h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It is a nice surprise that someone still remembers that language and actually speaks it /maybe/.
I myself studied it for 3 years in high-school alongside English. It was a part of some experimental program for introducing the language in huh ... popular use in Bulgaria. Needen't to mention, the program failed. All I can reckon from that time is that Esperanto was very very easy to learn, nice to listen to and the most pleasant part was the word-formation. If you don't know a word or /and there are such cases pretty often!/ the word simply doesn't exist, you may just create it, using several roots, prefixes and suffixes - amazing experience, I can tell you!
Well so far with the nice-and-easy part. Apart from the time when I spoke Esperanto in class, neither while I was studying it, nor till today, I met another Esperanto-speaking person. And, of course, after not speaking it / using it for 10 years, the language now is a vagie memory, hidden somewhere in my head ...
And if you are looking for a point in that entry, I am afraid I do not have a particular one - just too bad that the *one artificial universal language* idea didn't live ...

So why then, if Esperanto is so easily learned and a pleasure to listen to, it is not the worldly spoken language it was designed to be?

Because Esperanto is very young ; one century is young for a language. French (1513), English (Shakspeare, Italian (Dante), Spanish (Cervantes, etc, have almost 4 centuries. You can't ask a 10-years old boy what you ask a 40-years man. But Esperanto is growing each day. Esperanto estas tre facila, sed Esperanto estas juna : Esperanto is very easy, but Eseperanto is young.

Parallels are drawable between the Metric System and Esperanto. The Metric System didn't catch on for years, did it? But look at us now.

The internet, however, is encouraging plenty of growth in Esperanto; very visible within the Esperantist community.

If not to be used for an IAL (International Auxiliary Language), Esperanto is certainly a wonderful tool for freindship and understanding between people. I've met many wonderful people through Esperanto, and continue to do so.

"neither while I was studying it, nor till today, I met another Esperanto-speaking person2. Did you really try to meet someone whom to speak esperanto with?. In Vslencia, Spain, my hometown, I talk everyday to my mates at Grupo Esperanto Valencia, on the phone or e-mail

Interesting. There doesn't appear to be room for the criticism of Esperanto as an international language: it's too European-centric. Based on Latinate rules, its structure might not be as intuitively "correct" for the majority of the human race, those whose languages are not Latin-descended or related.