Do You Know Why You Should Date a Polyglot?
Polyglots make the perfect partners. Once you have dated a multi-lingual, you’ll never be satisfied with a monolingual again!
1. Polyglots are masters at breaking the ice at social events
You can take a polyglot anywhere. Naturally communicative and gregarious, polyglots will instantly make friends across the cultural and social spectrum. They will walk into a party, their social and linguistic antennas aimed multi-directionally, and charm the pants off a diverse, multi-cultural crowd. There is nothing that puts strangers more at ease than meeting someone who is willing to make an effort to speak their language.
Language and culture are symbiotic and most polyglots understand this. Not only do they speak different languages; they also “speak” different cultures and that makes them irresistible. When you date a polyglot, you’ll bathe in the light of this desirable social magnetism.
What’s more, polyglots thrive in multi-national environments, which means they if you have any ambition to become an ambassador, a CEO of a multi-national company, a well-traveled, internationally renowned academic, an international news correspondent or a UN representative, a polyglot is the man or woman for you. You’ll be able to walk into international conferences and shine at glittering international events with your brilliant polyglot at your side.
2. Polyglots love travel and will take you traveling with them
A polyglot en route is a happy polyglot. Polyglots compulsively dream about their next holiday the moment they step off the plane, the boat or the bicycle. If you date a polyglot, you will constantly be the beneficiary of carefully laid travel plans, colourful itineraries and holidays in far-flung places.
Polyglots thrive in circumstances where they are able to communicate in multiple languages and immerse themselves in diverse cultural practices. They enjoy testing and expanding their mastery of languages in authentic environments.
Consequently, if you date a polyglot, you will enjoy the thrill of experiences that will take you off the beaten track into remote Tibetan villages, monolingual French truffle markets in the dead of winter and Thai jungles resounding with gibbon calls. You will be able to visit exotic places that non-polyglots cannot visit because the language barrier is insurmountable.
Even if you opt for a more traditional resort holiday, you will receive VIP treatment within a day or two because your polyglot partner will have charmed everyone from the French concierge to the German harbour master. By Day 3 you will be receiving invitations from fellow guests to visit them in Hanoi, Hamburg or Helsingborg.
3. Polyglots are hard workers
Learning a language is hard work. After all, learning the declination of verbs in three different languages and mastering inflection, tone and guttural stops in others (while sipping mojitos in far-off travel destinations) take a concerted effort. Languages are complex, symbolic systems, the development of which set human development on a dramatic new evolutionary path.
By the time children reach the age of six, they will have had more than 20 000 hours of exposure to their home language. Attempting to achieve any level of native proficiency in a language therefore requires a huge investment in terms of time and effort.
So, if you choose a polyglot partner, you can be sure that he or she will understand hard work and will probably export that diligent, conscientious attitude to other spheres of life, including relationships and employment. If you choose a polyglot as a permanent mate, chances are he or she will not only work hard at maintaining a healthy relationship but will also be a reliable financial contributor to the relationship.
4. Polyglots are great communicators
Language is all about communication. Polyglots, more than other people, understand the subtle nuances of communication because they have had so much practice learning languages and acquiring all the verbal and non-verbal skills associated with language acquisition. They read body language, are sensitive to context, understand subtle inflections and appreciate the emotive value of tone and volume. They understand the power of a carefully chosen word and the emotive reach of a finely crafted sentence.
Because their understanding of communication is so well-developed, they make perceptive and thoughtful partners. They will make an effort to read your mood, to understand the subtext of your words and to respond to your tone and voice. They will be sensitive to your body language signals and your eye-talk.
And this thoughtfulness will spill over into written forms. Polyglot partners are frequently the recipients of the most beautiful love letters and the wittiest fridge sticky notes on the planet.
5. Polyglots/languages are sexy
Polyglots are super-sexy. They are usually well-endowed in the brain region, so if intelligence turns you on, you can’t go wrong with a polyglot. There is no doubt about it – a person has to be super-smart to learn multiple languages.
There is nothing sexier than the cascade of sensual accents a polyglot has the power to pour over you. Most human beings crave the promise of adventure, the lure of the exotic and the far-away; polyglots can magically give auditory shape to all the never-never-lands of which you have ever dreamed.
What’s more, you are destined to enjoy the fruits of this intellectual sensuality for many years to come, should you decide to make the polyglot your permanent partner. People who speak more than two languages are four times less likely to suffer cognitive impairment than mono-linguals.
6. Polyglots are open-minded
It is virtually impossible to close-minded if you are polyglot, because every new language added to a polyglot’s repertoire comes with a canon of literary works and insights that annexes and conquers the polyglot’s mind and blows it wide open.
Reading and travel fulfill the same function – they expand the mind, challenge the narrow paradigm and defy the uninformed stereotype. Polyglots’ ability to read many different languages and to travel to many countries in which they are able to understand the lingua franca frees them from the confines of a single cultural perspective.
Polyglots are hybrids with their feet planted in different continents, and in this hybridisation lies their strength – relationally, politically and socially. It is hard to be a bigot once you have seen the rich, multi-colour diversity of the world and its people.
This open-mindedness is an asset in any relationship. Those who partner with polyglots are likely to enjoy the benefits of a wider, more tolerant outlook on life. Polyglots understand that people are not the same. The have the ability to put themselves in the shoes of others because learning someone else’s language is doing exactly that – immersing yourself in the hearts and minds of people who are different from you.
Your polyglot is likely to do the same for you – immerse him-or herself in your heart and mind.
