Habla en Español?

This year will be the year of bilingual gadgets. According to USA Today, the Census Bureau reported that in 2004 more than 40 million people in the U.S. were Hispanic. That represents 14 percent of all Americans. And the numbers are on the rise. According to the Bureau, by the year 2050, about one in every four Americans will be Hispanic.

I'm starting to see bilingual gadgets that address Spanish-speaking families. You can buy Barbie or Superman Returns bilingual learning laptops at RadioShack. Both have 60 learning activities in Spanish and English encased in a chip-driven toy that looks like a PC. These two units continually show up as some of RadioShack's top selling products and sell for under $30.

VTech also offers a Learning Notebook that looks like a notebook PC but offers hundreds of learning activities in English and Spanish. And for more Spanish toys, there are entire sites with huge digital components.

For older adults who are just tackling English, Franklin Planner, makers of handheld gadgets, has its Inglés en su Bolsillo/English in Your Pocket handheld. The handheld is designed to help native Spanish speakers learn English as a second language. It looks like a large PDA and contains lessons in English as well as reference texts like the Merriam-Webster dictionary.