Polyglot
A multilingual person is someone who can communicate in more than one language actively (through speaking, writing, or signing).
Multilingual people can speak any language they write in, but cannot necessarily write in any language they speak.
More specifically, bilingual and trilingual people are those in comparable situations involving two or three languages, respectively.
A multilingual person is generally referred to as a polyglot, a term that may also refer to people who learn multiple languages as a hobby.[33][34]
Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the so-called first language (L1).
The first language (sometimes also referred to as the mother tongue) is acquired without formal education, by mechanisms heavily disputed.
Children acquiring two languages in this way are called simultaneous bilinguals.
Even in the case of simultaneous bilinguals, one language usually dominates over the other.[35]
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers.
It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population.[1][2]
More than half of all Europeans claim to speak at least one language other than their mother tongue;[3] but many read and write in one language.
Multilingualism is advantageous for people wanting to participate in trade, globalization and cultural openness.[4]
Owing to the ease of access to information facilitated by the Internet, individuals' exposure to multiple languages has become increasingly possible.
People who speak several languages are also called polyglots.[5]