# Which U.S. Presidents were bi- or poly-... lingual?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-presidents-were-bi-or-poly-lingual/252766>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 29, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-presidents-were-bi-or-poly-lingual/252766 "2004-06-29T20:59:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-u-s-presidents-were-bi-or-poly-lingual/252766/21 "2004-06-30T18:55:01Z")

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> [@jsc1953](#):
>
> Dubya also spoke Spanish during campaign stops in 2000, but I don’t think I’ve heard _nada_ from him since.
> 
> James Garfield was both polylingual and ambidextrous – he could write in Latin with one hand and Greek in the other simultaneously. And that’s pretty freakin’ amazing.

Garfield was apparently an all-round genius. He’s also credited with an original [proof](http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/emt669/Student.Folders/Huberty.Greg/Pythagorean.html) of the Pythagorean Theorem.

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