Hoid speaks in Tongues?

[Lord Venvious he/him]

I think that Hoid is being taught the languages through spren of some sort or uses a certain form of magic.

[Swimmingly he/him]

This should be the default explanation for anything Hoid does.

World hopping? A side-effect of Yolish light weaving.

Knowing where to go? A side-effect of Yolish light weaving.

Being able to find and talk to important people in each book? A side-effect of Yolish light weaving.

Considering everything else the man can do, I don't consider being a polyglot any great achievement. Note, for example, that Shai has a scholar stamp that knows several languages that she doesn't. Hoid could be working along the same lines, or his business simply requires a lot of language and he adapts.

Besides, if your belly's burning Brass and Zinc, you can manipulate people to feel whatever emotion you want - the words are just the icing on the cake.

[Moogle]

We have an actual WoB on this now:

 

Q: So in Words of Radiance you’ve got a character named Wit [Yes], who has a conversation with Kaladin in which he uses the phrase “bunny rabbit” which obviously doesn’t exist in the language that Kaladin exists.  So my question is where and when did the language he used come from?

 

A: So Hoid, or Wit, is actually using magical means to communicate and so when he says a word it just transliterates it or just doesn’t translate it into anything in that language.  So you’ll notice him slipping up on a number of occasions, because he is the only one who uses certain words in the course of-- That’s not the only one in The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, because he’s just speaking normally and allowing his other means to translate for him.  And that’s a sign, a symbol, of that happening.

(source)

 

Very interesting. Sounds like the Heralds have the same thing going on.

[ProfessorW he/him]

Babelfish?