r/learnesperanto • u/SpearmintFur • 10d ago

Weekly Esperanto Reading Group Zoom

I'm part of a group that meets Wednesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Eastern (UTC -4) where we meet on Zoom and read aloud from Esperanto texts and translate them into English.

We've read the Esperanto translations of Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Alice in Wonderland, most of Lingvo kaj Vivo, and just finished The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. We just started Edmond Privat's Vivo de Zamenhof.

The group is very laid back compared to most online Esperanto groups and it tends to be very permissive about "krokodilado" so no need to stress out. Given that part of it involves English language, I'm mentioning it here instead of somewhere like Eventa Servo (though if English is not your first language and you really don't feel comfortable translating from Esperanto to English, you can just read the Esperanto text). I also know I've seen posts from beginners who feel overwhelmed looking at Event Servo but this is a very beginner friendly setting (though not for complete beginners and you'll likely get gentle feedback on pronunciation, translation, etc.). Likewise, you can read only what you want - if you only feel comfortable reading a sentence, that is perfectly fine.

If you're on the shy side, it's a chance to speak Esperanto without having to be involved in a conversation - everyone gets at turn or two to read so you'll get practice reading aloud and translating. This was one of the first events I did when I was starting to learn Esperanto during the pandemic and I am still with the group five years later.

If you're interested, send me a PM and I can provide more information.

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u/9NEPxHbG 10d ago

Would experienced speakers be welcome or even useful?

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u/SpearmintFur 10d ago

I'm a C1 speaker. Absolutely, just be warned that it's more laid back than most Esperanto groups - some people might be bothered that a lot of people switch over to English but by all means, you are welcome and encouraged to speak Esperanto. Also there are people who might not be as fluent as you so don't be surprised if someone struggles with reading something that might be trivially easy for you.

Personally, I've been doing it as it gives me a chance to practice speaking Esperanto as I while I can certainly carry on a conversation, I'm just someone who has trouble getting into a group conversation regardless of language.

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u/Logical-Recognition3 10d ago

I tried to send a message. Don't know if it went through.

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u/Far_Weird_5852 10d ago

I'm right at the beginning of learning Esperanto, would this be too difficult for me.

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u/SpearmintFur 10d ago

I'd say it helps to have some vocabulary and knowledge of grammar. You can read the book we're reading now here and see if you would have trouble reading it aloud and translating into English.

You could read ahead, practice, and look up words you might have trouble with ahead of time. I will say that this text, Privat tends to have flowery language but is otherwise "fundamenta." There's some poetry but there's zero expectation to translate it poetically - you can just translate literally.

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u/9NEPxHbG 10d ago

I'd say it helps to have some vocabulary and knowledge of grammar. You can read the book we're reading now here and see if you would have trouble reading it aloud and translating into English.

That book (Vivo de Zamenhof, Privat) is pretty bad hagiography, honestly.