What if I told you that resting beneath this very ground lies a man who spoke over 60 languages? This is the grave of Emil Krebs. It marks the final resting place of a true linguistic genius.
Emil Krebs was no ordinary man. He was born in 1867 and died in 1930. Krebs reportedly spoke and wrote 68 languages. It is said that he studied 120 languages.
Imagine a mind capable of navigating the intricate nuances of over sixty tongues. That was Emil Krebs. He wasn’t just a speaker. He was a master of languages.
Krebs’s journey began in Freiburg in Silesia. He quickly excelled in languages. By the time he finished school, he spoke twelve languages.
He then studied law at the University of Berlin. There he discovered his true passion at the Oriental seminar. He decided to dedicate his life to languages.
Krebs first focused on Mandarin Chinese. It was considered the most difficult language. He mastered it within two years.
Despite his love for languages, he finished his law degree. Soon after, he pursued Turkish studies. In 1893, he went to Peking as an interpreter.
For years, Krebs worked as a translator in China. He became famous for his fluency. Empress Dowager Cixi admired his elegant Chinese writings. She often invited him for tea and discussions.
While in China, Krebs also learned Mongolian, Manchu, and Tibetan. He immersed himself in language study. He had a unique method. He assigned a language to each day of the week.
A colleague once heard him speaking an unfamiliar language. It was Armenian. Krebs learned it in just nine weeks.
In 1917, Krebs returned to Berlin. He joined the Foreign Office. He translated official texts from over 40 languages.
Even after death, Emil Krebs’s legacy continues. His brain was preserved for research. Scientists studied his brain. His private library is in the Library of Congress. It contains over 3,500 volumes in about 120 languages.
Krebs’s story is one of passion and dedication. He inspires us to explore the world through language. His grave reminds us of his extraordinary gift. Emil Krebs mastered all the languages of today’s European Union. He also knew languages like Egyptian, Ainu, and Burmese. He used known languages to learn new ones. He learned Afghan and Hindi through English. He used Russian to learn Finnish and Ukrainian.
Krebs took government language tests in Chinese, Turkish, Japanese, and Finnish. He also translated Chinese Shade Plays by Wilhelm Grube.
So, as we stand here, remember Emil Krebs. Remember his extraordinary ability to connect with the world. He did it through the power of language. This grave is more than a marker. It is a testament to the boundless potential of the human mind.