Frank, I lived in Germany 6 years and studied German in high school and college. I was fluent when I returned to US in 1978, and used it as my second language for my graduate degree. But I've lost almost all of it, since there's so little need or use for it in the US. And which Chinese is spoken in New London? Mandarin? There are multiple versions of Chinese. India has about 1200 languages, I think, so picking a major one to learn helps for only a part of the population. English has become #1 worldwide for non-native speakers. I study Spanish now so I can talk with all the workers all over the US that are fundamental to our economy. Now when I try to speak German, I'm throwing in so many Spanish words I have to give it up.