Becoming a polyglot is a decision that some people make by choice. At least, that’s what happens most of the time in the mind of language lovers. As I can see on numerous Instagram or Twitter accounts. However, it was completely different for me. Indeed, it’s not until 2 years ago that I came across the word “polyglot” on Youtube. Before that, I had absolutely no idea that there was such a name for some linguists around the world.

But wait a minute, if you’re totally new to this world, I should probably start by telling you what a polyglot is? A polyglot is a person who knows or uses several languages. As to how many languages you must speak to be called a polyglot, there are different answers. I kept the one that states that one must speak at least 4 languages fluently to be a polyglot. 
Africa bears more than 1500 languages, which means that most people speak more than  2, 3, 4 languages. I wanted to stress this point because this is not something that is known by the “whole world”, let’s say the “eurocentric” world. You can follow this link to get more information on the subject: Number of living languages in Africa as of 2021, by country. I think I never really paid attention to what a polyglot is because I’ve been around people who speak many languages since I was born.

Some African languages, Source: Bhlingual.com

To me, you are a polyglot even though you are not fluent in all your target languages. Being able to communicate and make yourself understand in any language that’s neither your mother tongue nor your native language makes you a polyglot. 

In today’s article, I will tell you everything about my journey and how I became a polyglot by accident…

My journey

I became a polyglot and it was an accident. Yes, you read it right, an accident. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always loved learning languages and discovering new cultures around the world, but becoming a polyglot wasn’t my primary goal. 

My goal is to make a name for myself in the language industry, especially on the international scale by having a career as a Conference Interpreter, at the United Nations. You might think I’m too ambitious and you’re right, I am. There’s nothing wrong about it, and I’ve had this dream since I was 16 years old.

I’ve always been an average student at school. I wasn’t a straight-A student but when it comes to language mastery, I’ve always been among the best. I was in high school when my mom received my report card and was totally disappointed. She didn’t know what I could do with my life except for speaking languages. That’s how she told me that she had a friend who was working at the African Development Bank (Ivory Coast) as a Conference Interpreter. I went on the internet and gathered the information I needed to see if it could be a fit for me. 

I can say that this was the first step towards the path to becoming a polyglot. 

My languages

I learned English as a second foreign language, then I started Spanish in secondary school, and Mandarin Chinese as my 4th foreign language when I started my 1st year of college. I graduated with a BA in foreign languages applied to economics and international trade, majoring in English and Spanish.

I picked Spanish at the time because we only had two choices: Spanish or German. I thought it was easier because there are a lot of similarities with French. They’re both Romance languages. As time went by, I figured that the European market in conference interpreting is already crowded in Spanish and English. Indeed, if you want to have a career in the European Union for example, you can have English or Spanish or French as native language and must have at least Hungarian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian etc as 2nd or 3rd languages. They take the ones that speak the less spoken languages in the EU.

I had a glimpse at my future when I took the ESIT exam in 2019 (École Supérieure des Interprètes Traducteurs – an Elite school for interpreters and translators in Paris). I didn’t get in either because I wasn’t good enough or because there were too many people in the French/ English/Spanish combination. In any case, I can still improve or change my language combination. I chose the latter.

It’s easier to change my language combination to French/ English /Chinese/ Spanish for three reasons:

• First, I’ve lived in Barcelona for 1 year and my level of Spanish is at B2-C1. I can still improve and enrich my vocabulary with different methods. My level of Spanish will probably be as high as my level of English.
• Second, China has a huge economy and will keep growing in the coming years. Chinese is not a world language (yet) but will be in the future. So, if I learn it now, I would probably be totally fluent by the time the world starts learning it seriously.
• Last but not least, the main languages at the United Nations are: French, English, Spanish, Chinese, Arab, Russian. I’m proud to say that I already have a good command of 4 of them. I added German and Korean  because they might come in handy someday…

That’s how I became a polyglot, my friends. It may not have been by choice but I ended up finding my passion, my true calling, I found what I am truly made for. Learning languages has changed my Life in ways that words can’t explain. If you’re reading this post and are thinking about learning languages or becoming a polyglot, I would encourage you to give it a try. You will not regret it as you will learn so much along the way, that even if you choose to give up, you wouldn’t have wasted your time having started this journey.