Rizal’s Linguistic Studies
In Dapitan, he learned the Bisayan, Subanum, and
Malay languages. He wrote Tagalog grammar, made
a comparative study of the Bisayan and Malayan
languages and studied Bisayan (Cebuan), and
Subanum languages
By this time, Rizal could rank with the world’s great
linguists. He knew 22 languages—Tagalog, Ilokano,
Bisayan, Subanun, Spanish, Latin, Greek, English,
French, German, Arabic, Malay, Hebrew, Sanskrit,
Dutch, Catalan, Italian, Chinese, Japanese,
Portuguese, Swedish, and Russia