To find out whether anyone could really learn so many languages, Mr Erard set out to find modern Mezzofantis.

ECONOMIST: What makes some people learn language after language?

Writing for The Atlantic, anthropologist Sarah Kendzior bemoans the fact that so many languages aren't represented by Google.

CNN: Bonjour Google! Gmail adds auto-translation

Many of the Jews who came to Africa were so successful because they were forced to learn many languages, and they were the only ones who could communicate with African ostrich farmers, hunters and traders as well as European governments and businesses.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Application companies, in the meantime, can hope to see their programs run on many more handsets--and so spend their time building specialty features like new languages for speech recognition or digital-rights software for mobile music sales, Rubin contends.

FORBES: Google's Call

But the two languages also have a number of faux amis, friends so false that they will provoke many an embarrassing misunderstanding.

ECONOMIST: Two nations with a common language