LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Esperanto: Learning Esperanto
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Today, Esperanto is employed in world travel, correspondence, cultural exchange, conventions, literature, language instruction, television (Internacia Televido) and radio broadcasting [1]. Some state education systems offer elective courses in Esperanto, and in one university instruction is in the language (see Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj San Marino). There is evidence that learning Esperanto is a useful preparation for later language learning (see Propaedeutic value of Esperanto for more details).
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Esperanto has been rationally constructed for ease of learning. This has made it especially popular with busy men and women who cannot spend years learning a foreign language, which would be useful in only a small part of the world. Because of these features, Esperanto is attractive as an introduction to other foreign language studies. In the Hawaiian schools, for example, the study of Esperanto is a basic part of that state’s innovative English program.
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Learning Esperanto is a relatively easy endeavor compared to the 'national' languages. With its simple construction and easy pronunciation it can be learned to a high level with much less time and effort than other languages.
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Esperanto is not (comparatively speaking) a challenging language to learn. Lots of good resources are avialable on line to help you learn it. ELNA and some city clubs like this one have more than enough to get someone started in learning Esperanto, (or just Google `learn Esperanto' and you'll hit dozens). In the meantime, here are some popular phrases (including some dirty ones):
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Several research studies demonstrate that studying Esperanto before another foreign language speeds and improves learning the other language. This is presumably because learning subsequent foreign languages is easier than learning one's first, while the use of a grammatically simple and culturally flexible auxiliary language like Esperanto lessens the first-language learning hurdle. In one study [7], a group of European high school students studied Esperanto for one year, then French for three years, and ended up with a significantly better command of French than a control group, who studied French for all four years. Similar results were found when the second language was Japanese, or when the course of study was reduced to two years, of which six months was spent learning Esperanto.
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One of the world's more interesting examples of a market failure is the general inability of Esperanto to secure its intended role as a universal second language. If a great many people spoke Esperanto, it would be reasonably worthwhile to devote one's time to learning it. Knowing that there was even a 30% chance that a random person encountered in Estonia or Italy or Japan would speak it, the energetic traveller or businessperson would have a pretty good incentive to learn at least a bit. If few people do, conversely, it is not worth anyone's time. This is what economists call a network effect: having a fax machine when nobody else does is not very useful. Likewise, having a telephone or internet connection. The more people subscribe to any such network, the more valuable the network becomes to everyone.
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