How learning German taught me the link between maths and poetry | Harry Baker | TEDxVienna

I applied to university to study medicine but switched courses to do maths so that I would havemore time to write poetry.

(Laughter) Thank you for laughing at my life choices.

(Laughter) (Applause) And, apart from oneof the first poems I wrote, being a love poem about prime numbers, I told myself that the twoweren't really that linked.

I liked maths because there wasalways a definite right answer, and I liked poetry becausethere wasn't a definite wrong one.

But for me, when I switchedcourses to do maths, I was given the optionof doing maths with a year abroad, and I thought that would bea fun way to live in another country and experience another culture.

So for a year I lived and studiedmaths in Germany, and I thought it would be a good ideato try and learn German because I'd heardit was really popular there.

(Laughter) When I arrived in Germany, my level of language speakingwas approximately: "Hallo, mein Name ist Harry.

Ich bin English.

Sprechen Sie English?" (Laughter) "Nein.

" - "Scheiße.

" (Laughter) Thankfully, as the year went on,my language skills improved slightly, and I'd like to share a couple of thingsthat I learnt along the way.

Now, I am aware that I am talkingabout learning German in a German speaking country, whilst relying on everybodyto understand my English, but don't worry, "Mein Englishist unfassbar gut.

" (Laughter) What struck meabout learning a second language is that whilst everybody hasthat same destination in mind of hopefully becoming fluent, the journeys that we go onare very different.

And measuring your progresson that journey using verb tables and grammar exams, whilst helpful for some, for me didn't fully capture the excitementof what it was to learn another language.

So I began to set up my own milestones for when I knewthat I was making progress.

The first was that oncethose basic building blocks are in place, being able to trust your instincts.

I remember explaininga story to a friend where everything had worked outin the end, and come together nicely, and I found myself using the words,"Alles hat geklappt.

" I don't think I've ever heardthat word before, but as I said it,it kind of made sense to me, because if you clap, that's a very literalcoming together of your hands.

But also if you make a planand it works out, sometimes you feel likegiving yourself a mini-round of applause.

The difference wasthat when I said these words, I knew that it was the right wordto use in that context because it felt natural.

Up until that point, if I didn't knowwhat a word was in German, I was just trying to saythe English word with a German accent, and try and get away with it.

But more often than notthat left me looking like "ein Idiot".

(Laughter) The second stage for me was when you first beginto dream in another language.

A lot of people talk about this, as for all of your external efforts, this is the point when you knowit's finally started to sink in.

And the first dream that I had in German, I dreamt that I was in a German classroomlearning some new vocabulary, which meant that not only hadmy subconscious taken in enough German that I could understandso that I could dream about it, it had also taken in some GermanI couldn't yet understand and was trying to teach itto me in my sleep.

(Laughter) Now, whilst I don't think this is the most foolproof methodof learning a language, it was quite exciting at the time.

But the third stage for me, and the moment when I really kneweverything would be OK, is when you were able to either understandor make jokes in another language.

I absolutely love puns, and whenever any of my non-English friendsare able to make puns in English, I'm always really impressed.

So, a moment came when I was speakingto my German friend who was a poet, and he was talkingabout how, when he has ideas, they begin to snowball into each otherinto a kind of ideas avalanche.

And he told me that the German wordfor "avalanche" was "Lawine".

Without skipping a beat, I said to him, "Hey, if there was a lot of snowbetween the months of March and May, would that be called an 'Avril Lawine'?" (Laughter) And he said, "That's hilarious.

" (Laughter) "You should definitelyput that in your TEDTalk.

They'll all laugh lots.

" (Laughter) I think being able to playwith another language is a very exciting thing, and it's not somethingyou always get an opportunity to do, in particular, [in] grammar exams - well, they don't give youbonus marks for puns, anyway.

What I was experiencing was somethingthat I had experienced before - something that at school, me andmy bitter maths rival / best friend Luke had called "the nerd rush".

This is the feeling you got when you first wrapped your headaround a concept, or were able to solve a problemin a particularly neat way.

This is a feeling I later experiencedwhen I started writing poetry, whether it was when the wordsjust seemed to fall into place, or whether it's coming upwith a particularly satisfying rhyme, or maybe even just thinkingof a ridiculous pun.

