What do you do in esperanto? Has being fluent in esperanto allowed you to do something that you couldn't do before?

That is why English is more succesful than esperanto...

I'm meeting new interesting people from different countries, I'm travelling to Esperanto-meetings and I'm learning other languages like slovak for example. And sometimes I'm using Esperanto like a secret language with my friends, what is really good fun. Lately I also wrote a short story in Esperanto for competition and it will be published in newspaper and later as a book. Maybe in English it's possible too, but for me Esperanto is much more easier, so I prefer do it this way. After 2 months I was able to talk with people in Esperanto. I'm learning English more than 10 years and I'm still not fluent. So, my choice is Esperanto.

hmm, I don't think it has allowed me to do something I wasn't able before. I just started learning French and at least I can say that studying Esperanto helped me understand grammatical terms more easily. I can say however, that Esperanto is a huge 'motivating' language that gives you that extra push to learn another language since it is less frustrating.

I stayed in homes of Esperanto speakers in Canada, the UK, Taiwan, and India. I guess I could have done something like that without Esperanto through something like couchsurfing, but the Esperanto version of this has been around about 100 years longer than couchsurfing!

I've met lots of really good friends through Esperanto. It really is a worldwide network of people that is difficult to come by in English (unless you're the member of some niche group with a culture of hospitality and welcoming foreign visitors).

I wouldn't call myself fluent in Esperanto, but I would say I am better off for knowing it (and pursuing fluency).

* I have communicated with many people from different parts of the world, some who do not speak English on a usable level. This I could not have done before. The only other language I know is Spanish, but even having Spanish classes from elementary (primary) school to high school I could not hold a decent conversation in it.

* I can creatively make my own words on the fly, which is something that can't be done in any natural language that I know of (at least not as liberally as in Esperanto). I also find that constructed words can sometimes convey ideas I can't easily think of in English. An example from the song "Senpromese Senperfide" by La Perdita Generacio: " Kvankam birdoj kantis pri printempalven' ", I immediately understand printempalven', but can't really create that in English directly. ("the arrival of springtime" isn't quite as poetic). Another word I like from that song is "Paradizas", to be paradise (I don't think of paradise as a verb).

* I believe that, as a native English speaker, Esperanto will be more useful to me than national languages, as I will never use any of them enough to maintain fluency (at least in my line of work). A perfect example I heard in a TED talk is how learning Esperanto first is like learning to play the recorder, while a national language is like learning to play the bassoon. It is equally applicable in my case, as it is easier to maintain my recorder skills than it is to maintain bassoon-playing skills (unless I'm employed as a bassoonist full-time).

* Truly knowing another language can affect how you think, just like different programming languages can affect how you think about programming. I have (just recently) dreamt in Esperanto, which was quite interesting (I think it was listening to Esperanto music for several hours that made that happen). Sometimes I can come up with better ways to think/say certain things in Esperanto.

meeting guys

Of course, if a significant proportion of the world's population spoke Esperanto the OP's question would be like asking what do you use a telephone for. The answer would be obvious.

In the meantime. as others have said, the most practical benefit of Esperanto is foreign holidays, because of the innumerable organised Esperanto events throughout the world. See the Kalendaro

Fancy a sking holiday in Bulgaria or a visit to Chinese Buddhist Monastry?