We have already known that, through Esperanto, we can make friends with foreigners because Esperanto is a true language of friendship. I live in Taoyuan city (桃園) which is located in northern Taiwan. Although the number of Esperantists in northern Taiwan is not many if compared with that in the southern part where the Esperanto movement is growing more vigorously, I still manage to make friends by Esperanto.
There are foreigners who come to Taiwan to teach English or work on other jobs, as well as those who study in the universities and settle because of marriage. This case makes Taiwan as one international place where you can speak multilingually and experience other cultures in an event, completely without leaving the comfort of life in Taiwan.
Among many foreign languages, Esperanto is also spoken by a small number of speakers and students. This, in fact, strengthens our Esperanto friendship because being an Esperantist in Taiwan is unique.
Sequoia is a kind person and he is a polyglot. In one meeting, I watched him talking in English, Esperanto, and Japanese. Of course, he also knows his native language, Swedish. That's amazing! He and his wife lived in Taoyuan city.
In addition, I also know Esperantists from the United States and South Korea.
This American Esperantist is Cheyenne and he is also an English language teacher in Taoyuan city. He is a polyglot that knows, apart from English, German, Chinese, Esperanto, Spanish and Dutch.
My South Korean friend is a new Esperanto learner. His name is Jack (Korean: Kim Han Bin). He is enthusiastic about languages and has already studied many languages. He speaks Chinese very well, even Korean do not believe that he is Korean.
A man contacted me on Amikumu one day, I felt that I had seen this man before but where? Well, I thought and thought, and finally, I remembered that this man went to Indonesia before and I had seen him on the pictures of my Indonesian friends. His name is Mitchell from Chicago. He had just arrived in Taiwan so he contacted me, I decided to meet him in Taipei although I do not live there, it's pretty close to me. Although it was our first meeting, we were able to interact like old friends, we talked about various topics and we have common friends as well. It's all possible because of our language, Esperanto!
Besides friends I met here in Taiwan, there is also one special person who is learning Esperanto from me. She is from Calgary, Canada. Her name is Christy.
The mentioned above are only some of my entire Esperanto friends. I am really happy to have the opportunity to learn Esperanto and to know more about the world, about other cultures, and the best is that I have the opportunity to have an international friendship. Thanks to Esperanto!
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By Duy Pham on Unsplash
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