Thanks to Bill Chapman for pointing out that English is not the World's lingua franca. Esperanto is an interesting phenomenon. Their new online course http://www.lernu.net has 125 000 hits per day and Esperanto Wikipedia enjoys 400 000 hits per day. That can't be bad :)

live in London and if anyone says to me “everyone speaks English” my answer is “Listen and look around you”. If people in London do not speak English then the whole question of a global language is completely open. The promulgation of English as the world’s “lingua franca” is impractical and linguistically undemocratic. I say this as a native English speaker! Impractical because communication should be for all and not only for an educational or political elite. That is how English is used internationally at the moment. Undemocratic because minority languages are under attack worldwide due to the encroachment of majority ethnic languages. Even Mandarin Chinese is attempting to dominate as well. The long-term solution must be found and a non-national language, which places all ethnic languages on an equal footing is essential. As a native English speaker, my vote is for Esperanto :) Your readers may be interested in seeing http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a former translator with the United Nations The Esperanto online course http://www.lernu.net has 125 000 hits per day and Esperanto Wikipedia enjoys 400 000 hits per day. That can't be bad :)

Good to see the progress of Esperanto. During a short period of 125 years Esperanto is now in the top 100 languages, out of 6,800 worldwide. It is the 22nd most used language in Wikipedia, ahead of Danish and Arabic. It is a language choice of, Skype, Firefox, Ubuntu and Facebook and Google translate recently added to its prestigious list of 64 languages. Native Esperanto speakers, (people who have used the language from birth), include World Chess Champion Susan Polger, Ulrich Brandenberg the new German Ambassador to and Nobel Laureate Daniel Bovet. Financier George Soros learnt Esperanto as a child. Esperanto is a living language - see http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670 Their online course http://www.lernu.net has 125 000 hits per day and Esperanto Wikipedia enjoys 400 000 hits per day. That can't be bad :)

English is not a "true world language either" I live in London and if anyone says to me “everyone speaks English” my answer is “Listen and look around you”. If people in London do not speak English then the whole question of a global language is completely open. The promulgation of English as the world’s “lingua franca” is impractical and linguistically undemocratic. I say this as a native English speaker! Impractical because communication should be for all and not only for an educational or political elite. That is how English is used internationally at the moment. Undemocratic because minority languages are under attack worldwide due to the encroachment of majority ethnic languages. Even Mandarin Chinese is attempting to dominate as well. The long-term solution must be found and a non-national language, which places all ethnic languages on an equal footing is essential. As a native English speaker, my vote is for Esperanto :) Your readers may be interested in seeing http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a former translator with the United Nations The new online course http://www.lernu.net has 125 000 hits per day and Esperanto Wikipedia enjoys 400 000 hits per day. That can't be bad :)

Adult Learners' Week always provides an excellent opportunity to think about learning a new language. The Esperanto Association has launched a course for beginners which I think provides an excellent springboard to the learning of many languages. I hope your readers may be interested :) You can see this at http://www.lernu.net

Adult Learners' Week always provides an excellent opportunity to think about learning a new language. The Esperanto Association has launched a course for beginners which I think provides an excellent springboard to the learning of many languages. I hope your readers may be interested :) You can see this at http://www.lernu.net

Good idea and the only choice should be Esperanto. See http://ikso.net/broshuro/pdf/malkovru_esperanton_en.pdf as well as http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670

With regard to the campaign to save endangered and dying languages, can I point to the contribution, made by the World Esperanto Association, to UNESCO's campaign. The commitment was made, by the World Esperanto Association at the United Nations' Geneva HQ in September. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eR7vD9kChBA&feature=related Your readers may be interested in http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a translator with the United Nations in Geneva. A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net

As a native English speaker my vote is for Esperanto as the future global language. The phrase "everyone speaks English" is an urban legend. Try living in London and experience the language problem at first hand :) Its time to move forward to Esperanto. Pardonon, sed mi ne parolas la francan lingvon

Did you know that George Soros gained his wealth through the international language Esperanto ? Born in Hungary in 1930 as Gyorgy Schwartz, the family changed its name in 1936 to Soros, which in Esperanto means "to soar." The deliberate Esperanto name-change was an effort to protect the Jewish family from the rise of fascist rulers and the whole family spoke this language at home. George Soros used Esperanto to defect to the West in 1946, by attending an Esperanto youth meeting in Ipswich, England. Esperanto enabled Soros both to defect, and to become a multi-billionaire. See http://eurotalk.com/en/store/learn/esperanto Your readers may also be interested in http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a former translator with the United Nations.

