How Does Esperanto Sound?
A couple years ago, I sat down to check out Esperanto the same way that any of us programming language nerds check out another programming language.<p>Polyglot Benny Lewis recommends that if you don&#x27;t know any foreign language, the best place to start is Esperanto, because it&#x27;s so easy.  See <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fluentin3months.com&#x2F;2-weeks-of-esperanto&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fluentin3months.com&#x2F;2-weeks-of-esperanto&#x2F;</a><p>I intended to give it about an hour, one Sunday, so I sat down in my chair at 4pm, and went to the most recommended tutorial:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lernu.net&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lernu.net&#x2F;</a><p>I had so many “whoa!” and “wow!” and “this is amazing!” moments while checking it out that I didn&#x27;t get out of my chair until almost midnight.  I didn&#x27;t even notice the house had grown dark around me.<p>It&#x27;s a really fun, simple, easy language to learn.  I ended up learning it for six months to a conversational level.  I found someone fluent in <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.italki.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.italki.com&#x2F;</a> and we talked by Skype for three hours per week.  I used Anki flashcards to memorize vocabulary.  I slowly read a few books in Esperanto.<p>After six months, I attended the international Esperanto conference in Seoul, Korea, and spoke only Esperanto for a few days.  I was glad I was doing it, and somewhat glad I did it, but in hindsight maybe should have used that time to learn Mandarin or another language where I can communicate with people that don&#x27;t speak English.<p>Still, I miss it.  Esperanto is wonderfully designed.  I highly recommend anyone curious go to <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lernu.net&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lernu.net&#x2F;</a> and work their way through the course there, even if that&#x27;s all you do.