Boaz, you may not have noticed, but I believe that your wish for a simplified English to become current appear to be coming true in the form of phone text-message English. Some newspapers are even inviting, and publishing verbatim, text messages to the editor. This language includes pictorial words as well as words with phonetic spelling. Of course purists hate it, but linguistic purists are often luddites fighting a losing battle. English is a living language evolving according to the needs of its users. The purists will have to satisfy themselves with Chaucer.

Esperanto ought to have become the world's lingua franca, and might have except for the foolish French government at one stage, and millions of other foolish people around the world.
The Chinese during their Communist phase spent huge amounts of effort getting people to learn Esperanto. So did other Communist nations. Chinese Esperantists printed an excellent informative and non-propaganda journal called El Popola Cxinio. The sad part is that the Communism caused some Westerners and others to reject Esperanto.
The weaknesses of English, so well described by the article, are not present in Esperanto. Its vocabulary is keeping up with world progress. I'm only a learner still, because I put effort into other causes too, but it is much easier to learn than other languages. Lernu Esperantan, mi petas!

BOAZ_David it's great that you're learning other languages.

However I know you love being corrected ;-) so here you go:
"Mandarin" not "Manderin".

I very much enjoyed reading the article on the use of English language around the world.

I feel compelled to note, however, my experience of the use of English lanuage spelling in China. I have not seen that it is overwealmingly American. I live and work in Beijing, and I see a pretty even split between the English and American. I had expected this (or more American) since the American influence on the east coast is greater. As one travels further south, towards Hong Kong, I expect English spelling to be more prevalent, and, in my limited experience, this is true too.

I also question the use of history to predict the future use of language. Doing so cannot take into account the much increased ease of communication. The internet is still dominated by the English language, though how much that will continue to be the case is very uncertain - very few Chinese web sites, for example, have any English language on them at all. I'm sure this increase in ease of communication will have a much bigger effect that any perceived global power, even though that may have been the drive of dominant language in the past.

My tuppence worth anyway...

Max.

I´ve read all the interesting comments posted in On Line Opinion. Let me tell my personal experience with languages. I learnt Esperanto when I was a teenager. Then I could easily learn French and English, while for other students those tongues were a real nightmare.

Afterwards, being a doctor, I´ve travelled worldwide for professional reasons or as a tourist. Everywhere I could discuss with the esperantists, on an equal footing, about different subjects.

I think that Esperanto is the best solution for the problem of a lingua franca. I think, too, that people have to judge that language by themselves, and nor according to the prejudices of the mass media.

Course of Esperanto by Internet:

http://www.institutoesperanto.com.ar

I have taught English professionally for over twenty years in the United States and in Israel. It has given me a living. I have spent 36 years seeking hope for a just world where bilingualism is a component. Esperanto is that logical hope for a bilingual world that I strive for in my free time. Esperanto speakers hold a high respect for the idealism of its founder, L.L. Zamenhof. The goal of English is to provide advantage for its native speakers and an elite in several countries. Sincerely Neil A. Blonstein