Take a look at http://www.lernu.net

Esperanto works! I’ve used it in speech and writing – and sung in it -in about fifteen countries over recent years.

Indeed, the language has some remarkable practical benefits. Personally, I’ve made friends around the world through Esperanto that I would never have been able to communicate with otherwise. And then there’s the Pasporta Servo, which provides free lodging and local information to Esperanto-speaking travellers in over 90 countries. In the past few years I have had guided tours of Berlin and Milan and Douala in Cameroon in the planned language. I have discussed philosophy with a Slovene poet, humour on television with a Bulgarian TV producer. I’ve discussed what life was like in East Berlin before the wall came down, how to cook perfect spaghetti, the advantages and disadvantages of monarchy, and so on.

Take a look at http://www.lernu.net

Esperanto works! I’ve used it in speech and writing – and sung in it -in about fifteen countries over recent years.

Indeed, the language has some remarkable practical benefits. Personally, I’ve made friends around the world through Esperanto that I would never have been able to communicate with otherwise. And then there’s the Pasporta Servo, which provides free lodging and local information to Esperanto-speaking travellers in over 90 countries. In the past few years I have had guided tours of Berlin and Milan and Douala in Cameroon in the planned language. I have discussed philosophy with a Slovene poet, humour on television with a Bulgarian TV producer. I’ve discussed what life was like in East Berlin before the wall came down, how to cook perfect spaghetti, the advantages and disadvantages of monarchy, and so on.

Aside from the fact that my vocabulary was still fairly meager, I was well able to express myself in past, present and future tense, understood the use the conditional and logical modes, indirect and subordinate expressions, etc, etc.

And over two decades later, my German is nearly useless to me, but I can still use Esperanto effectively enough that I recently bought an Esperanto edition of The Lord Of The Rings, to refresh my practical skills.

Aside from the fact that my vocabulary was still fairly meager, I was well able to express myself in past, present and future tense, understood the use the conditional and logical modes, indirect and subordinate expressions, etc, etc.

And over two decades later, my German is nearly useless to me, but I can still use Esperanto effectively enough that I recently bought an Esperanto edition of The Lord Of The Rings, to refresh my practical skills.

Just a word of caution about Esperanto’s ease of learning: it is indeed very easy to learn, but, as a complete language, it is not entirely effortless. Whereas a language even as reportedly easy as English typically takes years to master, Esperanto takes months – far less than English, but not days or hours or minutes. Lest someone should spend an hour learning it, realize he/she has only just begun, then give up, believing that Esperanto renegged on its promise.

Just a word of caution about Esperanto’s ease of learning: it is indeed very easy to learn, but, as a complete language, it is not entirely effortless. Whereas a language even as reportedly easy as English typically takes years to master, Esperanto takes months – far less than English, but not days or hours or minutes. Lest someone should spend an hour learning it, realize he/she has only just begun, then give up, believing that Esperanto renegged on its promise.