I know Aasimar, Tengu and Gnomes have alternate racial traits for this. Are there any other races, or other such abilities?
i hate to be that guy, but just cast comprehend languages, then reply in their Native Tongue Of Common.
It's for an Iroran Paladin with Bewildering Koan. Half-Elf with Racial Heritage (Gnome). Ideally, I'd like to be able to speak many languages, depending on what I need to ask my bewildering question in.
Is there any particular reason you don't just want to be a gnome, which doesn't have to do cheesy things with Racial Heritage and has a racial trait that gives them two languages per rank?
Because it makes me much less effective in other areas; this is a melee combat character that uses Bewildering Koan as a side ability, rather than his central feature.
The build is actually Iroran Paladin 4 / Bard (Archaeologist) 16; Half-Elf is a much more synergistic race for the build, since I'll want Skill Focus (Bluff) anyway, and it lets me take advantage of multi-talented and a number of different favored class bonuses.
The language thing is not crucial. He'll start with one bonus language, and use the retraining rules to pick up two more for 200gp a piece before reaching level 2. Then, I'll max linguistics. It will be enough even without the two languages per rank thing. It's just easier with two languages per rank, plus it's thematically cool to speak many languages.
As far as there being "cheese", there's no thematic reason that Bewildering Koan is Gnome only, it's a mechanical restriction, not a thematic one. It's distinctly different from using Racial Heritage to get something like Underfoot Adept, a monk halfling archetype obviously designed to take advantage of the halfling's small size.
In terms of flavor, I'm not going to even acknowledge the Racial Heritage except where I have to (e.g. if someone uses a Gnome-bane weapon on me); it's just a feat tax for this build as far as I'm concerned.
So, is the answer "no", there are no other ways to get 2 languages per rank?
Well, I disagree with your opinion that there's any difference at all with Underfoot Adept, why can't others learn to make their size work against the behemoths they face?
I think you'll have a very limited size ki pool with that build, so I'm not sure if focusing into Koan would be worth it.
Aasimar might be a better choice in race, as you've mentioned they have a similar ability, and they can also take Racial Heritage with Scion of Humanity.
There are a few traits that give you a single bonus language, but I'm not seeing anything to give double languages known, sorry.
I'm not invested in my opinion of Underfoot Adept; you may be right about that. My primary point was that there's no reason to think it would be "cheesy" to have a Half-Elf, or other race, asking bewildering questions.
The build will have 4 ki when they first get the Bewildering Koan, eventually building to 8 ki. It's more than enough, considering it's only one of many things the build can do. It's still very effective at combat when not using the Koan; it's something reserved for "bosses", essentially. The build does many other things besides.
You may be right about Aasimar being better in some ways, but there are a few reasons I prefer the Half-Elf. One, the multitalented is useful here, due to having several levels in more than its primary class. Two, the extra Skill focus is very good to have; the Aasimar would be more feat-starved. Three, I try to avoid Aasimar/Tiefling unless the power difference is extreme for the build, simply because most of my builds would end up being Aasimar or Tiefling otherwise.
Thanks for the input on the 2 languages per rank; I'll just do without for this build, I think.
That being said about the Aasimar, Human may be better in the long run for the build, due to being able to take Focused Study to eventually get three skill focuses (the 8th level one could be Perception, for example). In the first 7 levels, I believe the Half-Elf has the edge, though.