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Knowledge Centre on Translation and Interpretation

Brussels library breaks world record for reading aloud in most languages

1 March 2023

A book has been read in 65 different languages - The Brussels Times

people sitting and reading in circle

The previous record for "most languages used in a reading relay" was 55, held by the Museum of Islamic Art (Qatar), but this was broken on Sunday morning, the 26th of February by a library in Schaerbeek, where children and parents from schools in the neighbourhood gathered to read the book 'Mister René' about the Belgian painter Magritte by children's author Leo Timmers.

One sentence of the book was read aloud in each of the 65 languages, from Akkadian, Urdu and Swahili to Lingala, Welsh, and Hebrew, with a maximum of ten seconds of waiting time between the languages.

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