How to Practice Esperanto? There are at least 1,000,000

How to Practice Esperanto?
    Good morning, everyone. Last time I just gave you a brief introduction to the history of Esperanto; today we will go further to discuss how to practice Esperanto. As we know, Esperanto is a language deliberately designed to be easy to learn. The vocabulary is taken from the words shared by the main European languages and the grammar is very simple, yet Esperanto is just as vibrant and expressive as any other language.(1)Intended to be neutral, nobody has an unfair disadvantage when speaking it. You are able to hold normal conversations within a couple of months or even weeks! It is thought that there are at least 1,000,000 Esperanto speakers worldwide from over 100 countries and they come from all walks of life.
    Why do we practice Esperanto? For many Esperanto speakers, one of the reasons they were first attracted to the language was the idealism of its creator, Dr. Zamenhof—the idea that fostering mutual comprehension between the different communities in the world through a common neutral language could be a step towards peace and equality.(2)Although most Esperantists today don’t believe Esperanto will ever bring about world peace, a lot of us have seen the way the language can be used to travel to places you wouldn’t normally have an opportunity to visit, to make good friends with people from these countries and, in doing so, break down barriers like stereotypes and prejudices. As a neutral language, Esperanto works exactly as Zamenhof dreamed it would.
    No country speaks Esperanto as its national languages, yet Esperantists can be found in almost every country worldwide. They, like you, have chosen to learn Esperanto to be able to speak to people from other countries. Contacting Esperantists in a country you are about to visit is a great way to meet local people and share their knowledge of the area. Esperanto speakers across the world also arrange different sorts of events throughout the year to be able to visit new places and practice the language.
    Then I will introduce four ways of practicing Esperanto to you. At first, we know that there are all kinds of international events to choose from.(3)The largest by far is the World Esperanto Congress. It happens in a different country every year. In addition, Esperanto associations around the world often organize their own national congresses or even cooperate to hold Esperanto congresses for the entire region. For younger Esperantists, there is the International Youth Congress of Esperanto. It is a week-long event, held in July or August in a different country each time.(4)There is always a very full program, usually including live music from Esperanto bands, local cultural acts, theatre, games, films subtitled in Esperanto and a full day trip out. Talks are given throughout the week by Esperantists on any topic that interests them. This normally includes a chance to learn some of the local language. Smaller events take place all year round, usually over a long weekend. Some revolve around a certain theme or interest, like camping or hiking, left-wing discussion and Esperanto culture festivals.
     (5)The second way to practice is backpacking. Esperanto speakers travelling on a budget can arrange to stay over in the homes of other Esperantists in places all over the world.(6)The Passport Service is a list of more than 1,300 hosts in nearly 100 countries who will accommodate travellers for free as long as they can speak Esperanto. It contains the contact details of willing hosts, so you can make sure beforehand that they are able to accommodate you on the dates you are looking for. The hosts decide how many nights they are prepared to have people staying with them for. Some of them might throw in a home-cooked meal too or even show you around the area. Some people hitch-hike too, making their trip really cheap. Someone once set off with $ 3,000 with the aim of spending it travelling around visiting Esperantists for a couple of months—it lasted him over three years!
     (7)The third way is via the Internet. The best way to practice Esperanto is online chat.(8)It’s easy to get in contact with other learners through Lernu !, which is the biggest website for learning Esperanto. It has a whole range of free courses, from absolute beginner to expert level, as well as live chat and private messaging, which are great for getting in contact with other beginners. There’s a brilliant multilingual dictionary, forums, vocabulary help and a few other nice features. When you haven’t been learning for long, you can send messages to other beginners from different parts of the world from its list of online users and using its private messaging feature. When you get to know them a bit better, it’s nice to swap postcards or letters with things from each other’s countries. Maybe further down the line, you might even meet some of these contacts at Esperanto events!
     (9)The last way to pracitse Esperanto is Esperanto culture. Thousands of books have been published in Esperanto, including translations of great works from other languages as well as original works. Esperanto has developed an impressive literature over the last hundred years, with renowned theatre plays and poetry collections. Esperanto author, William Auld, was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize. Many famous comic books have been translated into Esperanto like Asterix and Tintin too. Esperanto culture has also developed into other media. There have always been songs written and performed in Esperanto and today there are quite a few groups that use Esperanto almost exclusively. A record company was set up that works solely with Esperanto musicians and produces their CDs commercially.(10)At different times, several films and television programs have been made using the language and a handful of countries have been broadcasting in Esperanto on the radio for quite some time. Artists also like to use it in their projects, such as in live performance pieces and in animation.
    OK. In today’s lecture, we have focused on why and how to practice Esperanto. I hope that what we’ve discussed will help you in your study. Thanks for your attention!