When I was very young in the 70's, I was told to study French because it was the international language.
In the 80's, it was Japanese because they were going to take over the world.
In the 90's, I was told to take Spanish in college because the US was going to be a bilingual country.
As an adult in the 2000's, I watch US helicopter parents scramble to put their kids into immersive Mandarin courses, mimicking the Japanese fad of the 80's.
I'm at least proficient in four languages, none of which are the above four, and my life and career has been just dandy.
We seem to be moving away from that future (or perhaps it was never really true to begin with).