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From: elna@netcom.com (Esperanto League N America)
Subject: Re: ESPERANTO, my ass
Message-ID: <elnaD5EwIt.3HI@netcom.com>
Organization: Esperanto League for North America, Inc.
References: <3jq993$93t@nntp.ucs.ubc.ca> <3jtgo4$m30@pulsar.sky.net> <3jvuls$o1f@netnews.upenn.edu>
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 1995 04:01:41 GMT
Lines: 33
Sender: elna@netcom10.netcom.com

ccardona@mail2.sas.upenn.edu (Maelstrom) writes in a recent posting (reference <3jvuls$o1f@netnews.upenn.edu>):
>: 123@somewhere.there wrote:
>
>: Talk about a waste of time! Why aren't YOU more fully utilizing your time 
>: toward the abolition of war, famine, etc., instead of coming in here and 
>: slamming this language. No, English is not, nor will it ever be THE 
>: international language - pull your head out of your ass, fool. Esperanto 
>
>It isnt?  And in what cave have you been living in for the last 50-60 years?
>
This is no cave; it is the *real* world. Nobody will disagree that English
is *an* international language (an important one, to be sure) but it is 
clearly not the only organism in this ecological niche. Spanish is widely
used between many nations, as are Swahili, Arabic, Esperanto, French,
Russian, etc.
The supremacy of English stems from WW2, and the USA's good fortune to
avoid destruction during that bloodfest. Now that the workers of Japan and
Germany have again risen to re-establish their dominance of the world's
consumer-driven markets, we see a serious growth in demand for language
instruction in German and Japanese. As America's economic dominance 
recedes, so does the primacy of English.
Who'll be the next in line?
If you visit the tourist centers of the Mediterranean, you find the 
emphasis already obviously shifted. 
The mark is mightier than the dollar.... but in 30 years?
Who'll be the next in line?

Miko.

BTW how many people think that the internet is only in English because their
sysop filters out all other languages?


