Your comments

George from E. sussex
I got a 'D' for German at school, studied French too and hated it. Then I went on holiday to Spain, and thought about teaching myself spainish- much too hard. I'm glad I have a good overview of these languages at least, which highlights how easy and enjoyable esperanto is (tre facila lingvo!). Apparantly the British government actively discourages esperanto (according to Don Harlow), and I do wonder why the BBC doesn't translate its news into esperanto- it does into 33 languages already (and at who's expense!)

Col From Edinburgh,Scotland
I am currently leanring Esperanto from a fantastic site on the net which gives you 10 intensive lessons compelte with exercises which you can send to a tutor to correct. It is absolutely fantastic that there are resources and people willing to help you learn this cool language.

Caitlin from Glasgow
My grandad first told me about Esperanto, so I researched it a bit and started to learn it. After only 1 year, I have sufficient skills in the language, and would love to make friends from different countries. Also, when I am older I want to teach Esperanto in schools, so that more teenagers have the chance to learn an easy language.

Jesse NYC
i think esperanto would make for a better "lingua franca" for european wide communication instead of what is currently occuring, which is the defacto use of english, also since europe was the birthplace of esperanto, it would be fitting for it to be adopted as the european wide auxilliary language while still being accessible for use by folks worldwide.

joseph from the UK
mi havas multajn esperantajn amikojn en la ret', kaj iom da miaj amikoj povas paroli gxin kun mi, ankaux. I have many esperanto friends on the internet, and some of my friends can speak it with me, too.

Flory WITDOECKT from Belgium
We have even meetings in Esperanto via SKYPE all over EUROPE. That is much easier than in English, which I don't speak so fluently.

Elmer Escoto from Honduras, Central America
I learned Esperanto in an unusual way... while sick. I got a box of books to entertain me during my long lonely hours. There was a book about Esperanto, I liked it, I read it, and before two months passed, I was writing and speaking it. I have met many people from many parts of the world through Esperanto. It's so easy to learn, so easy to use... I believe everyone should have Esperanto in their language repertoire. It will not replace your mother tongue, or that of someone at the antipodes. But it will give both of you a common, easy-to-learn and useful tool of communication.

Michel B. from France
I use esperanto to speak into the world, for my firm to bay in another contry - and to enriched my life .Esperanto is a good solution for the humanity.

Joel Amis, Atlanta, GA, USA
Esperanto is not only one of my main interests, it's also an essential part of my life. I met my wife (who's from Ukraine)through Esperanto and the Esperanto Movement, and it's our main household language. So, Esperanto for me is not something theoretical -- it's a living everyday reality.

Adrian, Isle of Man
Discovering Esperanto in 1960 as a schoolboy has given me a lasting pleasure in foreign languages and the science of linguistics. I owe more to it than I could possibly say. In addition, it has a strong appeal in that every user of Esperanto, regardless of national origin, colour, religion etc, is placed on an equal footing, which has to be a good thing in today's divided world.

Hilary from Glasgow
I'm terrible at learning languages so I can confirm that Esperanto is REALLY easy to learn! Not only that I've learned so much about grammar and construction (I'm a product of the 'express yourself' 80's teaching methods) it will be much easier to go back to learning French and Arabic.

kathay
Esperanto absolutely is a awesome language... I love Esperanto.!!!

shiler in Iraq
i want to learn english languege my first languege is arabic.

Jeremy from New York
Mi sxategas Esperanton. Mi ne vojagxi al aliaj landoj ofte, sed mi iris al kongreso. Estis tre bonege! I really like Esperanto. I don't travel to other countries much, but I have been to an Esperanto convention. It was great!

Allan Rockett, Co Durham, England
I began to learn Esperanto,in 2004, in order to be able to communicate with people from other countries, in every corner of the world. I had previously attempted to learn French, Spanish, German, and lastly Russian, but without any great success. Although I am still learning, and still make many mistakes, I now find that I am able at last, to communicate with like minded people from different countries, with at least a good chance of understanding them, and being understood myself. Unfortunately, there is no-one else with whom I can communicate verbally, so all my correspondence, is written, but still extremely worthwhile, and very satisfying. I am now over 60, and wish I had started to learn Esperanto many years ago, now that I can see all the pleasure I have been missing.

