Whilst i am able to make myself understood in Esperanto, i would not describe myself as an Esperantist. This is purely my opinion, but i would say an Esperantist is someone who not just speaks Esperanto, but who is active in the global Esperanto scene. There is a difference between speaking a few words of Esperanto and accepting it as a philosophy for life, joining some of the many clubs and associations which exist and traveling all over the world to different congresses and events. My Esperanto is not terribly good. That is to say, i´ve never read a novel in Esperanto for example and i can´t write more than a few paragraphs without making mistakes. Nevertheless i speak better Esperanto than French, in which i have a GCSE grade A*. If i went to France i could order a cup of coffee and book a hotel room. I could talk quite fluently about my school uniform if anyone was prepared to listen! But there is no way i could communicate spontaneously about my opinions on religion, politics and literature.
In Esperanto i can talk about life, the universe and everything; not perfectly, but well enough to be understood and to have meaningful discussions with people who speak no English at all. And for me that means Esperanto is a very powerful tool.
Now comes the disclaimer! The intention of this site was not to promote Esperanto. The intention of this site is to challenge people who may not be particularly interested in languages to reassess their views and ideas. The aim of the Esperanto pages is to briefly explain the concept and benefits of Esperanto to people who don´t know it exists. Perhaps this site will inspire someone to investigate Esperanto further, in which case i would be delighted. If you are genuinely interested you can email me and i will point you in the direction of some better online resources or put you in contact with some real Esperantists. I did not intend, however, to portray Esperanto as the ultimate answer. It´s one potential answer to a very complex problem. Learning Esperanto may open up a world of possibilities for you. On the other hand, it may not be quite your cup of tea. If that´s the case i challenge you to get out there and discover what your cup of tea is.
If you like going on holiday to the sun, why not try learning Spanish, Italian or Greek. Then in your own way you can help balance the linguistic scales, which are currently weighted too much in favour of the English speaking world!