For me, the difference was now that I was getting thisin day-to-day conversations.

Whether it was the thrill of beingunderstood by the person in front of me, or just having a kind of slight ideaabout what they were talking about, piecing together simple sentences became like mini-equationsto be solved there and then.

It involved the pattern recognitionand attention to detail that I love from maths, and it combined it with the creativity andthe ability to think outside of the box that I really enjoyed about poetry.

It combined the two in a waythat I had not previously thought about.

And in many ways, German is quitea logical and mathematical language.

I remember asking my housemateswhat the German word for a kettle was.

And I said to them, "How do you callthe thing that cooks the water?" And they said, "Das ist ein Wasserkocher.

" (Laughter) And for me, it just made perfect sense, and there wereall of these moments where - (Laughter) I would be really excited.

I remember when I found out, I came home and I said to them thatthe German word for glove is "Handschuh" - because it's like a little shoeyou put on your hands.

(Laughter) And I thought, that's incredible.

And they said, (Laughter) "Why are you so excited about gloves?" (Laughter) But I came up with this whole listof my favourite words.

My absolute favourite: I learnt that the German wordfor "turtle" is "Schildkröte", which is like a kind of "shield toad".

And when I found that out, I immediately looked up what a snail was, because I hoped that it would bea kind of "shield worm".

(Laughter) It turns out that the German wordfor "snail" is "Schnecke", but the German word for "slug"is "Nacktschnecke", (Laughter) because it's like a naked snail.

(Laughter) And I thought that was fantastic.

(Laughter) And my housemate said,"Why have you brought snails home?" (Laughter) But in a way, this sticking togetherof words could be quite poetic.

I remember learning that the German wordfor "iris" is "Regenbogenhaut", which translates as "rainbow skin", which I think is kind of quite beautiful and still hasthat weird sort of logic to it.

Similarly, I found out the German wordfor "nipple" is "Brustwarze", (Laughter) which means breast wart, which, whilst less beautiful, (Laughter) (Applause) has still gotthat weird kind of logic to it.

So I thought it would be funto try and invent my own words.

And where I lived, in Hannover,there's quite a large Turkish population.

So there's a lot of places that sellkebab and döner and also falafel.

I was really happy to find out the Germanword for "falafel" is "Falafel".

(Laughter) But the German wordfor "spoon" is "Löffel".

If you had a specific spoonthat you only ever ate falafel with, you could call it a "Falafellöffel".

(Laughter) So I've written a poemcalled "Falafellöffel", and it's about a guy called Phil.

You might be able to seewhere this is going.

It does involvesome kind of call and response, which is entirely in German, but I think you guyswill be slightly better at that than they are back in England.

"Phil ist voll.

Die Nacht ist gut verlaufen.

Phil sieht ein Geschäftund er fragt, was sie verkaufen.

"Falafellöffel.

Für Löffelvoll Falafel.

" - which means Falafal spoons,for spoonfuls of Falafel - "Was?" "Falafellöffel.

Für Löffelvoll Falafel.

" "Wie?" "Falafellöffel.

Für Löffelvoll Falafel.

" Phil doesn't speak German,so he’s left a little baffled.

See there’s this fella Phil,and Phil loved falafel.

In a falafel raffle he wouldsnaffle all the tickets.

He always answers in affirmativeto offers of falafel; even if he’s awfully full,he’d feel awful if he didn’t.

(Laughter) And for us it might feel effortless to live a life falafelless.

(Laughter) But Phil effervescesunless he gets his falafel fix.

So if Phil was everto be offered Löffel of Falafel he'd say "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is! For Phil a life of love and laughterwill have a falafel after.

(Laughter) So it’s "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is.

If a falafel fell off a Löffel,Phil’d feel awful, (Laughter) so it’s "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is.

A fluffy falafel is often iffyif he’s honest, but it’s "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is.

If half a Löffel of filthy falafelis overly lethal, even as we leave Philhe’d still have a message for his kids, saying "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is, always "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is.

So when I say: "Wie viel Falafelist zu viel Falafel?" - which of course means: How much falafelis too much falafel? - could you reply in unison, as one: "Vier Löffel voll Falafelist zu viel Falafel.

