多语是指一个说话者或一个说话者群体用三种或三种以上语言进行有效交流的能力。与单语相比，只使用一种语言的能力。

一个会说多种语言的人被称为多语者或多语者。

一个人在成长过程中所说的原始语言被称为第一语言或母语。一个从小说两种母语或母语的人被称为同时双语者。如果他们以后学习第二语言，他们被称为顺序双语者。

实例和意见

"Majesty, the Herr Direttore, he has removed uno balletto that would have occurred at this place." —Italian Kapellmeister Bonno in "Amadeus"

使用多种语文作为规范

"We estimate that most of the human language users in the world speak more than one language, i.e. they are at least bilingual. In quantitative terms, then, monolingualism may be the exception and multilingualism the norm..." —Peter Auer and Li Wei

双语和多种语言

"Current research...begins by emphasizing the quantitative distinction between multilingualism and bilingualism and the greater complexity and diversity of the factors involved in acquisition and use where more than two languages are involved (Cenoz 2000; Hoffmann 2001a; Herdina and Jessner 2002). Thus, it is pointed out that not only do multilinguals have larger overall linguistic repertoires, but the range of the language situations in which multilinguals can participate, making appropriate language choices, is more extensive. Herdina & Jessner (2000b:93) refer to this capacity as 'the multilingual art of balancing communicative requirements with language resources.' This wider ability associated with the acquisition of more than two languages has also been argued to distinguish multilinguals in qualitative terms. One . . . qualitative distinction seems to lie in the area of strategies. Kemp (2007), for example, reports that multilingual learners' learning strategies differ from those of monolingual students learning their first foreign language." — Larissa Aronin and David Singleton

美国人懒得说一种语言吗？

"The celebrated multilingualism of not just Europe but also the rest of the world may be exaggerated. The hand-wringing about America’s supposed linguistic weakness is often accompanied by the claim that monolinguals make up a small worldwide minority. The Oxford linguist Suzanne Romaine has claimed that bilingualism and multilingualism 'are a normal and unremarkable necessity of everyday life for the majority of the world’s population.'" — Michael Erard

新的多语种

"[I]n paying attention to the language practices of young people in urban settings, we see new multilingualisms emerging, as the young people create meanings with their diverse linguistic repertoires. We see the young people (and their parents and teachers) using their eclectic array of linguistic resources to create, parody, play, contest, endorse, evaluate, challenge, tease, disrupt, bargain and otherwise negotiate their social worlds." — Adrian Blackledge and Angela Creese

来源

• 布列肯巴赫，卢卡斯。《电影中的多种语言》，苏黎世大学，2007。
• 奥尔，彼得，魏，李。“导言：多语是一个问题？单语是一个问题？”多语和多语交流手册。穆顿·德格鲁伊特，2007年，柏林。
• 阿罗宁，拉里萨和辛格尔顿，大卫。“多种语言”约翰·本贾明斯，2012年，阿默斯特丹。
• 埃拉德，迈克尔。2012年1月14日《纽约时报星期日评论》“我们真的是单语吗？”。
• 布莱克利奇，阿德里安和克里丝，安吉拉。“多种语言：一个批判性的视角”，《连续体》，2010年，伦敦，纽约。