Do you find lots of fluent speakers when you go to Esperanto meetups? Or, is everyone mostly a beginner?

Alkanadi:Do you find lots of fluent speakers when you go to Esperanto meetups? Or, is everyone mostly a beginner?

I'd say on average it's something in between. Usually there are few real beginners, there are many intermediates and there's usually – depending on the actual event – 30% to 90% fluents.

There are some rules of thumb according to my experience:

On "official" congresses like a congress of a national Esperanto association, you will find more beginners and a lot more intermediates. This is because, the "official" congresses are the ones people who do Esperanto only from time to time will attend.

On less official events, there are less beginners and intermediates, because you have to know Esperantujo a little bit, to know about them. Examples are KKPS, OR, but also more established ones like IJS, FESTO, JES, IJF.

Concerning UK and IJK it highly depends on where they are taking place. UK and IJK usually have a strong core of fluent experienced participants and depending on the place a lot of intermediates. UK usually has more intermediates than IJK, that's why the fluency feeling on IJK is usually much more impressive.