Jonas Fine Tan, 23, went viral following an interview with a fellow Oxford student on TikTok.
The psychology, philosophy and linguistics student speaks English, Mandarin, Hokkien, Thai, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Malay, Tamil, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.
The other languages were picked up by conversing with people and consulting online resources such as textbooks, translated books and YouTube videos. As his parents were busy with work – his father is a doctor and his mother is an occupational therapist – the only child developed a close bond with their helper.
Thai, his favourite language phonologically, was acquired after years of hanging out at a Thai restaurant, Thai Tantric, at Orchard Towers. His mother, who worked nearby, often took him there during her lunch breaks.
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