Esperanto, malfremda lingvo!

I don't know if this slogan can be translated in most languages...

I like Esperanto because I hate my native language, which is English. I am 66 years old and still can't spell. If you hear a word, you can't spell it because there are two too many ways to spell "tuh". If you see a word, you don't know how to pronounce it. Is "read" pronounced as "reed", the stalk of a grass, or "red", the color. The grammar is OK even though I don't like the accusative. The vocabulary is wonderful, wonderfully regular, and capable of making numerous words from simpler words. It has the rules set down forever in La Fundamento de Esperanto, but this includes rules for importing words from other languages.

In short, it is a beautiful and elegant language.

pstudier:I like Esperanto because I hate my native language, which is English. I am 66 years old and still can't spell. If you hear a word, you can't spell it because there are two too many ways to spell "tuh". If you see a word, you don't know how to pronounce it. Is "read" pronounced as "reed", the stalk of a grass, or "red", the color. The grammar is OK even though I don't like the accusative. The vocabulary is wonderful, wonderfully regular, and capable of making numerous words from simpler words. It has the rules set down forever in La Fundamento de Esperanto, but this includes rules for importing words from other languages.

In short, it is a beautiful and elegant language.

I love Esperanto too. But why hating your native language? Even if it is not your favorite one, it still gives you necessary communication possibilities.
Mi ankaŭ amas Esperanton. Sed kial vi malamas vian denaskan lingvon? Eĉ se ĝi ne estas via plej ŝatata lingvo, ĝi ja havigas al vi necesajn komunikadajn eblecojn.

Mi amas Esperanton ankaŭ, kaj mi pensas ĝi estas bela eksemplo de la homa genio. Estas klara, logika sed malgraŭe bela lingvo (iomete kiel la stilo de Arĥitekturo "Bauhaus"). Sonoras tre bela kiam homoj el diversaj landoj parolas esperante. Kaj la ideo estas belega ankaŭ. Sed mi pensas ke la ideo de Esperanto ke ĝi ne volas substitui la aliajn lingvojn de la mondo, estas tre grava. Mi pensas ke ĉiuj lingvoj estas belegaj kaj esprimo de la diversaj kulturoj. Mi ŝatas la Angla. Estas bonega lingvo por kanti! (Sed mi konsentas. Estas koŝmaro por skribi

Hello Dylan

I've been out of practice for a while, but as an exercise I'll write in English and then try and translate into Esperanto: I first encountered Esperanto at the end of 1975, shortly before coming to the UK because a left-wing bookshop in Pune (then Poona), India had a copy of Teach yourself Esperanto by John Cresswell and John Hartley. My interest fizzled out pretty quickly at that time. But nearly three decades later I discovered an updated edition of the book in an Oxfam bookshop in Birmingham. Too bad there are no Oxfam charity bookshops in the USA . This time Esperanto became a serious hobby, and I attended the world Congresses in 2008 and 2015, and may go to more after we're all safely vaccinated against Covid-19.
I would encourage you to read Esperanto, beginning with easy books (like Gerda Malaperis, then Vere au Fantazie (both by the late great Claude Piron) and then start subscribing to an easy magazine like Juna Amiko. Once you have mastered its vocabulary you will be ready for proper magazines like Monato. I would also encourage you to go to Esperanto meetings as circumstances permit (including online ones). Then, after a year or two you may be ready for national and then international congresses. Good luck!
OK, now I'll try and put that into Esperanto just for the exercise. I'll translate freely to make life easier.
Saluton Dylan

