Q&A

Q&A: “how long have you been studying esperanto?”

anonymous said:

hello Vesper! how long have you been studying esperanto? and would you consider yourself fluent/conversational? I know it’s known as a “simple language” but I’m still unsure as to whether or not it’s worth learning actively since it’s not a common language in real life compared to other languages. do you speak it often? sorry if these are too many questions.

sal. 🙂 not too many questions at all.

i started learning Esperanto in 2003 and would say that i’m pretty conversational / fluent in it. that said, i go in and out of actively using it and when i’m not actively using it, i get rusty and have to brush up on it to get back to where i used to be, just like with any other language. Esperanto’s reputation of being an easy enough language to learn in 6 months is true, but it can take longer than that to become native-level fluent in it. it is a “full-fledged” language just like any other language, after all, even if it is comparatively easy to learn.

at the moment i’m in one of my not-so-actively-using-it phases where i still use it online, but in terms of offline activity i only go to meetups, conferences, etc periodically. that said, i know lots of Esperantists in several countries in real life, have taught Esperanto privately in real life and was on the board of administration of a national Esperanto organization at one point.

if you want to learn Esperanto, i say go for it! no, it isn’t that widely spoken– especially in English speaking countries since English speakers often feel no need to learn an international language given the already international status of the English language. that said, Esperanto is hardly the “dead” or “useless” language that people think it is. there are opportunities to use it online or offline if you look for them. 🙂 bonƝancon!

YouTuber and Blogger, Vesper is an American expat currently living in Japan.

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