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When I was a study-abroad student in Japan, I went knowing nothing more than extremely rudimentary Japanese.Okosu means “to wake up,” and there’s this other word, “okasu.” They may look similar, but they are very different words. The conventions of conjugation in Japanese led me (and many other foreigners) to make a grave translation mistake.So, one night, I asked my Japanese host mum to wake me up in the morning by saying,“Asa ni okasarete kudasai.”My host mother fell deathly silent. She backed away slowly, clearly not knowing how to respond. I realized I had said something strange, but she didn’t even bother to correct me.It wasn’t until the following day that I realized that I asked my host mum to“Please rape me in the morning.”(^ I told the same story in cartoon form^ )

The greatest benefit to learning Esperanto is for those who haven't learned another foreign language yet, as Alexandre said. And if you only learned e. g. bits of Spanish at high school, I'd still say the same advantage goes for you, because learning Esperanto can be an easy introduction to what it's like to be fluent in a foreign language, what it's like to be confident in a foreign language, and also as an introduction to advanced grammar ideas and to non-classroom study.If you have already learned another foreign language to fluency but that language was not a Romance language, Esperanto will make it easier to learn Romance languages later because it supplies you with a ton of vocabulary that you wouldn't know just from English. Same can be said to a lesser extent for Germanic languages. Esperanto may also be worthwhile if you're planning to study a language that has cases (e. g. German, Russian, Finnish) because Esperanto provides a gentle introduction to the concept. Same if you're looking to study a language that has a productive word system (e.g. agglutinating languages, Arabic, Swahili, Chinese), because you'll get an introduction to the idea of how affixes may be used to modify words (or you can skip the language course and just read the condensed form at Esperanto for the Impatient Linguist).Esperanto does not provide any particular language-learning benefit if you are already fluent in a Romance language and are looking to learn another Romance language, other than that learning the 3rd foreign language is always easier than learning the 2nd, learning the 4th foreign language is always easier than learning the 3rd and learning the 9th foreign language is always easier than learning the 8th. What I mean is an experience curve: the more you do something (here: pick up a new language) the easier it gets, and Esperanto is a rather cheap way to get this kind of experience.

Most language learning courses try to give you the appearance of learning a language but if you genuinely want to learn a new language quickly you need to follow these five principles:Principle 1: Frequently used wordsThe Pareto Principle, promoted by Tim Ferriss, holds that 20% of efforts result in 80% of results. This applies to language learning by focusing first on the most frequently used elements of a language. It is generally accepted that no more than 500 to 1500 words are actively used in most languages.An extensive study by Brigham Young University has concluded that very few frequently used words are required to master a language as indicated in the chart below:As this second chart shows, the law of diminishing returns applies to language learning:Learning 1000 frequently used words allows for close to 90% comprehension of all conversations, whereas an additional 1000 or 2000 words only marginally increases comprehension. It is important, however, that those initial 1000 words be frequently used words and not just randomly selected words that are easy to teach (such as the vocabulary used in most language learning material).But if you made a list of the most commonly spoken words you would find that most of them are preposition, articles or pronouns, such as or, for, on, he, the, and but. Although very common, these words do not convey a great deal of meaning. If you were to remove these words from a sentence, the general meaning would still be clear. Real meaning tends to lie in verbs, nouns, and adjectives. So the focus should be on the most frequently used words that convey meaning, which is to say the most commonly spoken verbs, nouns, and adjectives.Once you have the most common and meaningful words, it becomes easier to learn additional words. It is not unlike playing Wheel of Fortune or hangman. A few key letters allow you to guess the other letters in the phrase.Principle 2: Starting from the core, not the peripheryMost learning material will teach you how to say many words and phrases that you would not usually say outside of the context of the course. You would learn words, such as beer, hotel, and dog, but if you don’t specifically want to make a reference to beer, hotels or dogs, then they would not be too helpful.Instead, you should focus more on learning core verbs and general-use nouns. Core verbs work with any subject matter. Most courses shy away from being verb-centric early on because verbs are complicated since they are often associated with conjugation. Moreover, frequently used verbs are often irregular verbs thereby increasing complication.Every person has different needs for a language depending on their interests. A musician’s language is different than an engineer’s which is different than a businessman’s. What they have in common is the same core, where they differ is the periphery. By learning the core you are able to start conversing immediately and adapt it to the context that is useful and relevant for you.Imagine if you were constructing a building. At first, you would clear the foundation and then build a skeleton structure made of steel beams. At this stage, it would not look like a building you are familiar with since there are no walls, windows or decorations. However, a solid structure is first necessary before you can have anything resembling a building. The same is true for language. First, you must have a solid foundation that is composed of core words. Once you have that then you can easily add the more aesthetic elements. Most courses try to give you something that appears like a completed building already, but without the proper foundation.Principle 3: Immersion and analytical approaches are both importantThere are generally two major methodologies for learning something: immersion and analytical. Immersion is when one learns like a child, placing oneself completely in the environment and acquiring knowledge in an intuitive manner. This method does not consider rules or explanations. The student learns through listening and viewing and making associations on their own. Analytical learning is a more academic form of learning which involves understanding the structure and rules of a language and the reason why certain things are said one way and not another.Rosetta Stone, for instance, applies an immersion approach whereas textbooks apply an analytical approach. There are many people who have used Rosetta Stone who have expressed frustration because they do not understand why the speaker uses some words in one context and uses a different word with the same definition in another context. These systems do not provide any explanation which often leads to discontinued learning. Likewise, there are many students who have studied languages in school for several years using the analytical model and still cannot communicate properly.It is important to use both methodologies. Immersion is important but understanding frequently used rules is equally important if your objective is to really learn the language and not just pretend that you speak it.Principle 4: Minimize memorizationOne of the greatest reasons for quitting language learning is that memorization is overwhelming. You should limit the number of new words you learn in a session to 7 to 12. Focusing on a handful of commonly used meaningful words has more impact that learning a laundry list of rarely used words.The same set of words can be used in different ways to produce a variety of useful sentences. After a short time with very little memorization, you will find that you can communicate a wide variety of words and phrases that are commonly used.You can view these few words like musical notes. The various phrases you use them in can be viewed as musical scales. By practicing a small set of musical scales you can open yourself up to playing a plethora of songs.Principle 5: Transferring passion of activities to passion of languageBeyond the most commonly used meaningful words, the language people use differs based on their passions and interests. Though the core will be the same for most people, the periphery will be different.Once you have learned the most frequently used meaningful core words you can expand to learn peripheral words that are specific to your area of interest. If you are a musician you can start to learn the vocabulary in the new language related to musical terms. You will adopt these new words quickly since you will be transferring your passion for the subject-matter to a passion for the language.By applying these five principles you can learn any language quickly and efficiently.