Speak Esperanto?

Question

Does anybody reading this question speak Esperanto? If so, how and where did you learn it?

Why did you learn it?

Answer 1

I learned Esperanto, not intending to use it, just as an experiment to see if after the age of 40 I could learn a foreign language, but then I found the international community of Esperantists, the library of translated and original works. The extensive collection of Esperanto music, and fell in love with the culture.

I began learning Esperanto in 2000 using the Esperanto Hypercourse. (http://wwwtios.cs.utwente.nl/esperanto/hypercourse/) It's not a bad beginning, but it's not a complete course.

I then bought a book called "Teach Yourself Esperanto". However this book is now out of print, so copies are difficult to come by.

I've also used used the "Kurso de Esperanto", a free educational program for Microsoft Windows (it's also been translated to Linux) at http://www.cursodeesperanto.com.br/bazo/index.php?en.

In addition to this, I also began meeting with my local Esperanto club.

Good luck with your language studies. Feel free to send me an email from my profile page if you would like to learn more about Esperanto.

Answer 2

I've always been attracted by things out of the ordinary.

I found Teach Yourself Esperanto and the companion dictionary at the bookstore and started to learn on my own. After going through the basics a few times I joined the local club. From there, with the exposure to the language every week and a bit more devoted study, I became fluent after about eight months. This was by no means as intensive as a course of study in school would have been.

I learned Esperanto because I had studied French (9 years) and German (4 years) in school and had never been able to really use those languages. I had heard that Esperanto is easier to learn than national languages, and for me it was.

When I was learning on my own I didn't know about the Esperanto community but after I joined the club and started finding out all the uses for Esperanto and how much fun it was, I was hooked. So it started out as something weird and interesting to do and became an everyday part of my life.

Answer 3

There are an estimated 2 million speakers of Esperanto around the world in about 130+ different countries. Today there are believed to be about 200 "native" speakers of Esperanto who speak Esperanto at home with parents who speak different languages. Or, in Esperanto... Ekzistas proksimume 2 milionoj parolantoj de esperanto ĉirkaŭ la mondo en proksimume 130+ malsamaj landoj. Hodiaŭ estas kredita esti eble 200 "denaskaj" parolantoj de esperanto, kiuj parolas esperanton en la domo kun sia gepatroj kiuj parolas malsamajn lingvojn.

Answer 4

I took the ten lesson course with an online tutor. I am now a tutor of the same course and dedicate a lot of time to developing materials for children interested in learning it, either on their own or with the help of an Esperanto speaker.
I am the coordinator of the Esperanto kids club "La Verda Stelo" at a local public school in San Diego, California.
Mar @ GrupoAmikema.org

Answer 5

My kids and I are learning Esperanto. The sites below are your best starting points in learning the language. Our reasons are many and varied, so this is kind of long.
Believe it or not, Esperanto represents the best chance for the survival of the multitude of dying languages since it's purpose is to forestall the monopoly of any one National tongue to the disadvantage of another.
Consider if you will, Esperanto is an easily learnt AUXILIARY language. This means that myself and that German, Japanese or Korean fellow over there needn't sink a lot of time and effort into learning each others mother tongues if they don't wish, where whose ever tongue we settle to communicate in will hold the advantage in any discussions; since the likelihood of having a mastery of the second language will be remote at best. Each partner has exerted a similar effort in order to communicate; a linguisticly neutral hand shake if you will. Yet we are still free to talk in our mother tongues when and where we choose.
Further, I am now in a position to visit just about every country in the world and with the help of my new found Esperanto speaking friend (2 million plus) learn of his / her culture and language. This second facet is possible because in learning Esperanto I now have a firmer grip on linguistic principles. I will provide a link below on the benefits of learning tertiary languages after Esperanto.
However, if it is Culture you desire, then you've no need to look much further than the Internet. In music there are Folk, Jazz, Opera, Rock, Hip Hop, Rap, childrens' songs, etc. In literature there is multinational translations plus original works. The yearly Esperanto Congresses are a play ground for young and old alike for interaction.
The error it seems that most people make, is the assumption that a focus on one area or language will detract from other areas. Although it may be true to a point, it is extremely unlikely to effect an area to the point of destruction. There are simply too many people in the world to allow that to happen. None of this precludes learning another language.
Conversely, nobody would feel forced to learn it, especially if they've no desire to leave their comfort zone.
The fact is that like it or not, it's use is expanding exponentially. The last educated guess puts the number of functionally fluent speakers at 2 million plus and another 2,000 native speakers (those that were born to an Esperanto household; yes they exist).
Yet many feel almost threatened by it, which is the last intention of the Esperantistoj (ehs-pehr-ahn-TEES-toy). It is simply a tool to allow those that might otherwise struggle to learn a new language, the option of expanding their horizons.
Finally, there is currently $600 million plus a year being spent on translation services at the UN, and a similar amount in the EU, because no one nationality wants to loose the prestige of owning one of the 'working' languages in each of those institutions. This a huge waste of resources that might otherwise go to feeding and housing those less fortunate. A single working language, easily learnt (less than a year to become fluent) would certainly go along way towards that goal. The Universal Esperanto Asociation (UEA) currently holds observer status (class B) at the UN and UNESCO. So there is some movement towards this goal.
Research and draw your own conclusions.

Ĝis!

Answer 6

Jes, mi parolas E-on! I've learned it in the late'80-s, because I was interested in artificial languages and interlinguistics. I learned it very easily without taking a course, just by listening to radio bropadcasts (plenty during that time,not very many left) and by reading the only Esperanto magazine which could enter Romania at the time (a Chinese one). I didn't need to make very much effort, because I had learned quite a few natural languages beforehand and I was also into Indo- European linguistics. I think it will never fulfil its original purpose but Esperantists are among the nicest people I've ever met. They have such a pluralistic mindset that, whatever their ideology etc. they can always be civil and tolerant to each other. Which is more than I can say about many other groups...

Answer 7

I can usually read it without difficulty; I can't speak it though. I don't really know where I picked it up - I can deal with a lot of languages, and since it's designed to be easily learned, then perhaps it simply *works* :-)