Vger, glad to see that you've come around to utf-8. Good for you.

As for your off-topic views on Esperanto, I just hope that eventually you will drop your English-centred view of the world. As an English speaker, it may seem to you as if the world already speaks English, but that is certainly not the case. Consider, for instance, that I've seen Brazilians who visited Australia, and commented to me that they should have never bothered to try and learn English, because "everyone in Australia speaks Portuguese". These same Brazilians tell me that Portuguese is now being taught in places as far as Universities in Korea and China (which apparently is true). Similarly, there are many Chinese living in Australia for years, who have never learnt any English, because everyone they relate to - even in shops - speaks Mandarin, Cantonese or even Hokkien. Indeed, I've heard more than one person say to me, that the most useful and international language they'd ever learnt was Mandarin, because it did not matter where they went in the world, there was *always* someone there who could speak it!

There are studies that confirm that now there are more speakers of Esperanto than many other national languages (like Icelandic, unfortunately). Esperanto is a great choice, not just because it has a true neutral, international culture, but mostly because it is easier to learn than any other language - you can be absolutely fluent in a year.

Esperanto also and has a helpful community of speakers all around the globe - which you don't get by learning any other language. Having myself through Esperanto been able to relate with Germans, Americans, Japanese, Koreans, British, Brazilians, Indonesians, Chinese, Zimbabwans, Australians, Slovakians, Dutch, Russians, Italians, and many other nationalities, I must tell you that the experience of developing a relationship with them in Esperanto is a lot different to doing it in English (or struggling to try and use their national language). Esperanto allows us to relate in an equal level, and to help each other equally cross the cultural divide - rather than expecting that the other will do all the effort.

The Esperanto community is wide, and vibrant, and has a fascinating history and culture. By making derogatory comments about the language, you may unwillingly be offending the many Esperanto musicians, authors, scientists and journalists who help each other around the world.

Take some time, and have a look at some of the links about Esperanto in my previous post. They are a good starting point for you, and may open doors for you which you didn't even know were there to be opened!