If that had been my impression I'd never have posted anything on this rather boring topic. What made me think it might be a permanent design decision is this extract from the Arc intro: "[...] it doesn't support any character sets except ascii. Such things may have their uses, but there's also a place for a language that skips them"
Thanks a lot for helping with my horrible spanish! It shows that knowing a language is even harder than getting the character sets right. The "ano" thing is frightening. I'll never open my mouth again unless I know the language really really well ;-)
If you are scared to open your mouth and sound like a moron, you'll never get any practice at all.
Learning a second language is a lesson in humility. Trying going to a spanish cafe and asking for a 'bocadillo de polla' (instead of the correct 'bocadillo de pollo') ... that 'a' at the end is the difference between a 'dick sandwich' and what you most likely really wanted, a 'chicken sandwich'.
Had to learn that one the hard way myself. I'm sure the waiter in Sevilla is still laughing.