- Some of the best linguists in the world compete for the title here in Utah, the birthplace of the one and only US Linguist Brigade.

Every year, the brigade hosts the best linguist competition, AKA the Polyglot Games, where soldiers and civilians from around the world compete.

I'm Liz Adeola, and this is Utah.

We're gonna show you what it takes to be a true polyglot, mastering multiple languages while keeping them all sorted in your head.

But first, we'd like to give a shout out to our sponsors, the Willard L. Eccles Charitable Foundation and the Lawrence T. and Janet T. Dee Foundation.

(gentle music) (soldiers speaking foreign languages) (Jeffrey speaking foreign language) That was probably not the best.

It's been a minute since I've had to say exactly that.

- [Liz] Retired Colonel and former Brigade Commander Jeffrey Mitchell's French may a little rusty, but his memory is sharp.

- [Jeffrey] The 300th MI Brigade is a very unique organization.

There's only one in the Department of Defense that is a linguist unit, and especially a unit this size.

- [Liz] Nearly 850 military intelligence soldiers make up the unit in the Utah Army National Guard, 659 of which are linguists, soldiers always willing to be lethal if necessary with their weapon of choice, language.

- We've been able to make a mark and have a history that shows our support for just solidifying our national security here in the United States.

- They are linguists and polyglots who use their skills to help communities at home and abroad.

What's your definition of a polyglot?

- Speaks multiple languages proficiently.

- What kind of person can be a polyglot?

- I speak multiple languages, not a polyglot.

We have soldiers who can speak anywhere from seven to nine languages plus, and proficient in seven to nine languages plus.

- [Liz] The secret sauce that helps the brigade keep their weapons sharp?

The best linguist competition, known for years as the Polyglot Games.

And before that, it was called the Language Olympics.

- [Jeffrey] You know, they call it the Polyglot Games.

This isn't a game, this is realistic.

- [Liz] The competition occurs within the military's annual language conference.

It focuses on seven languages that the military deems important to Army intelligence.

- Modern Standard Arabic, Chinese Mandarin, Russian, Korean, Persian Farsi, Spanish, and French.

- Three, two, one.

- [Liz] Okay, check this out.

You're watching 30 teams made up of civilians and soldiers collect, translate, and analyze data to convert into US military intelligence reports in English.

- [Computer Voice] Heroic people of Torbia.

(person speaking foreign language) - [Matthew] It's very, very hard, and in fact it's designed to be unfair.

And the reason for that is because in the military, you don't go into a classroom to practice with a teacher about ordering food.

In the military, you use your language for strategic purposes to help save lives and to carry out the objectives of the US Government.

- [Liz] Every winter, the competition grows with hundreds of competitors like this one, his name is Sergeant Matthew Christensen, and it's his first year competing in the games.

- You almost want to panic, first off, because working in a language is hard, but second, because the amount of technical material that's coming toward you would be difficult, even in English - [Liz] Racing through timed scenarios like this site exploitation.

Where teams work to collect information from enemy documents written in seven different languages.

- We endeavor to deliver a competitive, gamified, relevant language training in the context of a geopolitically relevant scenario.

- [Liz] Just imagine this, being in an escape room that's in a foreign language.

- You saw in that very first exercise when they went in and they're pulling their pocket litter, they're pulling information, they got it, and then the lights go out.

What do you do?

You've gotta be able to respond and to be flexible and adaptable to those kinds of situations, and do that in language or be in a foreign environment where you have to use your language skills.

Everything we do in the military needs to be learned to be done in a stressful environment because unfortunately that's the nature of the business.

- [Liz] For many of these polyglots, that's the appeal.

- [Cody] It shows them the gaps in their information, the gaps in their knowledge that they can go and train against to be better in the future.

- On the competition side, I was in abysmal failure because there are a lot of people there who speak a lot better than I do.

The competition even permits native speakers of that language to compete against people like me who are learning it as their second or third language.

So pretty naturally, I'm not going to perform as well as them, and I think that's actually a good thing.

It should be very hard.

- [Liz] Most of the people you see in this room are constantly working to stay proficient in the languages they love, with some even deciding to add more to their skillset.

- A hyper polyglot is generally considered someone who speaks six or more languages.

I'm working toward that myself.

- [Interviewer] How many do you have so far?

- My main languages are Arabic and Spanish.

I study Dutch on Sundays as a way of bonding with my grandma who passed away, and I study French pretty regularly as well.

There are some real challenges with it, and what I often say is half my brain is for English and the other half of my brain is for foreign languages.

