"America is full of itself, we are mostly monolingual in this global economy, and we think we can do whatever we want to the rest of the world."

Exactly, monolingualism is one of the things that's killing us as a modern country. Besides the arrogance and provinciality it entails, monolingualism also puts us at a fundamental information disadvantage-- they can "get" us, but we can't "get" them. So other countries have access to much more varied information than we do.

Besides, the United States has never been, nor ever will be a monolingual country.

In California, where I grew up, Spanish has long been not just *a* standard but *the* standard language of the state, predating English in official use by centuries. Whatever the English-only loudmouths try to proclaim, in the states the US acquired in the Mexican War-- chiefly California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and Florida for separate reasons-- Spanish has long been an established language, and it's protected as an established, public language by a long series of laws and treaties.

IOW, in states like California, for someone seeking a public and/or professional posting (let alone for a business owner), you *have* to speak and write Spanish. Not only will Spanish boost one's position and salary, and business opportunities-- it's essential to being a part of the culture of these regions, where Spanish is elemental.

For that matter, in Puerto Rico, very few people speak English, yet they're full American citizens. Likewise, Hawaiian has official status in Hawaii, as do native American languages in many jurisdictions, as does German in some regions of PA and the Midwest (where it was an original language).

This is the reason the Founding Fathers never gave English or any other language official status-- there's a long tradition in the common and statute law of the USA, to provide special recognition and status to "original languages" that were in active use and central to public and urban life, in territories that were later incorporated into the USA.

Naturally, Spanish by far predominates in this regard and in fact, Spanish rivals English as an "original language" of the USA-- IOW, Spanish is as American as the Constitution and apple pie. Especially in the SW and Fla, it's at the very least equal to English. With some other languages having such status in other niches. In fact, since Spanish so long predates English in these regions, and was the critical language of metropolitan centers like Los Angeles, Tucson, Miami, San Antonio, Santa Fe, San Diego and San Francisco for centuries before they ever became part of the United States, in these states in particular, Spanish is if anything *the* main language.

Lo que es afortunado, es que el espanol si es muy facil para aprender! Spanish is very easy to learn, we should feel lucky that the co-equal language to English in the SW and Fla. in particular isn't something like, say, Russian. But I find it pathetic when fools like Newt Gingrich whine and complain about Spanish, when it's so easy to pick up. Thankfully, he won't be getting anywhere close to the Republican nomination, let alone the Presidency.

BTW Julie, thankfully there *are* many opportunities to get your children enrolled in bilingual schools in the US, especially for Spanish! And it's nationwide. Here's a list (albeit in need of updating): http://tinyurl.com/yvk96y

My own kids went through one of these schools in Arizona, and I highly recommend them. Your kids will gain all kinds of advantages, both practical and less intangible, to help them later in their education and be more successful in general.