Newsgroups: sci.lang
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From: elna@netcom.com (Esperanto League N America)
Subject: Re: Esperanto, the most "international" language - learn it now!
Message-ID: <elnaE4Dz3A.Ctq@netcom.com>
Organization: Esperanto League for North America, Inc.
References: <01bbf5d5$21448b40$9f5f47cc@jhoward.vvm.com> <7fu3oduf7n.fsf@phoenix.cs.hku.hk>
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 01:35:34 GMT
Lines: 33
Sender: elna@netcom21.netcom.com

sdlee@cs.hku.hk (Lee Sau Dan ~{@nJX6X~}) writes in a recent posting (reference <7fu3oduf7n.fsf@phoenix.cs.hku.hk>):
>>>>>> "Jim" == Jim Howard <jhoward@vvm.com> writes:
>
>    Jim>  Did you ever want to learn French, Spanish, or
>    Jim> Portuguese?  Those are the three most international languages
>    Jim> in the world, besides English, if you look at the countries
>    Jim> that use them.  
>
>What do you mean by the "most international languages"?
>
>In terms of number of speakers,  English comes after Mandarin Chinese,
>and Hindi-Urdu comes close to Spanish (correct me if I'm wrong).
>
He said "if you look at the *countries* that use them"
French abounds in Africa, and has strong presense in North America.
Portuguese also flourishes in Africa, & is spoken by approximately half
of all South Americans.

>In terms of geographic coverage, how more  international is French and
>Portuguese than Russian, Arabic and Chinese?
>
Perhaps Mr. Lee could look up the word "international". He generates
most of his arguments from its misuse!
>
>I'd like to see some comparisons of Esperanto and Malay.
>
So would I!

-- 
Miko SLOPER              elna@netcom.com              USA  (510) 653 0998
Direktoro de la          ftp.netcom.com:/pub/el/elna   fax (510) 653 1468 
Centra Oficejo de la     Learn Esperanto! Free lessons: e-mail/snail-mail
Esperanto-Ligo de N.A.   Write to above address or call:  1-800-ESPERANTO
