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. More than half of all Europeans claim to speak
at least one language other than their mother tongue; but many read and
write in one language. Multilingualism is advantageous for people
wanting to participate in trade, globalization and cultural openness.
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.
