If you speak two languages, you are bilingual.
If you speak three languages, you are trilingual.
If you speak one language, you are American.
I believe in bilingual education in this country from age 7. I think the parents should have a choice though. It is hard to say what language makes the best choice in the growing global economy. Learning Japanese and Chinese may be just as valuable as learning Spanish, French, or German.
And the teaching in the classroom can't be just textbook. It has to be total immersion. Newspapers, events (school lunches), etc. all in the other language.
It's sad that my father is French Canadian and I have learned hardly a word. I would love to be completely bilingual. It would be much easier to start at age 7 than now.
We had a teacher in middle school who spoke 7 languages.