Good question, my primary drivers are; motivation, learning a language can be hard, and the more we engage in things that are difficult the easier it becomes to motivate ourselves.

It's like Kennedy said; 'We choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard'.

Secondly learning languages has been shown to increase IQ in a number of areas. Also multilingual people are less likely to get Alzheimer's and dementia.

I've also just recently discovered that multilingual people are happier and have a better understanding of people's cultures.

Last but not least; I chose Chinese because I am also learning to code; so I figured it was a good idea to try and learn a seemingly impenetrable human language, as I attempt to decode a similarly difficult machine language :-)

As far as social utility is concerned, you'll be surprised, one it gives you something to talk about, even if the people you're conversing with don't speak the language you're learning.

Also it helps you meet new people, if you get into the language, you'll see people out and about, and you'll just go up to them and speak.

It is very rewarding seeing a smile on a stranger's face as you attempt to communicate with them in their mother tongue.

Win, win, win, win! Just go for it! :-D

Cg