Polaris: And the worst part of it is, you'll probably have to sit there while some instructor (who is far less fluent than yourself)[...]!"

Thank you for pointing that out. I had actually said that unless the instructor is a CODA himself/herself, then I would probably know the language better. That's not to say that ASL is unlearnable. Lots of people have learned sign language very well with no personal connection to deaf people.

The problem is that for them they like to add nuance to signs by initializing the sign because often two signs have two different meanings. The sign for BOX and ROOM are the same. SCHOOL, COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY are the same sign... until hearing people decide that box should be signed with your hands in the B-formation, and room in the R-formation and that you need end SCHOOL with a C if you mean college, and U if you mean University. Or with the COUGH and COMPLAIN, because your hand is already in the C-formation they think you need to add SICK to cough.

Of course they don't seem to feel that English homophones are problematic. These ones who are trying to add nuance to room and box because context alone won't get the right meaning, don't need to add words to clear up ambiguities that never exist in English:

I need to replace a spring (coil) in the air conditioner this Spring (season).

If someone tells me they are going replace a spring, I don't wonder how they are going to replace a season. Similarly I didn't crawl into a crate when my mother told me to go to my room.

FoxtrotUniform:
The problem is that for them they like to add nuance to signs by initializing the sign because often two signs have two different meanings. The sign for BOX and ROOM are the same. SCHOOL, COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY are the same sign...I need to replace a spring (coil) in the air conditioner this Spring (season).
If someone tells me they are going replace a spring, I don't wonder how they are going to replace a season. Similarly I didn't crawl into a crate when my mother told me to go to my room.

You're making me grin, Foxtrot--you're reminding me of a day school program for hearing impaired kids where they used a rather severe form of English signing. Using a hybrid system of English and ASL, they initialized like crazy, and tried to have only ONE SIGN for every English word--sometimes even parts of words. Can you just imagine the hilarious combinations they came up with? Just picture something like "she got pretty angry" or "I can't stand that poster--it looks pretty bad!" or "the chairman {imagine: chair--man} who lives out in the country {picture it: OUT--IN} the COUNTRY, really got one over on the BOARD members." The possibilities are endless!

While we can laugh at the "quasi-official" status of signed English hybrid systems (and the ridiculous combinations they produce), it's almost inevitable for beginners to do something similar with Esperanto (or really, any other language as well). Additionally, if someone only speaks English, it is notoriously hard to explain why certain combinations just don't work. What's further interesting, however, is to see how many examples of "speaking English with Esperanto words" seem to have crossed the language barrier are are now considered acceptable Esperanto phrases.