I’ll add that the great scattering of Esperantists is in a way a benefit, given the second reason above. If I visit London, where I know no one, I can go online to contact Esperantists who live there, and thus find a local guide. Though we could speak English, we surely would use Esperanto to communicate, and were I to visit (say) Prague, Berlin, Copenhagen, or Helsinki, I could also find local Esperantists as contacts.

The idea of Esperanto immediately appealed to me. One thing was the logic of it: a language designed to be a second language for everyone — the “bridge” language idea: that people can universally communicate by learning just one language in addition to their own. And then the codicil: that such a common second language should be easy to learn (no gendered nouns, no irregular verbs, easy acquisition of vocabulary with the help of a kit of snap-together affixes. “If you want a horse to jump a fence, make the fence as low as possible” — that is, eliminate all possible impediments to the action you want to encourage.

The “universal second language” may be displaced by AI real-time interpreters, but Esperanto remains interesting (to me) as a language, and now with the internet, Esperanto has more support — for example, I am now taking a B1 course (via Teams, Microsoft’s version of Zoom) from Jagiellonian University: 7 months, one 1.5-hour class per week. Previously, I took three A2 (more or less) courses from Kusaro.net: 3 months, one 1-hour class per week. And I practice speaking via Ekparolu! (free 30-minute one-to-one sessions with advanced speakers who have some training in helping novices).

My reason for learning Esperanto is not the universal-language thing, which clearly has not happened, however much sense it makes. Instead, I have two other reasons.

First, I’ve always wondered what it’s like to be fluent in another language. I wanted to experience that and also observe what happens (in me) as I gain the ability. Since fluency is the goal, it made sense to me to pick the language in which fluency is most easily achieved — thus, Esperanto.

I read that becoming fluent in Esperanto takes about a year, and at 7 months in, that seems about right. I am just completing three Zoom classes via London Esperanto (conducted entirely in Esperanto), and I just started a 7-month course from Jagiellonian University in Krakow: one 1.5-hour class per week, at B1 level.

This is not my first effort, but this one is being successful. What undermined my earlier tries was an unrealistic expectation: that I could achieve some level of fluency in 3-4 months. When I was not fluent after 4 months, I felt I had failed and fell away. But this time, I came across a comment that it takes around a year of steady study and practice to achieve fluency, and that greatly increased my patience. Now, 7 months in, I have been taking classes conducted solely in Esperanto, keep my daily journal in Esperanto, listen to a variety of Esperanto podcasts, and correspond in Esperanto (with some correspondents who do not know English). I have a blog post where I’ve been collecting my discoveries and listing the resources I’ve found.

My second reason for learning Esperanto actually relies on the fact that it is not a universal language. It seems to me that Esperanto acts as a filter: the people nowadays interested in learning Esperanto are generally those who want to meet people from other cultures, value person-to-person cross-cultural relationships, and tend to be friendly and curious. In a sense, Esperanto becomes the focus of a hobbyist group with a shared interest, and that interest is communicating with people from other cultures — and of course Esperanto greatly helps in that communication.

There are other reasons to learn Esperanto, of course, and an important one has already been mentioned: learning Esperanto as a first foreign language makes it easier to learn other foreign languages. One experiment in Finland, in a school where three years of German was standard, had an experimental group spend one year learning Esperanto, followed by two years learning German (while they continued to use Esperanto in some other course, just as the language of instruction). At the end of three years, the Esperanto group spoke German more fluently and confidently than the group who had studied only German for three years.

I imagine his disappointment is nothing compared to the disappointment so many feel about the US. The US has disappointed the world — well, except for Russia, North Korea, China, and authoritarians in general.

Mi forte dubas, ke mi vere mastros Esperanton post unu jaro, sed me kredas ke mi havos sufĉe fluecon por komuniki sufiĉe bone. Mi jam povas skribi facile — kaj mi atendas, ke mia lerto pri Esperanto ege pliboniĝos dum la ventontaj ok monatoj. Paarenteze, dum ĉi tiu lastatempa provo, mi blogis la rimedojn, kiun mi trovis plej utilan. Vi povas vidi ilin ĉe la ligilo.

Mi kompletis la Duolingan kurson, kaj tiam mi studas la (senpagan) kurson ĉe Lernu.net. Mi aparte uzas la aŭdan kapablon, tra kiu vi povis aŭdi la tekston de ĉiu leciono. Mi aŭdus dufoje, tiam legus la lecionon dum ankaŭ audinte. Mia celo estis plibonigi mian aŭskultan kapablon. (Mi ankaŭ forte rekomendas la kursojn de Kursaro.net.)

Saluton! My understanding is that Oomoto, a Japanese-based religion, uses Esperanto a lot. Also, China has had for a long time an active Esperanto movement (partly for propaganda purposes).

I have made several runs at Esperanto because I like the idea of the language (a common, easily learned second language for all) and because I like the implementation (the table words, the system of affixes, the simplicity (no irregular verbs, no gendered nouns, power of using a single root to make an entire family of words, etc.). Latterly I realized that Esperanto also acts as a social filter: almost always, those who learn it are people who are interested in other cultures, have a warm and welcoming attitude, and enjoy getting to know people — not a bad group to enter. Plus there’s the benefit of Pasporta Servo (basically, free B&B as a guest in Esperantists’ homes to visit and see the sights). It’s a very international community, scattered across the world (though Europe likely has the most members). I also like its use as a first foreign language: people can learn the skill of learning a foreign language via a language that doesn’t offer irrelevant impediments (e.g., irregular verbs).

After multiple runs, I have found my footing and am enjoying it this time. Two things that made a difference. First, I was misled by my expectation of reaching fluency quickly (with talk of 3 months, etc.). That led to losing heart when, after 4 months, I was nowhere near fluent. Then I saw a YouTube video from a fluent speaker, and he indicated that a basic level of fluency takes about a year of consistent study and practice. Well, okay. I was expecting too much, thus my disappointment. I’m perfectly willing to go a year, and now I know to expect that. (I’m now 4 months in and having labored conversation, but now it’s not depressing since I now see it as a necessary but temporary stage on the road to fluency.)

Second, I have focused on building vocabulary. I use Anki in a particular way, but the key discovery has been that the more words I learn, the easier it becomes to learn a new word. I don’t really understand why, but it’s quite clear that it happens. Of course, I still encounter some words that resist learning a little, but Anki takes care of that. I’m surprised at how many words just stay with simply because I made a card for them.

Another good thing about Esperanto are all the free learning resources, including 1-1 Zoom conversations with experienced and fluent speakers trained to help newbies. (Best non-free intro: Complete Esperanto, by Tim Owen and Judith Meyer: the book includes access to an online library of MP3 files to train listening and (by repeating phrases) speaking.

Just curious: Did you try it? If yes, how did it go?

When I’ve slept on a bed without a headboard, my pillow tends to fall off the end of the mattress as I push it around when I sleep. The headboard acts as a fence to keep the pillow on the bed. To me, a mattress sitting on a box spring held up by a frame doesn’t look so much cheap as incomplete. But since the bed is typically out of sight in a bedroom, people generally don’t sit around gazing at it.

The resentment behind the terms is scarcely concealed and bursts forth especially when commenting on those who are both smart and educated — a combination that is totally repulsive to many. I see that, but I don’t understand it.