Bilingualism is actually a very good thing to encourage. Trilingualism is even better. The more languages that you can speak, AND UNDERSTAND, the better off you are as a person, the better the chance of finding good employment, etc.
Most Europeans (except the Brits) can speak at least 2-3 languages, and many speak more than that. Saint Pope John XXIII spoke 15 languages fluently, and could carry on a reasonable conversation in several others. Obviously, being able to speak other languages did not hurt his career!
When I first went to Germany in 1961, I found that most of the locals considered the American GI's as "semi-educated", because very few of us could speak ANY European language. Within a year, I could carry on a basic conversation in German, and over the next 2 years, I became reasonably fluent. I already spoke Spanish, and could find my way in Latin.
Thanks to Catholic Schools for the Latin and Spanish, plus I lived in New Mexico and California, so I used the Spanish on a fairly regular basis).
If you are working in business today, you should be learning Chinese as fast as you can.
Personally, I believe that foreign languages should be taught to ALL children, beginning in Kindergarten. Children of that age are like sponges, they just soak up a new language.
It is about time that North American Anglo-Saxons get off their language "High Horse". English is one of the most difficult languages to learn, because it has no real hard and fast rules. I am of partial Anglo-Saxon descent myself, as well as Celtic and N. American Native. I feel horribly limited by only having 3 languages that I can use at all.
