I am a great fan of PV Narasimha Rao who is known as the ‘Father of Indian Economic Reforms’. He served as the 10th Prime Minister of India from 1991 to 1996. Narasimha Rao was an Andhrite (undivided) and an extraordinary scholar. He was a silent spectator and a man of few words. He made as minimum as possible public appearances as PM. He spoke 17 languages, out of which, some 8 languages were foreign. He spoke English, German, Spanish, and French. PV Narsimha Rao was a polyglot.
What does polyglot mean? The word polyglot stems from the Greek word poluglōttos, meaning more than one tongue, referring to language. As mentioned, a polyglot is someone who speaks multiple languages with proper comprehension, such as reading, writing and proper interpretation. A person is called polyglot when he/she has proficiency in minimum 3 to 5 languages. Multilingual people can speak multiple languages and polyglots can speak several languages – usually having a grasp of at least somewhere between 3-5 languages. Only about 3% of the world’s total population can speak four or more languages. Polyglots spend way more time listening and speaking. These people have openness to new experiences, curiosity, adaptability, and a strong motivation to communicate with others.
The words multilingual and polyglot are often used interchangeably or substituted. However, it is generally accepted that someone who is multilingual has grown up speaking multiple languages, has been exposed to different languages in their environment or has studied them out of practical need, whereas a polyglot is often someone who studies languages for the sake of passion for the language. Polyglots learn different languages with passion, and they respect the language they learn.
Each language has its own charm. Its sentence structure differs based on each language due to a variety of factors, including historical development, cultural influences, and linguistic evolution. All languages have a sound system, a tonality, a system for forming words, a way of organizing words into sentences, a systematic way of assigning meanings. Language is a core part of a culture. Language serves as an identifier and a means through which cultural groups can be identified. It is what makes a culture unique from other culture.
Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950), Indian philosopher could speak, read, and write Bengali, English, and French; read and write Sanskrit, Latin, and Greek; speak and read Gujarati, Marathi, and Hindi; and read German, Italian, and Spanish. Sri Aurobindo was an English Professor serving the Baroda College. He quit his post in Baroda and went to Calcutta, where he soon became one of the leaders of the Nationalist movement. He was the first political leader in India to openly put forward his thoughts on freedom in his newspaper ‘Bande Mataram’. Aurbindo felt each individual blossoms when he/she enjoys full freedom. He was prosecuted twice for sedition and once for conspiracy, he was released each time for lack of evidence. Soon, he withdrew from politics and went to Pondicherry to devote himself entirely to his inner spiritual life and work. During his forty years in Pondicherry, he evolved a new method of spiritual practice, which he called the Integral Yoga. Aurobindo was followed by so many foreigners as Spiritual Guru that he had to talk to them in their language. His mastery on the languages grew day by day.
There is no set standard of fluency, and some polyglots will indeed have a greater comprehension than others. Depending on circumstances and liking some polyglots can speak the languages they use which sound like their native tongue. Some are good at a conversational level, or they may understand them but are not able to speak fluently. Even Ziad Yossef Fazah who is a Liberia-born Lebanese presumed polyglot. Fazah has claimed to speak 59 languages and asserts that he has proved this in several public appearances in which he supposedly communicated with native speakers of many foreign languages.
Babies and children form neural connections (one cell talking to another) at a rapid pace, which makes learning new languages easier for them. As the brain develops, it becomes more specialized and reinforces the nervous pathways that are regularly used. This is why those who learn a language at a very young age have the accent of a native speaker. One reason kids learn faster than adults persists because the part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex is still developing. As the name suggests, the prefrontal cortex is the front of the brain.
A lot of research is carried on about the IQ of polyglots. Scientists say there is no direct relationship between being a polyglot and having a high IQ. But I feel, learning multiple languages can certainly be academically challenging. Polyglot research is part of a broader field of study focused on understanding the brain processes involved in learning language, either native ones or those learned later in life. Polyglots are not afraid of making mistakes. They learn languages in small portions. They usually learn one language at one time. And, most importantly every polyglot has his own method of learning.
