Besides English I know Polish, Russian, Slovak and a bit of Spanish. Slovak and Spanish was self thought. I think it is nice when you visit other country and are able to say something, introduce yourself and converse in the native language. It also helps me with my patients. I like to know things, I like to be informed... In the end it depends on your lifestyle and where you live. I agree with you on the point that instead of mendatory foreign language we all should have had an option in high school to study something different but we can say that about 50% of the education requirments. Why did I had to take art and paint pictures when art history would be more beneficial for somebody like me who has no talent? Why did I have to take guitar if I have no intrest in music? Why calculus when my strong point were humanities and I couldn't care less what volume triangle has when you rotate it around y axis. I can go on and on but your education is what you make out of it.

Matt