" - (Laughter) which of course means: Four spoonfulsof falafel is too much falafel! - If anyone doesn't speak German, I can talkyou through it, if you repeat after me: "Vier"- Audience: Vier Harry Baker: Löffel voll- Audience: Löffel voll HB: FalafelAudience: Falafel HB: ist zu vielAudience: ist zu viel HB: Falafel.

Audience: Falafel.

HB: Wunderbar! (Laughter) Wie viel Falafel ist zu viel Falafel? Vier Löffel voll Falafelist zu viel Falafel.

Wie viel Falafel ist zu viel Falafel? Audience: Vier Löffel - HB: Lauter! Wie viel Falafelist zu viel Falafel? Audience: Vier Löffel - HB: Schneller! Wie viel Falafelist zu viel Falafel? Audience: Vier Löffel - Vier Löffel voll Falafelist zu viel Falafel if it left him on his deathbedwith a message for his kids saying "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is.

always "yes" despite not knowingwhat the F a Löffel is.

Phil war voll.

(Laughter) Die Nacht war gut verlaufen.

(Laughter) Phil sah ein Geschäftund er fragte, was sie verkaufen.

"Falafellöffel.

Für Löffel voll Falafel.

" "Falafellöffel! Für Löffel voll Falafel!?" "Ja - Falafellöffel!Für Löffel voll Falafel!" You’ve got to make an effortwhen you travel! (Applause) One of my favourite poets in the UK,called Disraeli, once said to me that learning another language is like learningto think in another colour.

And I've spoken to other peoplewho say they feel like they have different personalitiesin different languages.

And I learnt quite early onwhilst learning German that when I express an opinion in English,I would often say things such as: "I think, maybe, if you want,we could possibly do this.

" Or: "I feel like, you know,if it's not too much trouble, possibly we could do that.

" And whilst in English that just makes mesound very unsure of myself, in German, it rapidly affectsthe sentence structure, and then I didn't knowwhere to put the verbs.

(Laughter) The result of thiswas that the German Harry became a lot more decisive and directabout what he wanted to say than English Harry, purely because I lackedthe language skills to be able to doubt myself in that way - (Laughter) which was an incredible thing.

Another side effectwas that whilst in English I think I'm slightly more comfortabletalking to a thousand strangers than one-on-one kind of small talk, in German, because I was so excitedabout learning the language, small talk with strangersbecame like homework.

I was really excited to ask questions and learn quite simple factsabout other people's lives because that was the sort of vocabularythat I could understand.

Similarly, I was really excitedto talk about myself because I needed to practise.

And so whilst German taught mea link between maths and poetry that I hadn't previouslybeen able to imagine, it also taught me things aboutmy own personality that I hadn't expected.

And I realized that these milestonesI'd given myself in German, and learning a language, were things that I've seen before.

When it came to maths, whilst it might be difficult at first to get your head aroundthe basic building blocks, once they're in place, I think then you can begin to have funwith it and jump between them and trust your instinctswhilst doing that.

When it comes to writing, if you can immerse yourself enoughin the world of a poem or a story, then it becomes possible for these ideasto seemingly come from nowhere.

I've often gone to bed,or just fallen asleep in the daytime, whilst writing a poem, and when I wake up,there'll be a new idea there, that's almost as if I've triedto teach it to myself in my dreams.

And the final thingwas with these two things, as with learning German,as with many other aspects of my life, I realized that once you put the work in, you can get comfortable enough withsomething, and be willing to take risks, but also have fun with it.

That's when you can really startto put yourself out there.

After I finished my year abroad, I came back to my final yearat university in Bristol, and I was moved up from the beginners German classto the advanced German class.

And, whilst at the end of the year I did quite well inmy listening and speaking exams, I still managed to failmy final grammar exam.

I did, however, pass my maths degree, and since then I've been ableto do the poetry full time, and travel around the worlddoing what I love doing.

So in a way it's beenquite a unique and weird journey but everything has "geklappt".

Thank you.

(Applause).

Source: Youtube

Grand Slam Poetry Champion | Harry Baker | TEDxExeter

My name is Harry BakerHarry Baker is my name.

If your name was Harry Baker,then our names would be the same.

(Laughter) It's a short introductory part.

Yeah, I'm Harry.

I study maths.

