I had the chance to move to Asia at the same age, and it gave me the opportunity to learn a new language, gain a lot of cultural insight, and also make me much more attractive to employers because of both the hard and soft skills I acquired.
Anyone who tells you not to go is probably a typical close-minded American for whom an overseas adventure means a week in the Virgin Islands. Go to the wild land that is Asia, and by all means when you're there LEARN THE LANGUAGE. I've known westerners who were pretty close to fluent in Mandarin in just a year, while others didn't take the time to learn since it seemed like too much effort. I studied my ass off and although mine was more of a "niche" language than Chinese it paid huge dividends later (in terms of landing a six-figure job in my 20's).