What’s actually kinda interesting is that Esperanto is having a moment like this, while technically you are to use the pronouns Li and Sxi, for he and her, Duolingo has a lot of the use of Si, which is a singular they, and since a lot of esperanto’s modern speakers are duolingo users, a lot of folks are just using si.

I speak Esperanto for 14 years now. And no, “si” is not a singular “they”. That’s a self-referencing pronoun. And if that usage is used for genderless addressing a person then this is simply incorrect usage, because people don’t know how actually the language works. It’s used in sentences like “li lavis sin” vs. “Li lavis lin”. The first one says “he washes himself” and the second says “he washes him”, the first references the person who executes the action to reference and the second says that the action is done on a different person.

If it comes to Esperanto and genderless usage then there ĝi (it) or ri (they). The first one would be more in accordance with the fundament of the language and the second is a new pronoun which is around since at least the 70s.

No need to misuse si.

Saluton, kiel vi?

which only has european roots

Oh I love it how people shit on Esperanto for it’s euroncentrism. Argumentation by perfectionism, that’s this. No one says that Esperanto could not evolve into a more egalitarian language, but feeling morally superior because its inventor chose to take from one cohesive language family (latin, romance languages) because the roman empire conquered the world a long time ago … is silly and wrong.

They are equally useful and about as well developed.

Comparing Esperanto with Klingon is comparing apples and oranges. No, Klingon is not that developed as Esperanto is. Klingon is for a bunch of enthusiastic Trekkies who wan’t to live their universe. Esperanto has a 136 year old history with a bunch of literature, music and tradition behind it.

No other constructed language has that.

Nobody uses it. You’ll be the only one.

What for a pile of crap of an opinion. Most languages can be described as “nobody” uses it. When you are outside of the top 10 languages in the world, then any language is a harder way to use it. You could move to the country or region where it’s then spoken or maybe find the community in your city which speaks such a language.

Esperanto can be also found like that. There are people who speak it and also there are regular events where people can meet up.