I write poetry.

So I thought I'd startwith a love poem about prime numbers.

(Laughter) This is called "59.

" I was going to call it"Prime Time Loving.

" That reaction is why I didn't.

(Laughter) So, "59.

" 59 wakes up on the wrongside of the bed.

Realizes all his hair ison one side of his head.

Takes just under a minute to work out thatit’s because of the way that he slept.

He finds some clothes and gets dressed.

He can’t help but look in the mirrorand be subtly impressed How he looks rough around the edgesand yet casually messed.

And as he glances out the window, hesees the sight that he gets blessed with of 60 from across the street.

Now 60 was beautiful.

With perfectly trimmed cuticles,dressed in something suitable.

Never rude or crude at all.

Unimprovable, right on time as usual,more on cue than a snooker ball but liked to play it super cool.

59 wanted to tell herthat he knew her favorite flower.

He thought of her every second,every minute, every hour.

But he knew it wouldn’t work,he’d never get the girl.

Because although she livedacross the street they came from different worlds.

While 59 admired 60’sperfectly round figure, 60 thought 59 was odd.

(Laughter) One of his favorite filmswas "101 Dalmatians.

" She preferred the sequel.

He romanticized the ideathey were star-crossed lovers.

They could overcome the oddsand evens because they had each other.

While she maintained the strict viewsimposed on her by her mother That separate could not be equal.

And though at the time he feltstupid and dumb For trying to love a girl controlledby her stupid mum, He should have been comfortedby the simple sum.

Take 59 away from 60,and you’re left with the one.

Sure enough after two monthsof moping around, 61 days later, 61 was who he found, He had lost his keysand his parents were out.

So one day after schoolhe went into a house As he noticed the slightly wonkynumbers on the door, He wondered why he’d neverintroduced himself before, As she let him in, his jawdropped in awe.

61 was like 60, but a little bit more.

(Laughter) She had prettier eyes,and an approachable smile, And like him, rough aroundthe edges, casual style, And like him, everythingwas in disorganized piles, And like him, her mum didn’t mindif friends stayed a while.

Because she was like him,and he liked her.

He reckoned she would like himif she knew he was like her, And it was different this time.

I mean, this girl was wicked, So he plucked up the courageand asked for her digits.

She said, "I'm 61.

"He grinned, said, "I'm 59.

" Today I’ve had a really nice time, So tomorrow if you wantedyou could come over to mine? She said, "Sure.

" She loved talking to someonejust as quirky, She agreed to this unofficial first date.

In the end he was onlyready one minute early, But it didn’t matter becauseshe arrived one minute late.

And from that moment onthere was nonstop chatter, How they loved "X Factor,"how they had two factors, How that did not matter,distinctiveness made them better, By the end of the night they knewthey were meant together.

And one day she was talkingabout stuck-up 60, She noticed that 59 looked a bit shifty.

He blushed, told her of his crush: “The best thing that never happenedbecause it led to us.

” 61 was clever, see,not prone to jealousy, She looked him in the eyesand told him quite tenderly, You’re 59, I’m 61, together we combineto become twice what 60 could ever be.

(Laughter) At this point 59 had tears in his eyes, Was so glad to havethis one-of-a-kind girl in his life.

He told her the verydefinition of being prime Was that with only oneand himself could his heart divide, And she was the one he wantedto give his heart to, She said she felt the sameand now she knew the films were half true.

Because that wasn't real love,that love was just a sample, When it came to real love,they were a prime example.

Cheers.

(Applause) That was the first poem that I wrote and it was for a prime number-themedpoetry night - (Laughter) - which turned out to bea prime number-themed poetry competition.

And I became a prime number-themedpoetry competition winner, or as I like to call it,a prime minister.

(Laughter) And this is how I discoveredthese things called poetry slams, and if you don't knowwhat a poetry slam is, it was a format come up within America 30 years ago as a way of tricking peopleinto going to poetry events by putting an exciting wordlike "slam" on the end.

(Laughter) And each performer gotthree minutes to perform and then random audience memberswould hold up scorecards, and they would end upwith a numerical score, and what this meant is, it kind of broke down the barrierbetween performer and audience and encouraged the kind of connectionwith the listener.

And what it also means is you can win.