Dum kelka tempo mi ne ekzercis min pri Esperanto, do mi skribos unue en la angla kaj poste provos traduki en Esperanton: mi unuafoje renkontis Esperanton je la fino de 1975, ne longe antaŭ mi alvenis en Brition. Maldekstremula librovendejo en Puneo en Barato vendis malnovan eldonon de Teach Yourself Esperanto fare de John Cresswell kaj John Hartley. Tiutempe mia intereso malaperis rapide. Tamen preskau tridek jaroj poste mi eltrovis ĝisdatigitan ekzempleron de la sama libro en karitata librovendejo Oxfam en Birminghamo. Domaĝe, ke tiaj butikoj ne troviĝas en Usono. Ĉi-foje Esperanto fariĝis por me serioza hobion, kaj mi ĉe-estis la Universalajn Kongresojn en 2008 kaj 2015, kaj esperas ĉe-esti pli, post kiam ni estas sekure vakcinitaj kontraŭ Covid-19.
Mi instigus vin legi Esperanton, komence facilajn librojn kiel Gerda Malaperis!, poste Vere aŭ Fantazie, ambaŭ fare de la forpasita kaj fama verkisto Claude Piron. Poste abonu al facila revuo kiel Juna Amiko. Post kiam vi bone posedos ĝian vortprovizon vi estos preta por seriozaj revuoj kiel Monato. Mi kuraĝigus vin ĉe-esti Esperantajn kunvenojn, kiel cirkonstancoj permesas (inkluzive de retaj kunvenoj). Post unu-du jaroj eble vi estos preta ĝui landajn aŭ eĉ Universalajn Kongresojn. Mi do volas al vin bonan ŝancon!

I am just starting too, so my opinion is probably not a big source of inspiration. I read about Esperanto and joined Lernu back in 2009 (hence the dumb username), when "Mi estas komencanto" was the standard course. I, as many people, spent a couple of hours and then logged out to not return for a long long while.

Recently, I told to my girlfriend that we should learn Esperanto together. She was having a hard time with English, so I wanted to motivate her. We usually study while we have lunch, since I tend to be very busy. Other than motivating her, I like that Esperanto is a simpler to learn language and I just love associating words and structures to different languages (I barely speak English, Spanish and, to some extent, Portuguese, but have studied German and out of curiosity have learned a few Italian and French words, and all these languages connect nicely in Esperanto). I chose Esperanto over any other constructed language just because the number of speakers.

I also find it appealing getting passively introduced to features of other languages, I hope to retire by the time I hit 30, and then start doing what I love, which includes learning languages. I hope to have a decent level (B2~ish) in 11 months from now, I think learning with my girlfriend is both a good source of motivation and a challenge (the challenge of keeping her motivated, as Esperanto does not look like very useful to most people).

Mi lernis Esperanton ĉar mi volis paroli al multajn homojn. ĝi estas tre facila lerni kaj ĝi estas amuza lerni.

Honesty, what drew me to Esperanto was I tried to learn other languages before (Latin, Spanish, French) on Duolingo, but never really got the hang of any of them and gave up. But then I heard the Esperanto had building blocks of a bunch of different languages in a way that made sense! It's been so fun to see what I recognize from basic word parts and to have something other than English that I'm good at!

Hello,
as far as I'm concerned, what drives me to esperanto is that it seems to me a better way to communicate with people of other languages than english. I am french-speaking and I learned english at school. I practised it on my own, watching tv and moreover reading books and webpages... but now when I use it, I feel inferior. I went to US where I have friends and everywhere I had difficulties with their accents and the fact that when they don't understand you, they don't make many efforts to help, as it it were normal to speak english, which is the universal language, and if you are intelligent you have to get it or go to hell... that's the feeling I have had there, of course I know that not everybody there shares such a mentality.
But with esperanto it's seems to me different. It is the language of no country, no folk... everybody goes to it the same way even if some are more advanced than other ones, but they'll help you because it's the aim, the nature of the game. You don't have to feel inferior or superior, the only goal is to communicate... and so I have the feeling that, using esperanto to get in contact, I could reach a closer contact than with english, where I'll always feel a wall remaining between I and my correspondent.

Other reason, I find it a beautiful language, clear, easy to pronounce (one letter - one sound, and many more vowels in the words as in germanic languages, which is an advantage for a romance language speaker, but also I guess for a germanic language speaker even if he's used to)...
I also find its grammar fascinating, specially the possibility of using suffixes as independant nouns, adjjective, verbs or adverbs...

In short, I began to learn it with duolingo some mon,ths ago, and it remains a pleasure, I'ma adding lernu now to go quickly.