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Imagine your child is in a hospital where she and her caregivers do not speak the same language. She is sick and probably feeling more than a little scared.

Then someone brings in a tablet, presses a button, and up comes an interpreter who resembles her and speaks her language. Suddenly, your child’s doctors and nurses understand not just what your child is saying, but what she means.

On-demand video interpretation has proved especially effective with children. Video remote interpreting (VRI) is very similar to platforms with which most kids are familiar, like FaceTime or Skype. In the case of VRI, one touch of a button brings up a live, professional interpreter who speaks the patient’s primary language and picks up on their nonverbal gestures. This linguist interprets for the doctor to the patient, and vice versa.

Our society is becoming more culturally complex and multilingual.

Much of this is attributable to immigration, which is expected to account for 88 percent of U.S. population growth through 2065. Half of immigrants currently living in the U.S. are proficient in English, while less than 20 percent speak English at home. This makes for an eclectic linguistic landscape.

To provide a snapshot of the present and expected future of U.S. immigration, we turn to the Pew Research Center, which has assembled these critical data points:

Each week, LanguageLine selects and excerpts five stories about language and culture that we think readers will find intriguing. Here is this week’s “Liner Notes”:

Challenges threatening the upcoming 2020 census could put more than 4 million people at risk of being undercounted in next year's national head count, according to new projections by the Urban Institute.

The use of video remote interpreting (VRI) has proved to be particularly effective with children and their families in hospital settings – even leading to a few pleasant surprises.

VRI is not a one-size-fits-all solution in a children’s hospital, however.

Three of the best children’s hospitals in the US—Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Health System of Texas, and Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Jersey—have managed to successfully implement video interpreting to improve understanding between providers, pediatric patients, and their families. We asked representatives from each of these hospitals what they considered to be the greatest advantages presented by VRI, as well as instances when it was not considered to be a good option.

Each week, LanguageLine selects five stories about language and culture that we think readers will find intriguing. Here is this week’s “Liner Notes”:

By the time today’s teenagers hit their 30s, there will be more minorities than whites living in the United States, according to a statistical compilation published by Axios.

According to the report, the demographic shifts we have seen will achieve a tipping point in the 2040s, at which point the country will be older than it is today, as well as “majority minority.”

The challenge of overcoming language barriers in a hospital or doctor’s office is particularly heightened when the patient is a child.

Video remote interpreting (VRI) is changing this dynamic in a big way.

The use of video interpreting has been connected to better health outcomes, fewer readmissions, reduced costs, increased staff productivity, and—most importantly—enhanced patient satisfaction. Video interpreting has proved to be particularly effective with children.

Northwell Health announced last week that it has started to deploy video interpreting throughout its fleet of ambulances, which will help first responders communicate in real time with non-English speakers and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Northwell Health is an integrated network that is New York State’s largest healthcare provider.

As first reported by Newsday, Northwell’s Center for Emergency Services will have the first ambulances in the state to use video interpreting. The technology will be deployed throughout the health network’s fleet of more than 80 ambulances by the end of the year.

When it comes to communication between children, their families, and pediatric healthcare providers, it’s critical that everyone understands each other.

Add in a language barrier, and this understanding becomes all the more challenging.

In our new case study, "Video Interpreting for Children's Hospitals: Best Practices When Caring for Pediatric Patients," we discuss how some of the nation’s top children’s hospitals are using video remote interpreting to improve communication, productivity, and patient outcomes.

The battle between humans and artificial intelligence has been portrayed as pitched warfare in the media—an “either/or” battle for which there can be only one victor.

The reality is much more nuanced when it comes to interpretation and translation. If we were asked to predict who the winner will be between man and machine when it comes to language services, we would answer, “Both.”

For too many, the American Dream feels like a dream deferred.

The harsh reality is that more than half of all Americans (57 percent) struggle to manage their day-to-day financial lives, according to the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI). That’s 138 million people who aren’t thinking about saving, investing, or retirement planning because they’re just trying to get by until their next paycheck.