Why German is less preferred?

It depends on everybody's needs. Also, it is harder to find here places where German is taught. French, Spanish courses are everywhere.

I wouldn't be mind to speak German, but because there are only a few places where German is available, the price is too high.

People want a language they are able to use. Learning a second language is a very difficult task, it requires making a big effort, not to mention spending a lot of time and money. Certainly people who pursue this would like to have the best result for it.

I don't think that it has anything to do with WW II as someone here said. The newer generations don't even think of that, except maybe for a part of the population who are directly involved in what happened then.

German is not spoken worldwide so in order to be able to speak the language you have to go to Germany and that's not something everybody can do.

The fact that the language doesn't sound pretty or romantic and it's difficult to learn has a lot to do with it also.

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My sister has been travelling around the world and although she learnt German at school has never used it (in 24 years). A majority of countries either speak English, French or Spanish.

Spanish is a popular choice because of the fact that so many countries use it and many speakers of it live now in the United States. People like French because it's soft and lilting, it doesn't seem nearly as rough or as intimidating as German is stereotyped. Arabic is avoided partly because not as many high schools teach it and its alphabet scares off a good portion too, just like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.

For me, German is a language that not many people speak, ultimately. My time, effort, and money are better-spent learning a language that allows me to talk to more people. That being said, I have studied German some, and I speak and read it well enough to get by; however, I don't have a technical or idiomatic grasp of the language as yet.

It's simply not as mainstream as French and Spanish anymore.

It's harder (spelling, grammar, pronunciation) and less useful than Spanish and even French, which is still spoken in former French colonies.

I agree with the first answer and also people, in America especially, have a bad idea of Germans because of World War II. It's stupid though, we have had over 60 years of progress and holding that against us is certainly living in the past.

It's not as melodic, and it's a lot more difficult gramatically.