jefferson. He was brought up on the classics: Greek and Latin and was already tackling French at the early age of 9. He spoke Welsh.

According to various accounts he was fluent in 5 languages and could read 2 more...or he spoke 6 or 7 languages.

As President John F. Kennedy welcomed forty-nine Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962, saying, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."...Show more

President Bush speaks a Tex-Mex kind of Spanish — some of this language, some of that one. Polished, it's not.He's the first U.S. president reasonably proficient in another language since Bush's ability to converse in Spanish is an oddity. The second-language skills of U.S. presidents have declined as America's position in the world has risen.
In the late 1800s, President Garfield, a former classics professor, knew many languages. He amused friends by putting an English book in front of him and writing tablets to his left and right.

"He would simultaneously translate the English into Greek with his left hand and into Latin with his right hand," McDonald said.

Early in the 20th century, President Wilson was fluent in Latin, Greek and French, and President Hoover translated a Latin manuscript on the history and techniques of mining into English....Show more

John Quincy Adams was reported to have spoken seven languages. He was appointed senior secretary to the ambassador of Paris (his father John Adams (only other father son presidents besides the Bush's)) when he was a mere 11 years old. John Quincy Adams was home schooled by his mother and father. He was a devout christian all his life even encouraging his own father in his later years. He was what we would today call a republican. He devoted his life to public service and actually collapsed on the floor of the house of representatives and died a few days later. He is the only man to have served as President then gone back to serve again in Congress. Fool in the rain is exactly that, a fool. The empty discourse purported by him is evidence to our national degradation and downfall. What's probably worse, he and his associates probably consider him an intellectual....Show more

Thomas Jefferson spoke 6 languages....Show more