@guyverckw, I believe that what you have written here is correct. I am a native English speaker, and I learned Mandarin Chinese in college. I enjoyed it very much. The language is very easy to learn to speak, fun to learn to read, and challenging to learn to write. Unfortunately, I did not continue to stay fluent (this was many years before the internet), and have forgotten most of it from disuse. It would be a great benefit for all students to learn Chinese as early as Elementary school, and continue learning through High School.