Last week I went to the Polyglot Gathering in Brno in the Czech Republic. This is the sixth Polyglot Gathering I’ve been to, though the first one in Brno and the first one for a few years. The last one I went to was in 2019 in Bratislava in Slovakia.

This year’s Polyglot Gathering took place at Mendel University in Brno (Mendelova univerzita v Brně). There were 827 participants from 67 countries. Apart from English, the most spoken languages were German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Polish and Portuguese, and between us, we the participants speak or are learning 202 languages. Just over half the polyglots were there are under 45, and the rest, like me, are older.

This was the largest language event I’ve been too, and was very well organized. There were talks about language-related topics; introductions to languages; language practice tables; workshops on stand-up comedy, dance, capoeira, juggling, etc; games, quizzes, karaoke, a talent show, a food fair, and tours of local attractions.

Freedom Square (Náměstí Svobody), Brno

I went to a few of the talks, and practised my Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese at the language practice tables. I also went on a tour of Brno, which was interesting, and to a quiz, a karaoke session, concerts and other activities. The rest of the time I was relaxing, chatting to various people, and teaching people to juggle, or helping them to improve their juggling (see below).

The languages I spoke most, apart from English, were French, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Cantonese, German, Welsh, Irish, Spanish and Esperanto. I also spoke (or at least tried to speak) some Czech, Slovak, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Swedish, Italian, Portuguese and Taiwanese.

The Brno Dragon / Brněnský drak

For anybody interested in languages who wants to meet like-minded people, practice their languages, and have fun, I’d recommend events like this. The next one is the Polyglot Conference in Bologna in Italy in 18-20 November 2026. I haven’t decided if I’m going to go yet.