Apparently the language was popular among early 20th century socialist movements because it was of an international character and therefore not associated with any nationality and its use by international socialist organisations wouldn’t show favour to any particular country. It was banned in Nazi Germany and other fascist states because of its association with the left wing, with anti-nationalism, and because its creator was Jewish. It has mostly languished since then but still has around 2 million speakers with about 1,000 native speakers.
I have made several runs at Esperanto because I like the idea of the language (a common, easily learned second language for all) and because I like the implementation (the table words, the system of affixes, the simplicity (no irregular verbs, no gendered nouns, power of using a single root to make an entire family of words, etc.). Latterly I realized that Esperanto also acts as a social filter: almost always, those who learn it are people who are interested in other cultures, have a warm and welcoming attitude, and enjoy getting to know people — not a bad group to enter. Plus there’s the benefit of Pasporta Servo (basically, free B&B as a guest in Esperantists’ homes to visit and see the sights). It’s a very international community, scattered across the world (though Europe likely has the most members). I also like its use as a first foreign language: people can learn the skill of learning a foreign language via a language that doesn’t offer irrelevant impediments (e.g., irregular verbs).
After multiple runs, I have found my footing and am enjoying it this time. Two things that made a difference. First, I was misled by my expectation of reaching fluency quickly (with talk of 3 months, etc.). That led to losing heart when, after 4 months, I was nowhere near fluent. Then I saw a YouTube video from a fluent speaker, and he indicated that a basic level of fluency takes about a year of consistent study and practice. Well, okay. I was expecting too much, thus my disappointment. I’m perfectly willing to go a year, and now I know to expect that. (I’m now 4 months in and having labored conversation, but now it’s not depressing since I now see it as a necessary but temporary stage on the road to fluency.)
Second, I have focused on building vocabulary. I use Anki in a particular way, but the key discovery has been that the more words I learn, the easier it becomes to learn a new word. I don’t really understand why, but it’s quite clear that it happens. Of course, I still encounter some words that resist learning a little, but Anki takes care of that. I’m surprised at how many words just stay with simply because I made a card for them.
Another good thing about Esperanto are all the free learning resources, including 1-1 Zoom conversations with experienced and fluent speakers trained to help newbies. (Best non-free intro: Complete Esperanto, by Tim Owen and Judith Meyer: the book includes access to an online library of MP3 files to train listening and (by repeating phrases) speaking.
Vere, Esperanto estas facila lingvo, sed iu ajn lingvo bezonas jaroj da studado antaŭ vi regos ĝin. La fakto, ke oni nur devas studi dum unu jaro por Esperanto estas mirinda. Ĉi tiu afiŝo aĝas nur ok monatojn. Post kiam mi afiŝis ĝin, mi komencis studi la lingvon per Duolingo. Oni diras, ke Duolingo ne estas la plej efektiva rimedo por lerni Esperanton, sed ĝi funkciis sufiĉe bone por mi. Mia gramatiko ankoraŭ ne estas tre bonaj. Tamen, mi povas skribi tiun ĉi komenton esperantan.
Por grandigi mian vortprovizon, mi legas Vikipedion, kaj uzas Vikivortaron (angle) kiel vortaro. Google Translate estas utila, sed iam malpravas.
Mi forte dubas, ke mi vere mastros Esperanton post unu jaro, sed me kredas ke mi havos sufĉe fluecon por komuniki sufiĉe bone. Mi jam povas skribi facile — kaj mi atendas, ke mia lerto pri Esperanto ege pliboniĝos dum la ventontaj ok monatoj. Paarenteze, dum ĉi tiu lastatempa provo, mi blogis la rimedojn, kiun mi trovis plej utilan. Vi povas vidi ilin ĉe la ligilo.
Mi kompletis la Duolingan kurson, kaj tiam mi studas la (senpagan) kurson ĉe Lernu.net. Mi aparte uzas la aŭdan kapablon, tra kiu vi povis aŭdi la tekston de ĉiu leciono. Mi aŭdus dufoje, tiam legus la lecionon dum ankaŭ audinte. Mia celo estis plibonigi mian aŭskultan kapablon. (Mi ankaŭ forte rekomendas la kursojn de Kursaro.net.)