London: A British student of Indian origin has stunned his teachers by learning to speak ten different languages.

Ten year-old Arpan Sharma, a primary school student from Oldbury, West Mids, taught himself French, Spanish, German, Italian, Swahili, Mandarin, Polish, Thai and the difficult Lugandan language of Uganda.

The genius has also learnt Hindi from his parents, the Daily Mirror reported here today. "Arpan is a language genius, a natural when it comes to listening to an exact pronunciation and repeating it perfectly," Deputy Headmaster Richard Lynn of Blue Coat School was quoted as saying.

In fact, Arpan studied using CD-roms. He learned Italian fluently at seven, German at eight, and Spanish when he was nine. "Learning Swahili was probably one of the biggest challenges I've faced and Mandarin Chinese was hard too." Arpan's aim: He wants to be a surgeon and work in hospitals abroad and speak each country's tongue.

Source : PTI