Foreigners are often astounded by the fact that South Africa has 11 official languages. What is more interesting is asking different people, what they believe is the "average" number that are spoken by South Africans - and inevitably it breaks down racial lines. I have asked this question to a number of people I know - some like me speak only English fluently and understand the basics of another (most likely to be Afrikaans); others are fluent in two languages (usually English and Afrikaans) - while many more are fluent in a lot more, 4, 5 or even more. So the polyglot I once met in a Cape Town station is not that rare; though his language skills were far more diverse.
Stephen Fry has a very interesting series on BBC (no mention on where one can easily acquire it without watching BBC) called Fry's Planet Word, which explores the development of language - historically, culturally, physiologically etc. I have only watched one episode, but I think it is yet another BBC gem that is really worth watching.
Edit
Updated, full review can be found here.
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