Boy, 5, with Photographic Memory Writes the Alphabet in 6 Languages
- At five years old, Kodjoe Mwobie can write the alphabet in English, Japanese, Russian, Arabic, German and Korean
- He once went on holiday in Limuru and when the family came back home he wrote down the number-plates of over 10 cars that had been in the parking lot
- His parents' biggest question is their ability to successfully nurture his talent financially, intellectually and with the facilities at their disposal
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Kodjoe Mwobie Kimathi was born in October 2015 to Clifford Kimathi and Matilda Nduiga.
What makes him different from many other children is his photographic memory, something the parents were quick to pick up on when he was a year old.
"He said the entire alphabet from A to Z when he was one year two months old and could write the numbers one to 100 way before he started school," his mom said.
Source: Original
As Kodjoe grew into the second and third year, his parents started seeing the extent of his photographic memory even more.
First, the young man could read the Japanese words written in his mom's car, then remember all the names and numbers he saw whenever they were outdoors.
"We went for Christmas in Limuru in 2018, and when we came back home he wrote the number plates for all the cars that were in the parking lot. They were over 10 cars," expressed Matilda.
Over the years, Kodjoe has developed an interest in and mastered alphabets from different languages.
He started with the English alphabet aged one year and two months, Japanese numbers and the Russian alphabet in April 2020, Arabic and German alphabet in February this year, then the Korean alphabet on 13 March.
Source: UGC
"He was fascinated with my phone and that's where I knew he could write all our phone numbers, months, places we have gone, things he has seen on the way from school," the mother revealed.
She adds that as much as the young man can remember and write whatever he sees, sometimes he does not know what the words or numbers mean in detail.
"Kodjoe can write the name of the security company guarding our gate and their contact details, but when you ask him he doesn't know what that is. Or something like 'Gas, I deliver' plus the phone number yet not know what he wrote," she explained.
With such a gifted child, his parents' biggest question is their ability to successfully nurture his talent financially, intellectually and with the facilities at their disposal.
In similar news, Briefly.co.za previously reported on Alannah George, a child prodigy who was officially named an ''intellectual genius'' after she earned an IQ score of 140 at the age of four years old.
The child genius attained this milestone after she was tested by an educational psychologist, Dr Peter Congdon.
Briefly.co.za learned that, before entering the classroom, Alannah had already started forming complete sentences at the age of 18 months.
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Source: Briefly News
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
Reeshni Chetty Reeshni Chetty is a senior current affairs reporter. The Damelin journalism and media studies graduate was top of her class with 16 distinctions and she boasts experience in radio, print and digital media. When Reeshni is not rushing to bring you the most important and breaking news in current affairs, she's raising awareness around mental health. Reeshni has a passion for breaking the stigma surrounding mental health issues.
