Today’s youngest generation is more multilingual and wired than ever. Could the tech they’re using breed a global army of polyglots?

Pedro_P

Hillary Yip is a 13-year-old student from Hong Kong. She’s also an  ambitious app developerand CEO.
Designed by a kid, for kids, her smartphone app, Minor Mynas, connects children from around the world for a specific purpose: to learn each other’s mother tongue.
Yip epitomises the globalised, digitally connected teen of today’s youngest generation, which has grown up through the unique conditions the 21st Century – technology that connects people all over the world, an increasingly culturally diverse global population, and the rise of personalised educational apps and games.
Could these factors combine to create the most multilingual generation yet?
A more diverse world
The youngest generation is growing up in a time in history that provides a lot of opportunity.
Cultural diversity is increasing globally, especially due to increasing levels of international migration, says professor Steven Vertovec, managing director of the Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen, Germany. He points to the latest UN  World  Migration  Report,which found that 258 million people live in a country other than their country of birth — an increase of 49% since 2000. ▪ ▪ ▪

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Tywin Lannister

I really don't think so. To learn a new language requires special urge from the learner's side. That urge hasn't increased much. Secondly, another most important "NEED" to learn a new language stems from its use in the job market & its ability to increase the job scope. From that perspective, English, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, etc. are the only languages which are essential to get a new job.

So, I don't think an army of polyglots will arise.