November 4, 2019 | 0 comments
So what is a polyglot, sounds like a Russian millionaire.
A polyglot is a person with a command of many languages. A polyglot is a multilingual speaker.
I believe that anyone of us can become a polyglot. Take this example, I have a granddaughter who’s only three and a half years of age and she speaks four languages, French as she lives in Freiburg the French part of Switzerland, German as the father is a Swiss German speaker, Greek the mothers place of birth and English thanks to her grandfather, that’s me.
children are sponges at an early age. They say that a child can learn easily up to four languages from in its first 5 years. Amazing isn’t it when there are people that have lived all their lives trying to master one new language.
There are a few famous polyglots out there like:
Map of the most spoken languages
Salma Hayek, actress – English, Spanish, Portuguese. Hayek is Mexican-American, and while her father is of Lebanese descent, she says that she does not speak Arabic, but she does speak English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Audrey Hepburn, actress/humanitarian – Dutch, French, English, Italian, German, Spanish. Audrey Hepburn’s mother was Belgian, and she grew up speaking Dutch and French. She later learned a bit of Spanish, which she used later in her life while doing humanitarian work as a Goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.
Asin, actress – Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu, French, Italian, Spanish, German. it’s an impressive list by any standards.
Cleopatra, pharaoh – Cleopatra was reputed to have spoken nine languages, including her native Greek, as well as Egyptian, Syrian, Persian, and Arabic among others.
Jodie Foster, actress – English, French, German, Spanish, Italian. Jodie Foster’s French is quite impressive.
But the most languages spoken by one person and who holds the Guinness book of records is Ziad Fazah. Fazah claims to be able to read and speak 58 languages including Arabic, Polish, Thai, Urdu, Norwegian, and many more.
If you are looking to add a new language to your list of spoken languages, ESO teachers can help you to become a polyglot. Well at best a bilingual.
becoming a polyglot isn’t easy, it takes a lot of work. My tips are the following:
1. Learn one language at a time.
2. Find a language partner.
3. Set yourself targets.
4. Have fun while learning.
and the most important,
5. Find a English native speaking teacher.
