Shhao:I have 2 Esperanto books I like and I love Mazi en Gondolando, but I feel like there is nothing else in Esperanto, such a small language, sounds mostly pleasant though.

So is it hopeless for people like me who can't chat on Skype(no microphone) and don't have a car to drive many many miles to an Esperanto place?

I have seen some other things on Youtube, but none of them catch my interest anywhere close to Mazi.

I would try to speak in Esperanto but people don't like less than perfect speech so eh...

There is plenty to do if you like arguing with people on the internet.

There is a small but decent selection of music on YouTube, but that depends on your tastes I suppose (IMHO all good music is good music, if you know what I mean).

I don't know where you're from, but if a cheap microphone or webcam is too much for you there might be some nice people here willing to hook you up if you were to ask them.

Someone mentioned Gerdu Malaparis, which is by Claude Piron, but I much prefer Vere aŭ Fantazie.

We clearly need to get people on more original literature in Esperanto!

Rather than focusing on consuming Esperanto material, try producing something. If the materials are lacking then perhaps it is better to create more.

I think making Youtube videos and writing children's books would be a great start.

If you aren't married, then try to get an Esperanto GF. Then you will be motivated.

If you're interested in making Esperanto video content, send me a message.

If you're interested in making Esperanto video content, send me a message.

Alkanadi:Rather than focusing on consuming Esperanto material, try producing something. If the materials are lacking then perhaps it is better to create more.

I think making Youtube videos and writing children's books would be a great start.

If you aren't married, then try to get an Esperanto GF. Then you will be motivated.

We are doing a podcast in Esperanto named kern.punkto. We talk about topics that we find interesting. This can be any topic except topics that are Esperanto related. It's supposed to be a podcast in Esperanto not about Esperanto. Since we are not familiar with any interesting topic in the world, we are interested in guests, who want to talk with us about their interesting topic. We welcome guests on big Esperanto events that we attend or by VoIP-connection.

So if you have an interesting topic, feel free to suggest it to us. You should be fluent in Esperanto though.

You can do anything with Esperanto that you'd do with any other world language--but there is a big difference: Esperantists learn Esperanto to communicate with one another. Learning the language means you've joined the club--that automatically gives you an opening to approach other Esperantists.

Imagine you decide to learn Lithuanian. You could buy the materials, study the grammar, read, find audio files, imitate pronunciation--after months of hard work, you could no doubt work up some basic skills. NOW---what, precisely, are you going to DO with those skills? If you ran into Lithuaian people at the mall, you can't just walk up to total strangers and expect them to engage in conversation with you. And even if you could afford to fly to Lithuania tomorrow...what now? You can't just pick up the phone and start dialing random phone numbers--there has to be a reason for a conversation to take place. Not so with Esperanto. People learn Esperanto so that they CAN communicate with other Esperantists--no other reason is needed.

But even if you could use a particular second language with certain people, if you invest the time and energy into a low-use language, you're limited to using it only with others who speak that obscure language. But with Esperanto, people who speak French, Polish, Greek, Russian, German, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Finnish can all participate in the same conversation (whether in person, by message board, Skype, e-mail, whatever...) WITHOUT having to learn one another's national languages---because they all learned the same second language--and did it in a fraction of the time needed to learn even ONE of those other national languages.

So if you're questioning what you can do with Esperanto, join a club, find Esperanto users to Skype or e-mail with, join some of the Esperanto discussions on Lernu, find some interesting reading material---and stop and think: none of this would be possible if you hadn't started the journey. It's Fun...and It's Worth It!

Polaris:You can do anything with Esperanto that you'd do with any other world language

I can buy fish in Spanish. I am not sure if I can buy fish in Esperanto. I would need to find first someone who (a) sells fish and at the same time (b) understands: Mi volas acxeti cxi tiun fisxon.
But let's ask lernu: Is anybody here a fishmonger?

I can read the manual of my printer in several languages. I cannot do this in Esperanto.

I have signed many contracts in various languages. I am not sure if I could possibly do this in Esperanto (maintaining the legal character of the signed document).

Here in Guatemala I can declare in court in one out of 23 languages. Are you sure that anywhere on this planet you may declare in court in Esperanto?

Speaking Spanish I can communicate with more than 6% of the world population. Can I do this with Esperanto?

nornen:

Polaris:You can do anything with Esperanto that you'd do with any other world language

I can buy fish in Spanish. I am not sure if I can buy fish in Esperanto. I would need to find first someone who (a) sells fish and at the same time (b) understands: Mi volas acxeti cxi tiun fisxon.
But let's ask lernu: Is anybody here a fishmonger?

I can read the manual of my printer in several languages. I cannot do this in Esperanto.

I have signed many contracts in various languages. I am not sure if I could possibly do this in Esperanto (maintaining the legal character of the signed document).

Here in Guatemala I can declare in court in one out of 23 languages. Are you sure that anywhere on this planet you may declare in court in Esperanto?

Speaking Spanish I can communicate with more than 6% of the world population. Can I do this with Esperanto?

Gee, pedantic much?

Thee knows what Polaris means, and what's more, he's right. Not in specifics, maybe, but in general, yeah. I'm sure thee couldn't read the manual of thy printer in Sorbian either but that doesn't mean Sorbian is limited in a linguistic sense.

and I doubt they'd let thee get too far trying to declare in court there in Guatemala using Welsh.

nornen:

Polaris:You can do anything with Esperanto that you'd do with any other world language

I can buy fish in Spanish. I am not sure if I can buy fish in Esperanto. I would need to find first someone who (a) sells fish and at the same time (b) understands: Mi volas acxeti cxi tiun fisxon.
But let's ask lernu: Is anybody here a fishmonger?

I can read the manual of my printer in several languages. I cannot do this in Esperanto.

At least in the US I don't even need to speak to buy fish at my local market when they use automated checkout machines, although I usually check out in Spanish so I'm not bored.

Who reads printer manuals? (or manuals in general)