How Can I Learn Esperanto?

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There are a lot of resources available to learn Esperanto. Books, websites, clubs, and even a paper-mail postal course!
Esperanto is easy enough to study on your own. But it always helps to have an experienced speaker to check your work and to help you with accurate pronunciation. If you don’t have a teacher (and even if you DO), attending local Esperanto club meetings is an excellent way to work on your speaking skills.

Here are a few great choices for getting started:



Occasionally, the Seattle Esperanto Society offers free Esperanto classes. If you and some friends, or your organization, would like a free Esperanto lesson, please contact us to see if a class will be taught soon or to request a class for your group.



FREE POSTAL COURSE -- 1-800-ESPERANTO -- Esperanto-USA will mail a free information packet to anyone who calls or makes a request on their website. The packet includes information about Esperanto, along with Lesson 1 of the Free Postal Course. After you finish all 10 lessons, you will receive a certificate of completion.



Lernu.net is an extensive website with a lot of learning resources. There are self-guided lessons, pronunciation samples, and familiar literature translated into Esperanto to get you started.



NASK -- The North American Summer Esperanto Courses -- take place for either 1 or 3 weeks of immersive study every summer. You may be able to earn college credit while meeting and learning to speak Esperanto with students from all over the world. Scholarships are available. Click here for information in English or view the official website in Esperanto.



A new, beginner software package is available from Eurotalk. Pictures, sounds, and quizzes.



There is a wide selection of books available from Esperanto-USA, and you can receive a discount if you become a member. Here are several titles that are good for beginners.

Richardson, David. Esperanto: Learning and Using the International Language. 2004. ISBN: 0939785064. 368pp. $15.00

Butler, Montague.
Step-by-Step in Esperanto.1991. ISBN: 0939785013. 281pp. $13.00

Benson, Peter.
Comprehensive English-Esperanto Dictionary. 1995. ISBN: 0939785021. 607pp. $27.00. (Paperback ISBN: 093978503X, $20.00)

Amery, Heather.
Mil Unuaj Vortoj en Esperanto. 2004. ISBN 0-902756-21-4. 63pp. $20.00

Piron, Claude. Gerda Malaperis. 48p. 210x135. Paper. Brazil. $7.99
Simple suspense story, mostly dialogue, with gradually increasing vocabulary of 450 roots. Ideal for beginners.

Piron, Claude.
Gerda Malaperis Word List (to accompany the book) Claude PIRON - An Esperanto-English wordlist to accompany the above book. Lists the new words for each chapter and has brief grammar notes. Second edition 1998. 28p. 215x135. Paper. USA. ISBN 1882251059

If you can find a copy of the currently-out-of-print Teach Yourself Esperanto and Teach Yourself Esperanto Dictionary, those are fun to use.

There are 5 beautiful children’s books translated into Esperanto, in full color PDF format. Reading familiar books for young readers is both fun and an excellent way to expand your vocabulary when you are first learning a new language.