Are Multicultural Societies More Prone To Hosting Polyglots?

These days the subject of multiculturalism is very much at the forefront of any discussion on national demographics, the changing cultural make up of inner city areas or the effects of cross border migration, as are its consequences. It has often been put forward that one direct effect of multiculturalism its propensity to hosting polyglots, but is there really any basis for this?

In theory, because two diverse but discrete cultural groups co-exist in parallel to each other, their proximity leads them to a working knowledge of each others language in order to facilitate their interactions, so let us examine some instances of multicultural societies to see whether the theory holds up.

The first example is that of the Western and South Western States of the USA. There has been a Hispanic presence in this area since 1761 and at that time most of that region was actually a colony of Spain. In the 1820s the territory passed to the United States but the Hispanic influence has been very strong since then and currently some areas are mostly Hispanic, with the trend steadily increasing.

But what of the interaction of languages in these areas? Well the polyglot theory seems to be confirmed, with both Hispanic and non Hispanic cultural groups having a passable knowledge of each others language.

Let us now look at another example, that of India. India is a republic and is made up of 28 States and 7 union territories. India has 18 officially recognised languages, but in total there are 407 separate languages in existence. Each state tends to have its own separate culture and residents originating from other States tend to form their own separate groups. You could say then that India is the ultimate test of the polyglot theory.

Once again the theory is, for the most part, justified in this example. Most State residents, but especially those near border areas, will have a working knowledge of the next States language and within those States bordered by more than one other State, it is not unusual to find a passable knowledge of all bordering languages AS WELL AS the two official languages of India - Hindi and English.

There are, however, examples that equally disprove the polyglot theory.

An example of this is the permanent British expat community in Spain. Like most cultural groups, they tend to form their own close knit communities and whilst many have learned Spanish it is fair to comment that many, after years of residence, have not. Likewise, the Spanish locals in proximity to those British communities have not especially embraced the English language except where tourist related work makes this a necessity.

Another example disproving the theory is that of the various Asian communities in England. Although these have been present for some generations, the Asian language has not spread outside of these communities.

Ultimately, the link between multicultural societies and polyglotism cannot be decisively proven one way or the other, only time will provide a judgment on the issue. Until the day of wider linguistic understanding arrives, the services of translation companies in London and in various major cities are there to bridge the gap for us.

Lingo24 technical translation agencies.

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