I was fortunate to spend 1997 in Québec City. I spoke no French when I arrived. I reminded me that in Texas the influx of Spanish speakers and their language now nearly precludes any attempt at "English as an Official Language" in the United States just as it can't be done in Canada. My fear is that the discrimination I felt as an English speaker in Québec is probably similar to that felt by Hispanic immigrants here.
Another, and possibly more important aspect of the spread of Spanish in North American (I include Toronto, at the very least) is that the language is changing rapidly as we adopt Spanish words into English at least as readily as our British ancestors did with French. This will inevitably widen the gaps between our language and that of our English-speaking counterparts in Europe, South Africa, and Australia/New Zealand.
As for Esperanto, I read recently that the language has a new generation of devotees who are again trying to get it adopted worldwide. Has anyone else seen such indication?
