Polyglot: How to be one
Ever wondered how to say “I am hungry” in German or “nice to meet you” in Spanish? Well, languages may fascinate us, but it takes much more to master a language. According to statistics, around 43 % of the world’s population is bilingual, 40% are monolingual and the rest speak more than two languages fluently. So what is a polyglot? Let’s have a look,
Getting to know
The word polyglot means a person who is fluent in several languages. A very small amount of people in this world are polyglots, depending on the difficulty it brings with itself. Learning a new language is very tedious and time-consuming. It requires a continuous curiosity for knowledge and a love for the language itself. While languages like German, Spanish or French are considered considerably easier, Mandarin, Arabic, and Japanese are considered as the most difficult.
What next?
So now that you know what a polyglot is, let’s talk about a few treats and tricks. Over decades, poets, authors, and writers have translated to several languages for other people to read. The question arises that, if a text is available in a language I already know, then what’s the logic behind learning a whole new language? However hard you try, a text can never be fully translated in any other language than the one it was originally written in. So, for understanding a text fully, it must be read in the original language it is written in. Wrong translation might end up changing the meaning of the phrase. This may sound difficult, right? Not really.
Enjoying the journey
The journey might be hectic, but it’s worth all the pleasures you will derive. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, so start exploring different languages and search for the one which “clicks” you. You might end up loving French poetry, or Italian lifestyle, or German songs, it might be anything. Start with the mere basics of introducing yourself, alphabets, and numbers. Check out movies, storybooks, songs in that particular language. Try to keep repeating what you study every day. Read, write and speak the language as much as possible. Nowadays, apps like Duolingo are famous for teaching languages for free. Learning with the help of an app might be fun and less hectic. Private tuition classes are also available for better understanding.
Congrats! You are a polyglot
If you find language learning interesting, then there’s no looking back. It will keep you thriving for knowledge every day. A whole new section of world literature, lifestyle, food habits and many more will be wide open for you. Language learning adds volume to your resume and learning a language helps to keep your brain sharp. Language learning is a never-ending process; you continuously keep improving and getting better at it. It’s not about the result; it’s about the journey, so enjoy the language learning process and learn as many things as possible for yourself. By the way “I am hungry” is said as “Ich bin hungrig” in German and “Nice to meet you” is “Mucho gusto” in Spanish. Happy learning!