Hans Bakker, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Esperanto is the vehicular language for my daily communication with hundreds of Esperanto-speaking Africans. These contacts are very rewarding, and would not be feasible in English, French, Swahili, Portuguese, Arabic or any of the thousands of African languages. During the last 25 years I got hundreds of sincere friendships by means of that wonderful tool for bridging the language gap: Esperanto.

Roberto, Oviedo, Hispanio, SPAIN
Mi parolas Hispanan, Esperanton kaj la anglan. Sed mi preferas esperanton, estas plej facila ol la angla. I love English, but I hate the pronunciation, which is not the same than the spell of the words. Esperanto ne havas tiun problemon.

Remy Sproelants from Paal-Beringen, Belgium
I learned Esperanto in 1999 at the age of 5O and on the Internet. My teacher was living in Alaska. A new world came within my grasp. Now, I dailly use the language for business as well as for pleasure. The world is in dire need of a common, simple, neutral second language for everyone. English is certainly not the best solution an it does not meet the criteria of a real "universal language". It is of course an important "world language", but nothing more than just that.

Max Rabkin from Cape Town, South Africa
I'm told that Esperanto is the second most common language on the internet. So for me it's very much a language for sharing ideas. While I can and do communicate with many people in English, my first language, Esperanto gives a different perspectives - everyone is on an equal footing in the ideas market. On those statistics, I did a quick google search and found: English 497,000,000 results Esperanto 20,400,000, 1,040,000 (putonghua/Mandarin).

Christopher Culver, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
I was active in the Esperanto movement for a decade, travelling widely for Esperanto congresses and even volunteering for a year in the central office of World Esperanto Association. In early 2005, however, I left the movement entirely, because while Esperantists claim to care about language diversity, they in fact mandate the use of Esperanto everywhere and scold people who want to use Esperanto as a bridge to learning some of the many languages in the world. Esperanto threatens minority languages just as much as English, though on a smaller scale.

William Sellwood, Cambridge
I could never have had so many friends abroad without Esperanto. As a key, it opens so many wonderful doors.

Agnieska of Poland
I studied Esperanto when I was a young girl. It was a beautiful experience for me. I found new fellows, I wrote letters to people of Europe and I received many postcards from everywhere, because this was an usual custom among students of Esperanto: use and practice the language corresponding with other students. This was very useful for me, changed my mind, and my feelings about foreigners, my understanding of the world. After, came computers and I began to write my e-mails to my friends on Esperanto. Surprisingly and I fount that the cyber world was full of esperantists like me. And I contacted people of Russia, China, Japan, Brazil. Recently I had a chance to marry an esperantist fellow I met in a esperantist congress and we are now members of an "Esperanto-Klubo". We speak Esperanto at home, we hope our children will be "denask" esperantist. They will learn Esperanto as natural mother language together with French and a little of my Polish. So, what can I say? Esperanto changed my life and made me happy! For me is my living home language. Esperanto was born in Poland and I loved it as a polish language. But it is the "present" that our Zamenhof and my country gave to Europe and the world, to be the common language for humanity. It's an easy- to-learn language. Study it and be happy!

Arlyn Kerr from Seattle
My family has hosted Esperanto-speaking foreign guests, and likewise had lengthy visits with Esperantists in other parts of the world. We use Esperanto every day via the Internet. For example, we're vegetarians and subscribe to an Esperanto vegetarian newsgroup organized by a Japanese person -- I enjoy exchanging information and recipes with people from Brazil, Nigeria, China, Poland, and many other countries. Using any other language would limit me to correspondence with people of only a few countries, or with those "elite" few who speak English sufficiently well -- wouldn't be half as much fun!

Bryan from California, USA
Throughout my schooling, I had difficulty learning a new language besides English. I tried Esperanto last year to see if its easy grammar could help me overcome my earlier failing. Surprisingly, I took to it quickly -- reading simple sentences within weeks. Began speaking it poorly in two months. Began speaking it with some confidence on any topic in six months. I use Esperanto to read foreign news, listen to music, internet, and speaking with (my new) friends. Overall, it has really opened up a part of my brain that never had a chance to shine.

Michael Lewis, Blowing Rock, NC, USA
Esperanto has enriched my life in ways I never could have imagined when I began studying the language in 1986. Thanks to the Internacia Lingvo, I have had real conversations in a common language with wonderful people from many countries and corresponded with "samideanoj" in diverse corners of the world. I subscribe to several esperanto magazines and I'm a Life Member of UEA and ELNA [Esperanto League for North America]. La vivo, sen Esperanto, estas al mi ne plu imagebla!