But humans were always multilingual the moment we left Africa. How else would the Sumerians, Romans, Persians, Indians, Chinese trade with each other? The "brag

But humans were always multilingual the moment we left Africa. How else would the Sumerians, Romans, Persians, Indians, Chinese trade with each other? The "brag" is just a reality of most people of the world who aren't monolingual (e.g. Rammstein/Taylor Swift/K-Pop). Pity doesn't mean looking down upon them, it's just a remark about unrealized potential. You seem to be projecting too much into this, the reality is not that complicated. It doesn't take much to pick up basics (CEFR A2 levels) of another language,if they chose to do so.