Commentary: U.S. education needs a multilingual twist

I think there is a need in the United States for more than one primary language. What brought this to my attention is the fact that I have relatives who live in Europe.
In Belgium, at the beginning of your education, you are taught three primary languages: French, Dutch, and English.
I think that if the United States changed it so schools started at kindergarten teaching a few of the most-used languages in the world, there would be less of a communication barrier.
All across the world, there are hundreds of different spoken languages, and due to this variation, there is a heavy language barrier. This causes mass demand for translators when there are people who do not know the local language. Since this causes great stress for many individuals, and the United States is one of very few countries left in the world with a dominant language (English), more languages should be taught at a younger age to expand the capabilities of communication.
When my family from Belgium came to visit last summer, all I could think was how my cousin Courtney — being the only one who could speak English, I thought — would have to translate everything her stepkids, who are my age, said for me understand it.
But Courtney told me that in Belgium, when you start school, it is required that you know French, Dutch and English. So when I met her stepkids, I was amazed how they could go sentence by sentence, switching between languages simultaneously.
The language barrier between me and Courtney’s stepkids was nonexistent, thanks to the fact that they learned English at a young age at school.
Since Courtney was born in the U.S., when she met her husband, there was a language barrier at times. She set out to learn French and Dutch. She picked up the languages so fast that the next time I saw her — six months later — she was almost speaking fluently in both.
Since my cousin could pick up two separate languages as well as she did in her late 20s, it would be even easier for kindergartners to learn at the beginning of their education. I say kindergartners because it’s a proven fact that children soak up information more rapidly at a young age.
If schools added the teaching of more languages, I think that our country would be more civilized, and maybe there would be fewer disputes and more peaceful communication.
For example, the immigration of non-U.S. citizens only makes things harder, because they aren’t very familiar with the main language spoken here. Not only should some other countries, who are in the same shoes at the United States is, teach their own citizens more than their own national language, they should teach the most common languages worldwide.
I envy those who have managed the ability to speak more than one language fluently.
So the next time, for example, you are sitting in a restaurant and there are people speaking other languages around you, just think, “What if I knew what they were saying?”
The language barrier here in the United States tends to cause issues, so don’t you think it would be easier if we all knew more than just what we grew up speaking?
I do, that’s for sure, and that is why I hope people read this.
I also am hopeful that if anything resulted from this, it would be equality for all. Maybe someday this thought will become a dream, and that dream will become an action, and that action will make justice for everyone. And, in the end, the beginning of world peace will be reached.
• Emily Dennis, 15, is a junior at San Lorenzo Valley High School. She wrote this commentary as part of a class project.