Absolutely. To be otherwise is to be stagnant.
Picture it. Florida. Mid-1990s. My brother had just left the Army and moved back to the States from Germany, where my nephew was born and raised up until then. I remember the look on his three-year-old face when he realized that I could speak German. The realization that this “auntie” he had just met knew how to speak to him in a language he recognized was absolutely precious. I’d like to think that it made him feel a little bit more comfortable in such a new and strange place. And he grew up to be a wonderful human being, so I’m going to take a pinch of credit for that.
I didn’t originally decide to learn German because of that; I started learning it before my brother even met his future wife. Even so, it ended up coming in clutch. I will treasure that memory for the rest of my life.