That's why people have their kids learn it, that's why they go and buy "a Rosetta Stone", as they say, and struggle through it. They think it's going to help them in a material way (a better job, more money, etc.).

When I said "study the language for its own sake", of course that would include the literature. It takes longer and requires a greater investment of time, though, because the number of characters one needs is much higher (you need to really know those 7500 characters, as opposed to the 2500 that will allow you to read newspapers, etc.).