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Definitely cool to live lots of places, but does Derek really learn all of those different languages? If he lives in one place for a few years at a time he has to pick up a decent amount, I'd guess. I'd be interested in hearing about the language barriers and how one overcomes them -- my understanding is that it's difficult to be totally fluent in more than a few different languages.

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He'd get by with English in almost all of them. Not sure of, or no firsthand experience in, Panama, Curitiba and Kyoto, but you'd get by easily with English in the rest of those places. Just need to pick up some basic things and make an effort in a few other places and that'd be appreciated without absolutely needing to become fluent.

It depends where you go and what people you hang around with. If they don't talk English there is only one way: learn the local language. I lived in Brazil in a small town and every small interaction forced me to speak a little bit of Portuguese. After two months I knew how to get around and talk to people. I had learned Spanish before but still, if you haven't got an option BUT learn the language, you will manage.

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