Amuse-bouche:
What do you call someone who knows more than 3 languages? A polyglot.
What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages? Bilingual.
What do you call someone who speaks only one language? American.
Today’s Wonderful Word: “polyglot.”
Definition: Someone who can use several languages at advanced, or fluent, levels.
Etymology: Mid-17th century, from French polyglotte, from Greek poluglōttos, from polu- meaning “many” and glōtta meaning “tongue.”
It may surprise you to know that I decided to learn French after watching an American movie.
The amuse-bouche today is not meant to belittle those Americans – few as they may be – who have undertaken the lifelong task of learning another language. I first heard the polyglot/bilingual/American joke while observing an English as a Second Language (ESL) class. The Brazilian professor who led the class did not mean any harm – he was simply exaggerating a true reality. In all seriousness, though, let’s be better as Americans at taking time to listen to and understand those around us who may not speak English as their first language.
In 2016, a friend and I watched Inglourious Basterds, a film by Quentin Tarantino. It must be stated that I do not wish to promote Tarantino’s films by any means – a lot of them contain grotesqueries and vulgarity that everyone would be better off having not seen.
Rather, the person whose work I wish to promote is Christoph Waltz. He is the star of Inglourious Basterds, in which he demonstrates his knowledge of German, French, and English. He just waltzed right in and stole the show as Hans Landa, the antagonist in the story. As a polyglot, Waltz puts his language skills on full display throughout his performance, even showcasing Italian in the film. While he isn’t fluent in Italian, he learned enough to fake it on the big screen.
Not too long after watching the film, my friend had a dream in which we spoke French to each other in the presence of people who could not understand us. The next day we created accounts on Rosetta Stone and started the first lesson. The rest is history.
Language learning never stops, even for native speakers. I often learn new vocabulary and expressions in English, and I wonder what words and phrases other adults learn in their native languages. I’m glad I started learning French in 2016, and I hope to never stop.
Answer to Saturday’s riddle:
LOLLIPOP: 1 + 11 = 6 + 6
ESCAPEES: 25 * 9 = 225
REFERRAL: 43 = 344 / 8
A+
Ça vous dit quelque chose ? 
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