Secrets of Polyglots

If you were born in the United States, chances are you only speak one language well: English. It makes sense, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. The whole country speaks English. Different regions have different accents and slang, but at its core, we all speak the same language. English has, for better or for worse, become a global language; the language of commerce, the language of travel, the language of power. There is no longer a need for native English speakers to speak anything else because the world is conforming to them. In turn, the idea of someone speaking a second language is often seen as incredibly rare, impressive, and even exotic. Yet it is precisely because we have majoritized English (the US has no official language) so much that we have pushed out the necessity, and therefore the applicability, of other languages. We have become a monolingual and monocultural society.

Follow up question: have you ever met a polyglot? Someone who speaks multiple languages? The existence of polyglots in the United States is not incredibly prominent, however when going to other countries, suddenly it seems that more and more people speak more languages. In fact, this is backed by numbers, as the United States sits at a bilingual population of around 20% compared to the 67% across Europe, 55% across Canada, and 25% across India (Byers-Heinlen et. Al 2019, para. 1) . It is clear why we are outliers in this equation, so how can we change this?

Let’s first confront common misconceptions about polyglots.  

So what is true about polyglots? When talking about a group of people so broad and diverse, it’s hard to come up with a common statement, but one thing remains true no matter the background of the polyglot: they (usually) love languages. In a TedTalk by Lydia Machová, she talks about going to a polyglot convention. She met a man named Benny from Ireland, who said that he instantly starts speaking in the language he is trying to learn. He brings up an interesting mentality, that of forcing yourself to learn because you have no other option. Even though they have commonalities, polyglots vary in their approaches. Benny brings up a point that polyglots typically put themselves in a position like that of a baby. Although translanguaging is a natural form of communication and very common, learners can force their brain to make connections faster by not over relying on their other language(s). Consequently, their ability to communicate increases rapidly in a short period of time. The same thing can be said for immigrants who move to a country that speaks another language. With constant immersion, the brain works harder to understand the notions of the language until the ability to communicate is developed, as “In [Canadian] early immersion programs, students gain fluency and literacy in French at no apparent cost to their English academic skills” (Cummins, 2009, p.18) . In that sense, polyglots also typically have another common point: they aren’t afraid to be uncomfortable.

Lastly, being a polyglot might not be as complicated as it seems. While it is easy to separate people into me and them, remember that polyglots are people just like you. Polyglots typically love to speak in their other languages, and they prioritize the ability to communicate over perfection. After all, communication doesn’t require perfection, just a good enough attempt to convey an idea. So next time you find yourself in awe of someone who says that they speak Arabic, Chinese, and English, just know that you have the potential to do so too.