Want to practice your Esperanto? Live within a few hours of Rochester, NY? (Toronto, this means you!) Come to Rochester, NY for Senkrokodila Semajnfino, a relaxed weekend of Esperanto immersion for Esperantists of all levels, beginners very welcome!. Activities will include a visit to a 5-story balloon sculpture!

if this even is Senkrokodila then people like me will just being saying "mi ne komprenas" repeatedly until people stop talking to us. I would love to go but I don't live close by.

Alas, I don't think I can make it - money is tight and time is scarce. Going to the local Esperanto meetup for a few hours is already a bit of an investment ... Have fun though

Alkanadi:if this even is Senkrokodila then people like me will just being saying "mi ne komprenas" repeatedly until people stop talking to us. I would love to go but I don't live close by.

The name of the event is intended to be whimsical, not to be some kind of threat to those who don't speak good Esperanto. That's why the organizer (who is not me, for the record) is making a point of saying that beginners are very welcome. The point of the weekend is to provide an Esperanto immersion environment, not to beat someone over the head if they don't get it. If a beginner needed an explanation in English, I'm sure it would happen. It's just that the expectation is that conversation will be conducted Esperanto, not English.

Obviously if you don't live near enough, you won't be attending anyway, but I just wanted to make this clear in case someone else had a doubt.

For the record - even if your Esperanto is very poor, you won't learn unless you get out there and try.

The first Esperanto event I ever attended was a youth weekend in my home city. I had studied Esperanto off and on for about a year and a half, I had an ok grasp of the written language, with the help of a dictionary. I was 16 and the idea of going into this Esperanto event was pretty scary even though it was close to home. I went and I didn't feel like I could have anything but a basic conversation. We played a get to know you game that I messed up because I didn't understand the rules. Some people spoke so fast that I could understand only about a quarter of what they were saying, enough to get the gist of the topic but not to really understand much more.

In spite of that -- I had a great time! It was loads of fun to finally be using my Esperanto, and it gave me the confidence that I could make myself understood even at my level, and that I could continue to improve until I spoke as well as some of those fast-talkers that I met. I don't know where you live but if some event ever comes within a reasonable distance of you, that you can attend, I really encourage you to try hard to come, even if you worry that you won't understand much. There will always be someone who will notice that you are struggling and help you along with understanding. Worst comes to worst, you find someone who seems to know what they're doing and you approach them and you use your words -- "Mi ne komprenas! Kio okazas?" and the person will make sure you understand what's going on (possibly with the help of English).