What I can do with Esperanto?
By knowing and speaking Esperanto you can meet and get to know thousands of people from almost every part of the World, as friends, and as equals.
But I can do that with English, you say. Well, yes, you can but not so easily and rarely as equals. With English the quality of the conversation depends on how good a language student your friend happens to be.
How good were you at French, German, or Spanish? Well, that's the difficulty faced by those who have to learn English so they can speak to you.
With Esperanto we all start more or less from the same footing and the task we face is easier. Esperanto is not child's play, though. You have to study it as with any foreign language, and you have to practise it. But Esperanto's regularity, flexibility, and powerful word-building rules put fluency within reach sooner than with a national language.
But there is more than that. People choose to learn a foreign language because they are interested in that language's country. And people learn English because they believe it will also help with their career. By contrast people who learn Esperanto are attracted by the simplicity and regularity of the language, or they believe in the ideal of equality and justice, or they are interested in people from other cultures and Esperanto for them is the route. The reasons are many, but most people are instictively attracted by Esperanto and its ideal.
If this is you, then it's most likely that within the international Esperanto community you will meet many people like yourself.
So what can I actually do?
Congresses and Get-togethers:
In 2008 there were 236 events in 42 different countries (see the list at the bottom of the page) posted on just one internet calendar. This is the tip of of the iceberg and among them are some very lively youth events!
Apart from the World Congress there are special interest meetings from music to mountaineering. The Railway Congress is renowned for being friendly with a family atmosphere ... and you don't have to have worked on the Railways!
Also, most countries hold a national Esperanto Congress and welcome visitors from other countries. If you go to one of these you are likely to be treated as a bit of a VIP because you will be the foreign Esperantist among them!
Travel:
The World Esperanto Association publishes a list of representatives to its members. Whenever I am abroad on holiday I try to contact the local representive to arrange to meet for a chat over coffee. Usually this can be an enjoyable hour and in some cases can lead to a longer lasting friendship. Either way meeting and chatting with a local person, and sometimes being invited to his or her home, always adds another dimension to your holiday.
The Pasportoservo was set up for young people and is a list of people who are willing to offer a bed, for a night or two, to visiting Esperantists. Usually it is free but sometimes a small contribution for food is asked. It is particularly attractive to young people travelling on a budget, but it also offers the hosts, who perhaps can't travel so easily, the opportunity to meet other Esperantists and use the language. It is no longer restricted to young people.
Visits from Overseas:
If you become a member of your local club or national association you will likely be notified whenever someone is visiting the country from abroad. Most clubs or associations try to organise some kind of get-together to give their members the opportunity to meet the visitor(s).
The Internet:
As well as offering online courses in Esperanto the Internet has seen a burgeoning Esperanto online community. Many Esperantists appear on Ipernity and there is a growing presence on Facebook. Apart from email, which allows direct international collaboration across the language barriers, chat programs such as MSN and Yahoo! can be also be used, as can Skype (I have a Brazilian friend with whom I chat every other week). The difficulty with live communication is caused mainly by time differences!
The potential for reducing translation/interpreter costs for international enterprises (including not-for-profit agencies) is huge, but so far untapped. As of 2009, however, the director of a French company (can't be named for commercial reasons), with premises in Italy, has been running an experiment in which workers in both countries are learning Esperanto to enable them to talk directly to each other.
Countries where Esperanto events took place in 2008 (in roughly chronological order): New Zealand, Germany, Brazil, India, Belgium, Russia, Romania, France, Slovakia, Hungary, Spain, Vietnam, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Jordan, Denmark, Netherlands, Siberia, Serbia, Mexico, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Croatia, Austria, China, Lithuania, Mongolia, Finland, USA, Latvia, Sweden, Canada, Slovenia, Switzerland, Korea, Madagascar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Japan, Israel, Iran, Pakistan ... and of course Scotland and England.