And if you surprise me with a language I speak, I'll often get mixed up.

It helps to compartmentalize the way these languages are different, and you kind of sink into a groove with leaning into those differences.

- [Interviewer] What is the trick to learning a new language?

- Obsession I find something I'm really interested in and I find a reason to love the people, love the culture, love the food.

The reason I love to learn a language is because it's the best way to approach a culture and get to really know people.

So the more I learn about a language, I almost feel like I'm learning a new way to look at life itself.

- My secret was constant and consistent exposure to the language.

(narrators speaking foreign language) - So in my car ride to and from work, I was exposed to language, reading books, reading articles.

You're trying to go from a manual, I have to mentally translate every word and I have to convert it from English to the language or vice versa to a more automatic and kind of an autopilot where this is second nature now, and that only comes with repetition.

- Culture is an extremely important part.

You can't just speak the language without understanding the culture.

I always liken learning a language and maintaining a language like physical fitness.

You have to spend every day tapping into your language in order to really maintain the proficiency level that the Army needs you at.

- [Liz] While using language learning apps on your phone is great, it takes a lot more than that.

About 50% of linguists in the Utah Army National Guard learn language at the Defense Language Institute, or DLI.

They do this between bootcamp and advanced individual training.

It's an intense crash course that quickly helps intelligent soldiers become fluent in a language.

- I went from zero proficiency, zero knowledge of the French language to one of the highest proficiency levels that we can attain in just nine months.

So you have to take that leap, you have to thrust yourself into that situation, and you have to overcome the obstacles because life is full of obstacles, and learning language is no different.

- [Liz] Operation Sergeant Keith Moon walks down a memory lane that's like a shrine built from obstacles.

- So right now, we're in the 300th MI Brigade headquarters.

Most of the things that you see here in this case are the different types of recognition that we get from organizations from around the world.

So when we provide linguist support, it's often very critical to any given mission.

For example, we have a state partnership with Morocco, and a lot of the things you see here are from Morocco.

We'll send doctors, that kind of thing to go do things on behalf of Utah, and they need someone who can speak either French or Arabic.

- [Liz] Moon is a French linguist, which came in handy while he served with the Utah Army National Guard in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

- [Keith] I was down there for 30 days and we were just helping with the Red Cross, cleaning out different churches and schools and that kind of thing.

We have supported dozens and dozens of different deployments overseas.

I've served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

- I am blown away by how many people, when they see the patch, they know the 300th and my brigade.

We are the only linguist brigade in the entire inventory.

(film reel whirring) - Let me take you back to when the brigade began back in the 1960s.

- The big influence obviously is the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the missionaries that serve in foreign missions.

I'm one of those.

And so early on in 1960 is when they established a company, the 142nd and my battalion, that's when this unit started.

- [Liz] The 142nd gradually grew from a company, which is defined as a tactical unit with about 70 to 100 soldiers, to a battalion, which is a military unit made up of multiple companies, to what it is today, a military intelligence brigade or MI brigade for short made up of 2,500 Army National Guard soldiers that are stationed across the country.

They're in five battalions that are located in California, Washington, Florida, and two that are right here in Utah.

While nearly 50% of linguists in Utah's brigade are trained at the DLI, the other 50%, those are native speakers, or they become fluent from other experiences like church missions.

- When you take a young kid, put them in a country for two years, and they live with the people, they are interacting with people in language day in and day out, what you get is somebody who knows the language at a far deeper level than most.

You get somebody who understands the culture.

You get what we call a cultural linguist.

- [Liz] That's someone who's immersed in the culture enough to pick up distinct dialects, mannerisms, and non-verbal communication cues.

- I served a two year mission and I went to Chile for two years, and doing that, I learned Spanish, I learned how much I love foreign language, and I learned that I have a pretty good knack for it.

And I assume there are a lot of people like me who come home having a gift and a language now, perhaps wanting to learn another.

And since most of us or many of us are from Utah, it became a pretty natural hub to continue learning these strategic languages.

- [Liz] A unique hub where the gamification of language is helping to produce some of the best polyglots in the world.

- It's like a family reunion every time I come back, I love these people.

You hear about the term band of brothers.

It truly is that, these are my family, they really are.

- Okay, now it's your turn.

How many languages do you have stored up here?

I'm working on two, Spanish, como estas, and Yoruba (speaking Yoruba) We're also working on a lot of new "This is Utah" stories, and if you wanna be one of the first to watch them, click Subscribe and hit that notification bell so you never miss out on one of our adventures.

(upbeat music)