Time permitting, I wouldn't mind doing something like getting together on Google+. I already use it; I just don't know all the functions yet, and I'm not sure who here is on Google+. I couldn't do it regularly, but yeah, if I had some time on a certain day and other people were on as well, why not.

kujichagulia:Do any of you study Esperanto, but don't go to congresses or local meetings?

This is really common.

But it also depends a lot on the local community. Here in Washington DC, there used to be monthly Esperanto meetings at a cafe, but normally only one or two experienced speakers showed up, the others were enthusiastic beginners. DC has a decent population of experienced speakers but none of them attend those meetings.

Large Esperanto events are a pretty good mix of experienced speakers who always attend and complete beginners. And there are many experienced speakers who rarely or never go to events - you can count all three core members of the lernu team in that group!

I almost feel like when you speak Esperanto very well, you no longer feel the need to go to events, because if you wanted to see your Esperanto-speaking friends, you would just go visit them. Or maybe you'd go to an event, but only if someone you wanted to see was attending (It is very common for large events to post their registration lists online - you can see who has signed up so far and decide whether you want to go. Perhaps more common in Europe than outside of Europe, though).

Going to an event to talk to lots of people you don't know - I never thought of Esperanto meetings that way. If you had a distant relative in another city, who you had never met, would you be willing to go visit them, even though you hadn't seen them before? That's the impression I get on meeting up with Esperanto speakers. You don't know them yet, but you already have a link with them (Esperanto, obviously), and that alone makes you eager to meet them.

...of course, once you've met them, maybe you don't like them. But you give them a chance.

I've stayed in houses of people I've never met before I showed up at their door in a foreign city, except for a few brief e-mails. I guess that attending an Esperanto event with people I don't know seems pretty tame compared to that. Esperanto speakers are usually super nice and welcoming, you usually end up feeling glad you came, even if you weren't sure at first that you wanted to go.

A hint - it's easy to get lost in a large Esperanto congress. I wouldn't make UK your very first Esperanto event ever, unless you're a really outgoing person. People group together with their friends at UK, and if you don't know anyone, it's hard for some people to find their place. Something like a cafe meeting or an Esperanto weekend is perfect for a first Esperanto event.

Is there anything stopping you from simply contacting a local Esperanto speaker and asking if they'd be willing to go out for coffee with you, so you can practice? You might even get them to agree to let you practice both your Esperanto and your Japanese, making your wife happy as well.

Incidentally - this is maybe a weird comment but how expensive is expensive, with regard to visiting Tokyo? If you absolutely have no time ever, then it's a moot point. But at least with regard to flying, it looks like you can fly to Seoul or Taiwan more cheaply than you can fly to Tokyo (less than $400 USD if you get the right date and ticket).

You can stay with an Esperanto speaker free of charge if you pick the right city to visit, and have them lead you around their city. It's a very inexpensive way to travel because your only cost is the travel itself, plus a little food (in Taiwan, I seldom paid for my meals, the locals usually treated me).

Maybe your wife should learn some Esperanto, and you can save up for a cool international trip (that won't even cost loads of money, because you won't have to worry about a hotel).

@erinja - Flying to Tokyo would probably be around $150 USD from Osaka. An overnight bus would be half that. (Forget the Shinkansen... that is too much money.) Staying with someone in Tokyo... I suppose I have a fear of staying at the house of someone I've never met before, so in that regard I would have to get over that fear. If not that, a cheap hotel could be easily found. So, yeah, going to Tokyo would not be that expensive, money-wise.

I guess for me, going to Tokyo would be "expensive" in terms of time and also how I want to use my time. I like to travel to other countries (I've seen what I wanted to see in Japan), but I don't have a lot of time for travel. So when I do, I can't justify in my mind using that time to go to Tokyo for an Esperanto congress.

Now, another country.... that's possible. I usually travel with my wife, and she's not going to learn Esperanto any time soon, so that cuts down the chances of using Esperanto abroad. (I've tried to tell her about Esperanto, but to no avail. I've even told her about how you can stay with people free or low-cost, but she prefers a hotel to staying at someone's house, even if she knows them! She says she wouldn't even stay at a close friend's home.) But there are rare times that we travel alone, and I could use Esperanto then. That Taiwan example you gave is a good one, because I want to visit Taiwan sometime, while my wife has no interest.

As for contacting a local Esperanto speaker for coffee, nothing's stopping me from doing that. If they can meet when I have time ("Hey, how have you been since we last met in person last year?"), then that is something I can do. I'm more social with just one, two or three other people anyway.

Too bad your wife isn't interested in Taiwan, because some of the local Esperanto speakers there speak excellent English. Assuming she also speaks English (I'm not sure what you speak together), she definitely wouldn't be left without the ability to communicate. Does your wife like to eat? Taiwan has great food, and an Esperanto speaker in the south told me about a Japanese person he knows, who comes to Taiwan once a year just to eat.

I can recommend a cheap hotel in Taipei (around $50 a night) in a good location. But Taiwan's bigger group of Esperanto speakers is in the south, though there are one or two in the north. An American Esperanto speaker lives in the Taipei suburbs, but I think he isn't the only one.

I have seldom met anyone as friendly and hospitable as the Esperanto speakers of Taiwan.

But seriously, find out where your wife wants to go, and see if you can arrange an Esperanto version of it. It's no big deal to be travelling with a non-Esperanto speaker. You might end up speaking a decent amount of English anyway (I've stayed with at least two Esperanto families abroad, made up of an Esperanto speaker and a non-Esperanto speaker, so the language when the spouse was present ended up being English anyway). I've also stayed occasionally in a hotel rather than at someone's house, and several days of my trip (not every day) the local Esperanto speaker has led me around. It doesn't have to be all Esperanto, all the time (and probably the local person doesn't have the time to spend every second with you, regardless). Or else I've just met local Esperanto speakers for a coffee or a meal. It can be as much or as little as you want, obviously, from an hour-long meeting for coffee, to staying with someone for several days.

It can be a teeny bit weird to show up at the door of a person you don't know. But they wouldn't offer it if they didn't want to do it, and most hosts will put you at ease at once. And when you leave, you feel that you're leaving a friend.

erinja, thanks for the information! It makes me excited about going to Taiwan sometime in the future.

My wife loves to go to Korea (specifically Seoul), mainly for the cosmetics shopping. I haven't been there with her because I'm not interested in cosmetics (of course) nor any of the "touristy" places there. (I do love the food, though.) Perhaps while she's out shopping, I could get together with an Esperanto speaker and see a side of Korea that I might not have thought about. Who knows, maybe my wife could even meet him/her and see that Esperanto could be useful. Even if she didn't, that would be a nice use for my Esperanto.

My wife went to Taiwan with a friend last year, and didn't like it at all for some reason (except for the food). She said something about the city of Taipei being dirty and stinky. Maybe if I come back from Taiwan with some nice stories, she might reconsider.

kujichagulia:Do any of you study Esperanto, but don't go to congresses or local meetings?

I discovered Esperanto in 2008 through a book of Paulo Coelho. It's been four years and I have yet to meet an Esperantist in real life.

Going to E-congresses is as important to learning E-o as attending writers' conferences in Japan for your Japanese studies. You don't have to it unless you want to be the president of UEA (Universal Esperanto Association)

I found Taipei to be relatively clean compared to other Asian cities, and the downtown areas were quite clean. I have never been to Japan, which I hear is spotless, so maybe it would seem dirty in comparison.

Hi, this is kujichagulia. I deleted my old account, but missed Lernu! so I'm back.

Anyway, thank you all for your comments. This has really helped me out.