I like neither na'vi nor klingon as the future global language. Especially when you have to dress up for it :D We also need a future international language. One which is easy to learn, as well ! And that's not English! Esperanto? Certainly:) At least Bill Shatner speaks Esperanto. Please confirm at http://www.lernu.net

I think the World now needs a modern lingua franca as well :-) Why not decide on a neutral non-national language, taught worldwide, in all nations? As a native English speaker, I would prefer Esperanto Your readers may be interested in http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670. A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net

With regard to the campaign to save endangered and dying languages, can I point to the contribution, made by the World Esperanto Association, to UNESCO's campaign. The commitment was made, by the World Esperanto Association at the United Nations' Geneva HQ in September. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eR7vD9kChBA&feature=related Your readers may be interested in http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a translator with the United Nations in Geneva. A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net

Klingon is difficult, but Esperanto is worldwide. And easy, of course :) As in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2LPVcsL2k0 Also see http://www.lernu.net

As a native English speaker, I would prefer Esperanto as the future global language :) Communciation should be for everyone, not just for an educational or political elite; that is how English is used at the moment. Your readers may be interested in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2LPVcsL2k0 Dr Kvasnak teaches English at Florida Atlantic University. A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net

I think that the World needs a lingua franca as well. As a native English speaker, I would prefer Esperanto :) Your readers may be interested in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2LPVcsL2k0 Dr Kvasnak teaches English at Florida Atlantic University. A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net

Please do not overestimate the position of English. I live in London and if anyone says to me “everyone speaks English” my answer is “Listen and look around you”. If people in London do not speak English then the whole question of a global language is completely open. The promulgation of English as the world’s “lingua franca” is impractical and linguistically undemocratic. I say this as a native English speaker! Impractical because communication should be for all and not only for an educational or political elite. That is how English is used internationally at the moment. Undemocratic because minority languages are under attack worldwide due to the encroachment of majority ethnic languages. Even Mandarin Chinese is attempting to dominate as well. The long-term solution must be found and a non-national language, which places all ethnic languages on an equal footing is essential. As a native English speaker, my vote is for Esperanto :) Your readers may be interested in seeing http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a former translator with the United Nations A glimpse of the global language,Esperanto, can be seen at http://www.lernu.net

According to the Forbes Rich List, George Soros is now the 28th most wealthy man in the World. However Soros would not be a multi-billionaire if it were not for the international language Esperanto. Born in Hungary in 1930 as Gyorgy Schwartz, the family changed its name in 1936 to Soros, which in Esperanto means "to soar." The deliberate Esperanto name-change was an effort to protect the Jewish family from the rise of fascist rulers and the whole family spoke this language at home. George Soros used Esperanto to defect to the West in 1946, by attending an Esperanto youth meeting in Ipswich, England. Esperanto enabled Soros both to defect, and to become a multi-billionaire. Your readers may also be interested in http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a former translator with the United Nations

A recent CNN television broadcast gave the impression that Esperanto aims to be a single global language. The comparison was with a global reserve currency, instead of the US dollar. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpC8mPk4QBM May I put the record straight? Esperanto intends to be an auxiliary language, or a second language for all. Please see http://www.lernu.net for confirmation.

When one World Government comes, we will need a common international language as well. As a native English speaker, I world prefer Esperanto. Your readers may be interested in http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a translator with the United Nations in Geneva. The argument for Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net

As the European Day of Languages approaches, don't forget the Esperanto language. I've just done a Google search, and came up with 50,000,000 hits. This unique phenomenon seems to be gaining more attention :) Your readers may be interested in the following video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670 A glimpse of the language can be seen at http://www.lernu.net :

If one World Government comes we will need a common international language as well. As a native English speaker, I world prefer Esperanto. Your readers may be interested in http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a translator with the United Nations in Geneva. The argument for Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net