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I've been using Esperanto since 1991 and I haven't witnessed or learned of any significant developments in the outlook for it becoming the world's preferred second tongue. Many people around the world believe English is already the international language. For each person who speaks Esperanto, there are at least 3,000 who don't. And the overwhelming majority of people who start learning Esperanto quit after a few lessons. One would think international bodies like the United Nations would make Esperanto their working language. Multinational corporations and charitable organizations could benefit too. But alas, they've not done this. Some Esperantists attribute this to everything from nations lobbying to protect their national language interests to professional interpreters fighting to keep their jobs. A more likely explanation is laziness. Most people just don't want to learn another language. Everyone at the U.N. would rather keep a team of paid translators on the staff rather than learn a language themselves, no matter how easy the language is. Corporations and charities want to get things done quickly. They don't feel it's cost effective to have everyone in their organizations learn Esperanto when they can put an interpretter to work right away. Yet most Esperantists are optimistic. They're fascinated by people from other parts of the globe, hopeful of changing the world one sentence at a time, passionate for their ideals, and comfortable with being different. They know that even if Esperanto never attains the goals set out for it, it will continue providing for them an intriguing hobby. |
