Language News Update: Bilingualism

So much has happened in Language News since 2012/2013 that this week will have several posts, divided by main topics. Today the topic is bilingualism:

• We will start out with an unexpected subversion: The benefits of bilingualism, it turns out, can be overstated. The fact that bilingualism is good for the brain is as obvious as the fact that the Earth is round. And yet its effects on the brain can be overstated (to follow our absurd analogy, the Earth is round, yes, but not a perfect sphere). I am not totally on board with all of the study's conclusions, but it is an impressive meta-analysis, and so we need to give heed.
• Be that as it may, bilingualism is still far better for the brain than monolingualism.
• And since we need our brains even in the age of Google, why not continue to learn languages as long as you can?