One of the most horrible nightmares I have, relating to the language Esperanto, is that I'll wake up some morning and find that the whole world is knocking at our door — and who will be there to answer? Is the Esperanto movement ready for success? I've always assumed that it isn't. I think of a friend of mine who taught Esperanto for some years at a university in Shanghai; when large classes appeared, she had to turn many students away because "there just weren't enough chairs". This happens from time to time; at a provincial university in Liaoning, China, last year a new Esperanto course attracted some 500 students, but teaching resources were available for only around 100, and the rest had to be rejected. Good examples of a movement that is not ready for success.
There are hopeful signs. This morning a new Esperanto course, presumably around three months in length, began at the Foreign Language University of the Hanoi State University in Vietnam. Some 150 students were expected; 400 turned out. Not to worry; the people who run the course (including the University director) managed to summon up necessary teaching resources, and everybody will be able to take the course. Rewards? Aside from learning the language, the top ten students will get free registration in this year's International Youth Esperanto Congress, also to be held in Hanoi, and many of the rest will gain free entrée by working as volunteers-aides (an arrangement that I saw work fairly well in Beijing in 1986).
In any case, it was nice to see an example of readiness for success, for once. My hat is off to the Esperanto movement in Vietnam.