Unfortunately it seems that I'm going the Esperanto route alone, at least with regards to any potential practice buddies. Studying Latin, this isn't so much of a problem, but seeing as Esperanto is spoken I really don't want to leave that skill undeveloped. As I'm sure that I'm not the first person to be in this situation, what did you more experienced learners do in lieu of anybody to speak to?

Read aloud from any reputable text. Record it if you like, then listen back to it and see if you can see any glaring problems. Why not start off with my limerick, below, (despite its disreputableness)?

Get inspired by listening to someone like Ivo Lapenna yakking on Youtube. If you can find a text to go with his speeches so you can read along, that's even better!

For improving listening to others, I suggest doing dictation. It's a bit boring but it gets results; so be sure to reward yourself with high quality ice cream or somesuch.

Iam vivas viro altega;
Si loĝas en groto varmega.
Li trovis klingon,
Sed fortranĉis fingron,
Tiu altulo mallertega!

Maulrus:... what did you more experienced learners do in lieu of anybody to speak to?

I don't live near any active Esperantists. I asked the same question 18 months ago when I first joined LERNU. Here's what has worked for me and why.

The LERNU people first suggested that I go slow with my desire to "speak". Think of it this way: even if you live near a lot of Esperantists, how can you speak words that you've never seen or heard before? I suggest that you first concentrate on building the largest possible vocabulary by reading.

When you read, read out loud to yourself, look up new words in the dictionary and write down the meanings in the margins of the book. The simple act of saying and writing down the meanings will help you to fix the meanings in your memory so you can recall those words in the future.

Next, the LERNU people suggested that "speaking well" also required a lot of listening. The lesson here is that you can't have a conversation with someone that you don't understand. Understanding requires vocabulary. In my case, after three months of reading, I downloaded some Esperanto podcasts to my MP3 player from radioverda.com.

The podcasts seemed very difficult at first. I had to stop the MP3 player over and over to let my mind catch up. I also had to look up more words in the dictionary, but it would have been many more words if I hadn't already been reading for three months. I practiced repeating out loud what I had heard on the podcasts. After a few months of listening, I only missed a word here or there.

Finally, 16 months after joining LERNU, I met my very FIRST and ONLY Fleshperantist (a real live person in the flesh who speaks Esperanto with you face-to-face). I spoke slowly, I hesitated, I searched for words (but I always found them), I made mistakes, but guess what... so did he! After a few minutes, we were both doing quite well.

I heavily recommend Skype conversation. Some Skype contacts of lernu.net users can be found here. Often organisation teams of Esperanto events publish their Skype contact data. I.e. IKJ 2011 teamo. They mostly are quite happy to get some voice feedback which can be more motivation as simple text-feedback per email, Facebook etc.

3rdblade:Si loĝas en groto varmega.

"Si" can't be subject; you need "Li" there.

Maulrus:Unfortunately it seems that I'm going the Esperanto route alone, at least with regards to any potential practice buddies..what did you more experienced learners do in lieu of anybody to speak to?

Here's a few suggestions:

1. Teach yourself Esperanto has the following suggestion: put questions to yourself, such as a curious child might, about everything in the environment, and answer them, in Esperanto.

More detailed suggestions occur on pages 47-48 of that book. Here's a summary:

(a) Say the word for something right before you, like a house: domo.
(b) Now use various adjectives to say what kind of house it is, e.g. ĝi estas granda domo.
(c) Then make your sentences into questions by adding Ĉu or a ki- word, and answer them, e.g. Ĉu ĝi estas granda domo? Jes, ĝi estas granda domo. Kia domo ĝi estas? Ĝi estas granda domo.
(d) Now add prepositions, showing how the object relates to others, e.g. Kio estas antaŭ la domo? Antaŭ la domo estas ĝardeno.
(e) Aim for fluency in one topic at a time, whether it be family, home, or the surroundings. Keep your sentences short. Then apply the same principles to another topic e.g. the seaside.
(f) By all means make up flashcards with vocabulary or phrases, e.g. dealing with a topic that you are concentrating on.

2. Practise thinking in Esperanto (the things that you say internally when you think in English, try doing it in Esperanto).

3. Listen to people speaking or broadcasting in English, and pretend that you are an interpreter and try to put it into Esperanto.

Miland:Teach yourself Esperanto has the following suggestion: put questions to yourself, such as a curious child might, about everything in the environment, and answer them, in Esperanto.

Heh, I've done that before but without said advice to guide me - "Kial estas problemoj en la mondo?!" became a minor coping mechanism for a bit during my transition between unis etc.

I can't recall if I answered that question fully though.