Mi estas komencanto de Esperanto

Mi studas Esperanto ĉe lernu! danke al sennoma komentulo.

I first heard about Esperanto in a story whose title and even plot I've long since forgotten. I have a vague sense it might have been a futuristic science fiction novel, and I thought it might have been another word for a merged language like Spanglish.

Then some indeterminate time later I read about a homeschooling family from Ireland who had learned Esperanto. I found primers at either Wangaratta or Wodonga library and on the internet, playing with it for a little.

That anonymous commenter had directed me to videos at lernu!. Two clips were google videos (at least one of which is also at YouTube but the sound is not as good there).

Esperanto Estas:


While at google video I noticed "Wrecking Ball at the Tower of Babel" which documents a pessimistic view that constructed international languages are unlikely to become significantly useful because no international organisation has the authority to require teaching of it, no national governments would be willing to require teaching a language perceived as 'novelty' and "since language is related to identity, culture and memory, many believe that language erosion is comparable to cultural genocide" (Can anyone tell me if it is possible to link to a specific part in a video? This conclusion was expressed at 08:43).



That video suggests that learning a new language requires the elimination of the native language (citing for example Napoleon requiring schools to teach only one French language eliminating many dialects). However the Australian education system requires students to study both English and a language other than English (LOTE). {Tell me Aussies do any schools offer Esperanto?}. What if one then another then another (etc) school offered Esperanto?

Is Australia the only country that requires students to learn a second language?