Internal rewards are based on feelings. For example, we feel good when we eat donuts, and so we are tempted to do it often. I feel good when I learn Esperanto because of a variety of reasons.

But, I want to know about external rewards. Have you received any external rewards due to your association to Esperanto? For example, did you get money, a scholarship, movie tickets, employment, avoid a traffic ticket, or anything like that due to your association to Esperanto? What tangible benefits did you receive if you don't mind sharing? Maybe, one obvious example is free travel accommodations using the passport servo.

One of the potential benefits of Esperanto I see is that there's a market for Esperanto content. So as a content creator, I can produce Esperanto content to tap into the market.

Alkanadi:Internal rewards are based on feelings. For example, we feel good when we eat donuts, and so we are tempted to do it often. I feel good when I learn Esperanto because of a variety of reasons.

But, I want to know about external rewards. Have you received any external rewards due to your association to Esperanto? For example, did you get money, a scholarship, movie tickets, employment, avoid a traffic ticket, or anything like that due to your association to Esperanto? What tangible benefits did you receive if you don't mind sharing? Maybe, one obvious example is free travel accommodations using the passport servo.

I's say you get some "eccentric" points when the subject gets brought up. I list Esperanto on my LinkedIn account and resume for languages. Some people might find the ability to think for yourself and to pursue oddball hobbies to be a good trait. I have had maybe 2 people comment on my Esperanto lapel pin I keep on my winter coat; both times it ended in an "Oh, cool", but there's always the small chance that they might google it and end up here.

Knowing world affairs from a firsthand account of another member is quite a tangible benefit. I could tell my friends about how we (the West) were indeed supporting neo-fascists in Ukraine. I get to see what people from other places think about things in a way few non-Esperantists can.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaedeutic_value_of...

I don't know if this counts as a "tangible" benefit, but if nothing else, Esperanto has made it easier for me to learn (and understand) foreign languages, as well as improved my grammatical knowledge of my own languages.

Alas, I haven't gotten any "external" benefits beyond that. I'm a strange person in that I usually am interested in things (e.g., music, philosophy, Esperanto) for their own sake, rather than because they have some utilitarian/extrinsic value. Esperanto is on my resume, and I suppose it is somewhat impressive to say you're fluently trilingual, but I don't think any of that has materially benefited me.

I'd echo Tempodivalse's points. It's made me a better linguist generally, and have a better appreciation for the process of language learning; which as a language teacher, is pretty important to me.

The Ŝerco Facebook group exposes me to whole rafts of memes and jokes from the non-English side of the web.

Last Saturday I chatted to a Polish person for an hour in Esperanto. It was my first full conversation in a foreign language. We didn't have another language in common to a level where that would be possible any other way except in Esperanto.

Some Esperantists will be staying with me next weekend for free while they see the city, etc. This is a nice benefit to both of us.

kaŝperanto:I's say you get some "eccentric" points when the subject gets brought up. I list Esperanto on my LinkedIn account and resume for languages. Some people might find the ability to think for yourself and to pursue oddball hobbies to be a good trait. I have had maybe 2 people comment on my Esperanto lapel pin I keep on my winter coat; both times it ended in an "Oh, cool", but there's always the small chance that they might google it and end up here.

I found it interesting that Benny Lewis ("Fluent in Three Months" author) said that of all the languages he speaks, it's Esperanto that people are the most impressed by. So, yes, I think you do get some "eccentric" or perhaps even "coolness" points for speaking Esperanto. And I also put it on my LinkedIn profile- you never know when the hiring manager may also be an Esperanto speaker!

oreso:Last Saturday I chatted to a Polish person for an hour in Esperanto. It was my first full conversation in a foreign language.

I don't want to belittle your words, but Esperanto is not a foreign language. Esperanto is the largest cultural heritage of all people that the great Polish master Zamenhof offered us with all the sacrifice of his private life. I only regret that a man of that suit is not shown post-mortem for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is a great missionary of the world peace, from the same spiritual hierarchy of Mahatma Gandhi. And Poland should be proud of this great legacy.

Alkanadi:Have you received any external rewards due to your association to Esperanto? For example, did you get money, a scholarship, movie tickets, employment, avoid a traffic ticket, or anything like that due to your association to Esperanto?

No. Straight answer to a straight question.

jdawdy:

kaŝperanto:I's say you get some "eccentric" points when the subject gets brought up. I list Esperanto on my LinkedIn account and resume for languages. Some people might find the ability to think for yourself and to pursue oddball hobbies to be a good trait. I have had maybe 2 people comment on my Esperanto lapel pin I keep on my winter coat; both times it ended in an "Oh, cool", but there's always the small chance that they might google it and end up here.

I found it interesting that Benny Lewis ("Fluent in Three Months" author) said that of all the languages he speaks, it's Esperanto that people are the most impressed by. So, yes, I think you do get some "eccentric" or perhaps even "coolness" points for speaking Esperanto. And I also put it on my LinkedIn profile- you never know when the hiring manager may also be an Esperanto speaker!

Interesting. I was aware of the guy but haven't read anything he's written. It is kind of funny, because we Esperantists would label mastery of Esperanto as less impressive than a mastery of, say, Japanese (as far as difficulty/level of accomplishment is concerned).
But, as Tempodivalse said, I suppose you still have practically zero direct extrinsic value of Esperanto in a sense that Chinese, Spanish, etc. would have in today's world. It is like studying Philosophy or history when neither is your profession. These largely unmarketable skills/knowledge sets are much stronger indicators of your general character than having Spanish/French/etc. on your resume. Doing things for their own sake is impressive, I suppose.

Rujo:

oreso:Last Saturday I chatted to a Polish person for an hour in Esperanto. It was my first full conversation in a foreign language.

I don't want to belittle your words, but Esperanto is not a foreign language. Esperanto is the largest cultural heritage of all people that the great Polish master Zamenhof offered us with all the sacrifice of his private life. I only regret that a man of that suit is not shown post-mortem for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is a great missionary of the world peace, from the same spiritual hierarchy of Mahatma Gandhi. And Poland should be proud of this great legacy.

I haven't thought of it, but I'd say Zamenhof's life work is as deserving of the Prize as many of the other recipients. I think they generally look for far-reaching effect/accomplishments, so Esperanto's low level of acceptance may have hindered his receiving of the award. While her goals are grand, Esperanto has yet to significantly contribute to world peace.

In the sense that oreso meant it, Esperanto is a foreign (non-native, alien) language. You are right in that it is everyone's language, whether they know it or not.

kaŝperanto:
In the sense that oreso meant it, Esperanto is a foreign (non-native, alien) language. You are right in that it is everyone's language, whether they know it or not.

In my first conversation in not-my-native language (if that terminology is preferred), I actually joked that Esperanto is my favourite Polish language.

... Which is not to say Polish is bad, I think "książęce pszeniczne" is an incredibly sexy set of words, but I would struggle to speak 5 minutes in Polish, never mind 1 hour.