But any anyone who travels and who really loves languages; the first thing he/she does in foreign countries is try to get at it, if he/she hasn't already taken courses in advance.
I am moderately interested in languages. My first experience with Dutch was a disaster.
Then why Esperanto if you can go at it directly?
All my contacts do not speak the same language. In multinational fora, it's convenient to use one language instead of having to translate everything in several. Many choose English or Esperanto. I chose English and Esperanto, in which I feel more comfortable.
EU is not against Esperanto
see
http://forums.ec.europa.eu/multilingualism/ and other Figel's interventions.
I don't believe in an English speaking elite.
So you believe in Globish-speaking masses. Globish is the down-graded version of English.
English is the easiest language to learn for Europeans because it has dropped a number of otherwise tackling grammar issues. Every (even low level) school obliges English.
I own a pile of grammar books in English. Actually none has the title "grammar book", even if they all attempt to describe some features of the language.
I don't know how the language situation in Belgium is now. We had to learn English, French and German up to a serious level.
English is the language of choice. French is declining North. Dutch is better accepted South. German is on the decline everywhere. The level obtained after 6 years of studying English is still not satisfactory. One will have to start sooner.
I assume you speak French, Flemish, obviously English and Esperanto. Any other language that has you special interest?
I want to be fluent in Polish by the end of the year. I probably will spend some time on Chinese next year, but there is no hurry: I just want to be able to help my grandchildren when they'll be looking for a job :-)
Remuŝ
