I honestly have no idea why anyone would study german... and i get to say that as a native speaker. When in Germany, like in Rome! ............ I took German as a language choice for one year in college. After dealing with 4 ways to say yours, this, mine the or that I said enough. My ADHD didn’t help either. Yet when I was in Germany I spoke German like I would English and dropped the 4 different the’s,this, mine, yours, and I still was able to be understood. My General kept me close by at all times. :)
3/4 of my ancestors came from Germanic countries.
That's why.
Never developed a large vocabulary, but did get complemented on my Westphalia accent. My teacher was an American who was stationed there during the Cold War.
I was actually able to use it in real life when I was in Switzerland on business once.
Once...
Used to be, college bound students interested in the sciences were steered to German because of the scientific literature written in German.
And I believe German is the most common ethnic heritage in America.