this is the most SUPER CRAMMING ASIAN thing I have ever heard of

In 2015, Nigel Richards walked into the French-language Scrabble World Championship in Belgium.

He did not speak French. He could not hold a conversation. He could not order coffee or ask for directions. By his own admission, he could barely count to ten and say "bonjour."

None of that mattered.

Richards, a quiet New Zealander already considered the greatest English-language Scrabble player of all time, had decided to attempt something no one thought possible. He would compete against the best French-speaking players on the planet, in their language, having never spoken a word of it.

His preparation? Nine weeks with the French Scrabble dictionary.

The French lexicon contains roughly 386,000 words, more than double the 187,000 words in the North American English version. Richards did not learn what the words meant. He memorized them as pure visual patterns, as combinations of letters arranged in specific sequences. To him, words were not vehicles for communication. They were puzzle pieces waiting to be placed.

He won 14 of 17 preliminary games. Then he defeated the previous year's runner-up in the final.

The French Scrabble Federation was stunned. Their official announcement included a line in English: "Congratulations Nigel, you're amazing!"

When asked about his method, Richards offered little explanation. He simply said it was a matter of learning the words. His friend and fellow Scrabble player described his gift differently. Richards can look at a page and retain the whole thing, like a photograph. On top of that, he has an extraordinary ability to mix up letters and see word possibilities instantly.

But Richards was not finished.

He won the French championship again in 2018. Then in 2024, he turned his attention to Spanish. He spent about a year memorizing the Spanish Scrabble lexicon. When he arrived at the Spanish World Championship in Granada, native speakers doubted whether a non-Spanish speaker could compete at the highest level.

Richards won 23 of his 24 games.

The defending champion, who finished second, called it a humiliation for every native speaker in the competition. The tournament organizer called his victory unprecedented.

One world champion from Cameroon described the experience of playing against Richards in words that capture what makes him extraordinary. He said that just mentioning Richards' name makes him tingle. That whenever Richards shows up at a tournament, everyone else knows they are playing for second place. That facing him is like playing against a computer.

Richards does not give interviews. He does not seek attention. He reportedly lives simply, without television or radio, spending hours cycling and studying word lists. When asked after one tournament what he planned to do next, he mentioned that there was a very good library nearby.

His mother once said she did not think her son had ever read a book apart from the dictionary.

That dictionary became his doorway to the impossible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards#/media/File:Nigel_Richards_2018.jpg

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5814862&forum_id=2,#49545312)