Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Polyglot vs Hyperglot?

I was recently asked by my friend, Monika, about the difference between a 'hyperglot' and the better-known 'polyglot' .  My half-fast made-up answer did not satisfy me, and I began investigating.

We call someone monolingual if they speak one language. Bilingual if they speak two.

Polyglots speak 3 or more languages, and  Hyperglots  speak at least 6s different languages!

In conclusion:  All hyperglots are polyglots - but not vice-versa. Only some polyglots are hyperglots.

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