The eduFire Blog

In case you haven’t heard of Esperanto, I recommend checking it out.  For a quick introduction, know that Esperanto is a constructed language that is easy to learn, fascinating, and meant for international communication.  It is over 100 years old, and has a thriving culture to this day.  However, I am not here to convince you to learn Esperanto.  Katherine Garcia, one of eduFire’s members, has already done a good job of that.  I am here to give you some fantastic resources for assisting you in your studies.

1. Lernu

Lernu definitely deserves to be first on this list.  There are probably enough resources for learning Esperanto on Lernu alone to write this blog post, but I’ll stick to a brief overview.  The name itself is a command to learn in Esperanto.  (”Learn!”)  I certainly haven’t been able to explore the sight completely yet.  To start off, it’s available in 35 languages!  This site has tons of content, including reading material, lessons, games, and jokes.  It covers the social aspect through a forum, mail system, and even instant messaging.  Additionally, you can scroll over and click on Esperanto words on the site to translate them into English.  In theory, you could learn Esperanto solely from Lernu, but I prefer having a tutor, and it’s always nice to take advantage of the other sources below as well.

2. Anki

Anki is an online flashcard service (like smart.fm).  Unlike smart.fm however, it has amazing Esperanto content, which happens to be made by Judith Meyer an Esperanto tutor on eduFire.  To access the deck she has made, download Anki, then go to File > Download > Shared Decks.  The deck is called “Esperanto 101.”  Of course, feel free to make your own decks / lists on Anki or smart.fm, but don’t forget that you already have very complete content at your fingertips.

3. Twitter

The number of ways in which Twitter can be used continues to astound me.  Yes, you can also use it to practice your Esperanto.  There are plenty of tweeps (people who tweet) who use Esperanto, and you can do so yourself as well.  The small posting size keeps both reading and writing digestible and approachable.  I also highly recommend following @esperanto.  The person behind this account retweets relevant content about Esperanto in Twitterlando (the Esperanto name for the twitterverse) from people who tweet in a variety of languages, and occasionally tweets Esperanto related content from around the web that other people on twitter haven’t already brought to the community’s attention.  @esperanto is a great way to find people to follow, find great content, and stay up to date about Twitterlando.

4. Online Dictionaries

I haven’t yet found an online dictionary that I’m %100 satisfied with. I currently use two different ones, depending on my need/mood.

• Reta Vortaro – This is the leader as far as I can tell.  It has translations for a multitude of languages, and it automatically changes the English alphabet into Esperanto letters when searching by using the “x-method” (cx = ĉ).  This dictionary is very useful and functional!
• Esperanto Panorama’s dictionary - This dictionary is only English-Esperanto, and is basically a giant list of words.  To find words, you have to use your browser find function (ctrl + f).  This dictionary lacks a lot of the function of Reta Vortaro, and it only has English, but I’ve found that it sometimes has words that Reta Vortara does not.

5. Greasemonkey

Okay, this next one isn’t exactly a tool for learning, but it aids in easing a major annoyance.  I don’t know about you, but I think typing Esperanto characters (ĉ ĵ ŭ, etc) is so much more gratifying than using any supplementary method to represent Esperanto characters (ch, j^, ux, etc).  The best way I have found (so far) to solve this is the Firefox add-on called Greasemonkey.  This add-on allows you to download various scripts to change the way you type.  An Esperanto script can be found here.  It’s not a perfect fix as it only works in your browser window and is only available for Firefox, but hey, it comes with a cute monkey in the bottom-right corner of my browser!

6. Farbskatol

Farbskatol is probably the best video site for Esperanto on the web.  It’s set up kind of like a blog, but it does have categories, a search function, and archives so you can find the type of video you want.  YouTube isn’t actually that great for Esperanto, although this video is fantastic for those just starting to learn Esperanto.

7. Radio Verda

Radio Verda is a podcast put on by Arono and Karlina who live in Vancouver, Canada.  This is a good learning source because they speak slightly slower than conversation speed, providing you with good listening practice.  Radio Verda covers international news that is relevant to Esperanto, so you can stay connected to the Esperanto speaking world.  I still struggle with understanding this podcast, but I think it is a great way to make another step closer to fluency.

8. La Eta Princo

The point of introducing this source is actually to introduce reading material as a whole.  There’s plenty of content on the Internet in Esperanto to read, but we just starting reading this in my Esperanto class, so I thought I’d share it specifically.  La Eta Princo (some of you may know it as The Little Prince) is no longer under copyright protection, so it is available in a variety of languages.  Because it disguises itself as a children’s book, the language is relatively simple, making it good for learning.  However, there are still some thought provoking themes that make this interesting.

9. Vinilkosmo

One of my favorite aspects of Esperanto is that it has spawned its own culture, including literature, poetry and music.  There are musicians all over the world creating music in Esperanto, meaning you can listen to and understand music from so many different people.  There are several sources for Esperanto music on the internet.  The largest Esperanto record label is Vinilkosmo.  They sell CDs and have recently recently released an MP3 section, but you can also listen to a plethora of music for free on their site as well.  There are other sources for Esperanto, of course, but this is one of the largest that I have found so far.

10. Esperanto Meetups

Obviously this is a bit different than the other nine points in this list.  It can’t be accessed online, and I do not have personal experience with it (yet!).  However, I think it is probably the most valuable resource mentioned.  Just like learning any language, one of the best methods is immersion.  I have been told that going to an Esperanto meetup and forcing yourself to speak only Esperanto is the fastest way to become fluent.  Although overnight meetups like the International Youth Congress (IJK) which just finished taking place in Czech Republic for 2009, may be a bit out reach for some, if you live near a city, there is hopefully a local Esperanto speaking club that you can visit.  My local club only meets once a month, but I am super excited to go to the upcoming meeting.

I will admit that Esperanto is not one of the most popular second languages, and this makes finding resources to help your studies that much more difficult.  Luckily the internet is the perfect medium for passing along tools to learn this language when speakers and learners can be geographically few and far between.  (Although there’s still no substitution for going to a gathering of Esperantists in real life!)  I hope this list helps fellow learners make their studies more efficient and fun, but I am sure there are other resources that I have yet to find.  If I am missing anything, please let me know in the comments!

Good luck studying!

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