Let me share my expertise: 20 years as an ESL teacher, mostly in New York City public schools and several years in Israel (EFL) and 38 years as a teacher/informer of Esperanto as a Second Language. Kisito discusses ease of learning for ruling out Chinese as a (vast) Second Language. Esperanto is one fifth as difficult a English, so if ease of learning is a significant point we'll agree Esperanto wins. But that is not why I want Esperanto to win a dominant world-wide second language. I might be in the minority of Esperanto speakers who believes that Esperanto has developed its own unique culture, adheres to rules of democracy, with full participation of women. I enjoy the full participation of Hungarian, Lithuanian and Angolan Esperantists. Can I say this easily about English? The United States has the lowest standard of maternity leave, sick leave and vacations in the world (I point to the Swedish model) . It represents the most
anti-worker culture I have yet to know in the industrial world. It spreads a false sense of security through its movies. Esperanto gives me hope for a future culture of equality, which I have observed in small and large confereces (Universalaj Kongresoj) in Brazil, Israel, Germany, Belgium and elsewhere. My personal blog is
Esperanto Friends. Yes, I am an American citizen, who has resided abroad for some sixteen years with a diverse experiences.