Pete Buttigieg Can Speak Seven Languages, Although He's Not Perfect at All of Them

Since he burst onto the national scene in 2019 when he announced that he was running for president, Pete Buttigieg has been perceived as something of a wunderkind by those who observe politics. He's a well-educated, highly articulate man who has also become one of the Democrats' go-to guys for attacking Republican ideologies on television.

In addition to proving an exceptionally adept interview subject, though, Pete also speaks a number of different languages (which reinforces the sense that this dude is, like, really smart). Although we know he speaks several languages, many now want to know exactly how many. Here's what we know.

Most sources claim that Pete is proficient in seven different languages other than English: Norwegian, French, Spanish, Italian, Maltese, Arabic, and Dari.

We have not seen him speak each of these languages, so it's unclear exactly how much mastery he has over them (other than English). Based on compilations that have surfaced of him speaking in each language, it seems like his skill in these languages varies from language to language.

In some, like Spanish or French, he seems to be fairly conversant, although by no means a perfect speaker. With Norwegian, he can apparently read the language but not speak it, and in languages like Dari and Arabic, he appears to know mostly just a few key phrases. To his credit, Pete has been honest about the limits of his language abilities, and it seems like he's also made conscious efforts to learn as many languages as possible.

Because he was viewed as a highly intelligent man when he entered the race, many naturally assumed that he was incredibly skilled in each of these languages. The reality is more complicated, though, and it doesn't necessarily reflect on his capabilities as a person. Learning languages is hard and time-consuming, and Pete has also worked as a mayor and a politician for much of his life.

While Pete has been pretty honest about the limitations of his language skills, other people have touted his abilities far past where they actually are. It's not uncommon for people who don't speak several languages to inflate the skills of people who do, and that seems to be what happened here.

Pete's attempt to learn multiple languages is laudable, and it's something that more people should make time for. He's not some magician who can speak conversantly in any language you ask him, though, and that's only true for very few people.

Even so, Pete is familiar with at least seven languages other than English, which is uncommon even in the political arena. Learning other languages is not essential to any aspect of politics, but it's definitely a neat party trick. He may not be able to read an encyclopedia in Arabic, but he's definitely well ahead of the average person, and definitely the average American.