Among bilingual parents, the dilemma over how many languages to teach their children is more pronounced nowadays. Some parents think that speaking English is enough and will help children make friends faster in school or daycare. Other parents think that having a child learn a second language will provide them a competitive edge later on in life.

Before we move on, we need to explain the term bilingual. The Census Bureau states that about 20% of Americans are bilingual. That number represents only the people who speak another language at home and does not include anyone who has learned to speak a second language and simply does not speak it with everyone at home. For the purpose of this article, we will use the term bilingual as meaning anyone who can hold a conversation in two languages.

Today, more and more people claim they are bilingual. The reason is simple: Learning a new language has become easier than ever. Gone are the days where we need to be in a classroom sitting with a teacher to learn a new language using cue cards and listening to a voice on a cassette player. Now, learning a new language is interactive and practical. We also meet more people from different parts of the world and are exposed to other cultures and languages via the Internet, television, music, and food. We can turn our browser to the language we want and follow the news in the country that we choose. We can watch local news from almost any country in the world. We can immerse ourselves more quickly to a new culture and can afford to “visit” another country sometimes without leaving our bedrooms. If we decide not to travel to a foreign country, we can visit little Italy, Chinatown, or any ethnic neighborhood that we choose. We can go to restaurants featuring cuisine from almost anywhere in the world.

The question still remains whether we need to teach our children to speak a new language besides English. Certainly such instruction is valuable, but many still think that it is not absolutely necessary. We can read documents, browse web pages in Chinese (simplified or traditional) without ever taking one lesson in Chinese. The technology is only getting better. There are plenty of programs available that will instantly translate someone’s speech. Travelers also will find that going to another country requires little effort from them to learn a few basic words and sentences. As they travel with their smart phones or their smart apps, they can rapidly translate what they need to ask.

The world is moving too fast to know exactly which language will provide a competitive advantage to our children. The world is getting very small. As children grow, they need to have tools to know how to quickly learn a new language. It is less likely that a second language will provide a competitive edge to a child who has yet to pick a career. However, if the economic incentive is not guarantee, some research claims that the ability to switch from one language to the other can help delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. An additional language sure won’t hurt.