Wrong, it is relevant. There are way too many foreigners in China who can't speak Chinese and pretend to be experts on China and also on ESL. It is usually those foreigners with no Chinese language skills who are married to Chinese women. They need their wives to translate everything for them. IMO they are nothing but a joke!

Many FT's manage perfectly well without learning any Chinese. They find they have other things to do. They prefer to concentrate on their students. They prefer to travel. They prefer to climb mountains. They prefer to do many things, which is their choice and you should not keep criticising people SB. You must know yourself that when you throw yourself into learning Mandarin, even if you ignore the wretched characters (as you should do initially if you want to actually speak the language) all the social sacrifices you must make. Some FT's wisely reason that two years hence I will teach in South America; then what do I do with my Mandarin skills?

As for married-to-Chinese ft's, I have known a few happy couples who make do hardly knowing each other's language at all. Whether or not that state of affairs would suit you or me is another matter. To each their own.