My wish to become a polyglot

Polyglot is a person who knows or uses multiple languages other than one’s mother tongue. Also known as multilingual. If asked about small wishes to be fulfilled then everyone will make a list. Even I have such a list. One among them is to become a polyglot. This wish bloomed in my heart during my school days when I came across a short story during my preparation for LPCET for Hindi.

The story starts in the backdrop of Court of Akbar where the Sultan is sitting on his throne and in front of him is assembled his favorite Navratnas - abled Ministers of Akbar. The court proceeding starts where various scholars exhibit their talent and receive prizes from the Sultan. Then comes a scholar who introduces himself as a polyglot and showcases his proficiency in numerous languages. The Sultan gets amazed and offers him a huge prize.

Here comes the twist when the scholar turns down the prize and instead poses a challenge to everyone present in the court. The challenge is to find out his mother tongue. If he loses then he accepts to become the slave of the Sultan but if he wins then everyone should bow before him and he leaves with the prize money. Sultan wanted to get rid of his overconfidence and asked his ministers to accept the challenge and defeat the scholar. Ministers posed many questions in multiple languages but the scholar easily switched in between the languages and answered fluently.

Sultan was worried and suddenly noted that Birbal was quiet. He was surprised and asked Birbal about his silence. Birbal stood up and accepted the challenge but as the court time was about to end he requested the scholar to stay that night in the palace and assured of defeating him on the next day. The overconfident scholar sarcastically smiled and agreed to it. That night when the scholar was in deep sleep a person with a mask entered his room and whipped him with a stick. The scholar jumped on his bed and shouted in pain. But the stranger had left the room then so the scholar was confused later slept again.

The next day the court proceeding started. The news about the challenge and Birbal’s acceptance to it has already spread like a forest fire among the people so the court was overflowing with the crowd. Everyone was eager to witness the challenge especially Akbar. The scholar entered with pride and smiled at Birbal. Birbal stood up and posed questions in different languages. The scholar answered them without any hesitation. Suddenly Birbal announced that the mother tongue of the scholar is Telugu. The scholar was stunned. When Akbar asked whether it is true then the scholar said yes and accepted his defeat.




The scholar was ready to become the slave but Birbal turned it down saying that all he wanted is to get rid of the overconfidence of the scholar otherwise the scholar is really a pool of talent. The scholar requested to know how Birbal found out his mother tongue and more eager was the Sultan. Birbal then asked the scholar that did someone whipped him with a stick last night. The scholar was shocked and said yes but surprised how did Birbal come to know that. Birbal said that it was no one else but himself. Everyone was shocked to hear this. 

Then Birbal explained that any person can master any number of languages but the mind always thinks in the mother tongue. So at sudden situations that person expresses only in the mother tongue. When Birbal whipped the scholar, he shouted out of pain as ‘Edu Kondalavaada’ means Possessor of seven hills quoting Lord Venkatesa of Tirumala. Thus Birbal found his mother tongue to be Telugu. The scholar felt sorry for his over pride and appreciated Birbal for his presence of mind.




This story really created a greater impact on me. Soon I wised to become a polyglot and realized that I am already a polyglot because I knew three languages already - Tamil my mother tongue, English is the medium of instruction in the school, and Hindi my second language. I was in joy but wanted to learn at least basic conversations in a few other languages. As an initiative I bought learning a language in 30 days book for Hindi and Telugu. But soon I found the book to be useless because the pronunciation varied heavily. I forgot about this as time passed.

After years as I entered Civil services preparation, I came to know that Raja Ram Mohun Roy, the pioneer of modern India was a polyglot. He had proficiency in Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Hebrew, and, English. Later came to know that great Tamil poet Subramaniya Bharathiyar was a hyperglot because he was proficient in around 14 languages. Once again I wished to learn new languages. I learned basic conversation in Japanese from an academy near my place. Later had the opportunity to learn Telugu from fans of my favorite hero Ram Charan. Thanks to the cinema and the internet.

During learning new languages, I learned many things. Just learning will not help us to master any language. Continuous usage alone can keep it intact to us even it be our mother tongue. Theoretical learning can only help to understand the way how a language works but practical learning alone can help us to get the pronunciation and the common slang of it. As Birbal said we all think only in our mother tongue but can translate into any desired language in a fraction of seconds. 

There were moments like when I visited Delhi for the UPSC interview I fetched and explained to an autowala in Hindi who was not aware of English. My parents were really proud of me. Haha... I felt good. Once I visited Hyderabad to attend the marriage function of Ramcharan organized specially for fans. The combination of Hindi and Telugu which I learned was useful to me in easily managing my stay of four days in that unfamiliar place. Still there is more to learn and I wish to learn languages that are not commonly preferred such as Mandarin, Swahili, etc. Waiting for such opportunities.

Disclaimer: Pictures are used only for reference. I do not own the copyrights.