Back in September Freakonomics Radio published a set of podcasts addressing the idea of universal languages. The last podcast was devoted to Esperanto in particular, and included over 30 minutes of interviews with members including Esther Schor, Chris Johnson, Maria Murphy, Orlando Raola, and Humphrey Tonkin. The interviews with reporter Stephanie Tam were conducted at 2017’s Landa Kongreso in Raleigh.

The testimonials give listeners not only an overview of Esperanto’s history, but also an idea of the vibrant and trusting community it often creates among speakers. Member Lee Miller touches on this phenomenon in a personal anecdote, incidentally revealing himself as an easy mark for enterprising participants at next year’s Kongreso:

If I were in a group like this and I needed somebody to hold my wallet, with all my money in it, I would hand it to an Esperanto speaker in full confidence that whenever I came back, they would hand it back to me and my money would still be in it.