He was conversant in Spanish, French, Latin, Greek, German, Portuguese, Italian, English, Dutch, and

Japanese. Rizal also made translations from Arabic, Swedish, Russian, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew and
Sanskrit. He translated the poetry of Schiller into his native Tagalog. In addition he had at least some
knowledge of Malay, Chavacano, Cebuano, Ilocano, and Subanun.

RIZAL AND LANGUAGE

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Jose Rizal and his good friend and correspondent, the Austrian scholar Ferdinand Blumentritt,
shared a passion for the study of languages. They exchanged reference books as well as
connections with other scholars who could help the other with his work in research and translation.
In their letters, they discuss the meanings and uses of words like “headhunter,” “katalonan”
(priestess), “bathala,” “filibustero,” and many others.
Blumentritt wrote a book on Tagalog vocabulary, while Rizal translated Friedrich von Schiller’s plays,
as well as scholarly works (including some of Blumentritt’s), into Tagalog. Blumentritt was also
believed to have translated Rizal’s Noli Me Tángere into German, although a copy of the work is yet
to be found.
In his letters to Blumentritt, Rizal also wrote about the advantages of knowing other languages. He
talked about his travels, where he spoke French, German, Italian, and English with his fellow boat
passengers. “I speak with everybody and at times I serve them as interpreter,” wrote Rizal. Knowing
at least 22 languages, Rizal was a cosmopolitan of his time, and Blumentritt wrote that Rizal “can
become for your people one of those great men who will exert a definite influence on their spiritual
development.”

Rizal’s influence can be seen in the use of the Tagalog language, which he studied extensively and
for which he proposed a new orthography to “help simplify and systematize its writing.” The practice
of retaining the letter y, for example, in contractions like ako ay, instead of substituting i for y (as
in ako’i), was one of Rizal’s innovations. Another was the adaptation of the letter k for c and q
(katay/kinatay instead of catai/quinatai).