Which U.S. President Spoke The Most Languages?

It seems that a higher percentage of American Presidents speak another language than the general American population. At least 50% of American Presidents speak or spoke a second language other than English, compared to only 25% of current Americans (whether conversationally or fluent). Some of our greatest presidents and founding fathers were even multilingual, speaking more than two languages, including John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams and James Madison. Thomas Jefferson claimed to be able to read and write six different languages, but some historians suggest that it could have been more. There has only been one American president whose first language was not English, and that is Martin Van Buren, who was born in Dutch-speaking New York. James Madison was an avid translator, producing many translations of Latin works into English. Below is a more thorough list by language:

Dutch: John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren

French: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt

German: John Quincy Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bill Clinton

Greek/Classical Greek: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, John Tyler, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur

Hebrew: James Madison

Indonesian: Barrack Obama

Italian: Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt

Latin: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Herbert Hoover

Mandarin Chinese: Herbert Hoover

Spanish: Thomas Jefferson, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush

Modern Presidents are less likely than older presidents to speak another language. President Clinton can hold a casual conversation in German. President Bush speaks limited Spanish, having delivered the First Weekly Address in both English and Spanish. President Obama has repeatedly said that he is “embarrassed” that he does not speak a second language, but he has been heard to speak some Spanish and Indonesian. Republican nominee Mitt Romney learned how to speak fluent French after spending 2 years in Bordeaux, France as a Mormon missionary.