Happy Esperanto Day!

Esperantists are celebrating today. It’s 150 years since the birth of L.L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto. Celebrating along with them is Google, which is featuring the Esperanto flag in their logo.

Esperanto has been important to me for twenty years. I’ve traveled overseas with it. I’ve met bunches of cool people, read fascinating books and magazines, and listened to great music. Most important, I’ve done it on equal terms with the writers, performers, guests, hosts, and other people that I’ve met. Instead of one of us speaking our native language, we’re both speaking a second language–but one that’s easy to learn. Easy enough to learn that you don’t need to have any special talent with languages to learn it.

Happy Esperanto Day!