And if you win a poetry slam,you can call yourself a slam champion and pretend you're a wrestler, and if you lose a poetry slam you can say,"Oh, what? Poetry's a subjective art form, you can't put numbers on such things.

" (Laughter) But I loved it, and I got involvedin these slams, and I became the U.

K.

slam champion and got invited tothe Poetry World Cup in Paris, which was unbelievable.

It was people from all around the worldspeaking in their native languages to be judged by five French strangers.

(Laughter) And somehow, I won, which was great, and I've been ableto travel the world since doing it, but it also means that this next piece is technically the best poem in the world.

(Laughter) So.

(Applause) According to five French strangers.

So this is "Paper People.

" I like people.

I'd like some paper people.

They’d be purple paper people.

Maybe pop-up purple paper people.

Proper pop-up purple paper people.

"How do you prop uppop-up purple paper people?" I hear you cry.

Well I… I’d probably prop up properpop-up purple paper people with a proper pop-uppurple people paperclip, but I’d pre-prepare appropriateadhesives as alternatives, a cheeky pack of Blu Tackjust in case the paper slipped.

Because I could build a pop-up metropolis.

but I wouldn’t wanna deal with all thepaper people politics.

paper politicians with theirpaper-thin policies, broken promiseswithout appropriate apologies.

There’d be a little paper me.

And a little paper you.

And we could watch paper TVand it would all be pay-per-view.

(Laughter) We’d see the poppy paper rappersrap about their paper package or watch paper people carriersget stuck in paper traffic on the A4.

(Laughter) Paper.

There’d be a paper princess Katebut we’d all stare at paper Pippa, and then we’d all live in fear ofkiller Jack the Paper-Ripper, because the paper propagandapropagates the people's prejudices, papers printing pictures of thephotogenic terrorists.

A little paper me.

And a little paper you.

And in a pop-up populationpeople’s problems pop up too.

There’d be a pompous paper parliamentwho remained out of touch, and who ignored the people's protestsabout all the paper cuts, then the peaceful paper protestswould get blown to paper pieces, by the confetti cannonsmanned by pre-emptive police.

And yes there’s still be paper money,so there’d still be paper greed, and the paper piggy bankerspocketing more than they need, purchasing the potpourrito pepper their paper properties, others live in povertyand ain’t acknowledged properly.

A proper poor economywhere so many are proper poor, but while their needs are ignoredthe money goes to big wars.

Origami armiesunfold plans for paper planes and we remain imprisonedin our own paper chains, but the greater shameis that it always seems to stay the same, what changes is who’s in powerchoosing how to lay the blame, they’re naming names,forgetting these are names of people, because in the endit all comes down to people.

I like people.

'Cause even when the situation’s dire, it is only ever peoplewho are able to inspire, and on paper,it’s hard to see how we all cope.

But in the bottom of Pandora’s boxthere’s still hope, and I still hope'cause I believe in people.

People like my grandparents.

Who every single day since I was born, have taken time out of their morningto pray for me.

That’s 7892 days straightof someone checking I’m okay, and that’s amazing.

People like my aunt who puts onplays with prisoners.

People who are capableof genuine forgiveness.

People like the persecuted Palestinians.

People who go out of their wayto make your life better, and expect nothing in return.

You see, people have potentialto be powerful.

Just because the people in powertend to pretend to be victims we don’t need to succumb to that system.

And a paper population is no different.

There’s a little paper me.

And a little paper you.

And in a pop-up populationpeople's problems pop up too, but even if the whole world fell apartthen we’d still make it through.

Because we’re people.

Thank you.

(Applause) Thank you very much.

I've just got time for one more.

For me, poetry has been the ultimate wayof ideas without frontiers.

When I first started, the people who inspired mewere the ones with the amazing stories, and I thought, as an 18-year-oldwith a happy life, it was too normal, but I could create these worldswhere I could talk about my experiences and dreams and beliefs.

So it's amazing to be herein front of you today.

Thank you for being here.

If you weren't here, it would be pretty muchlike the soundcheck yesterday.

(Laughter) And this is more fun.

So this last one is called"The Sunshine Kid.

" Thank you very much for listening.

Old man sunshine was proud of his sun, And it brightened his dayto see his little boy run, Not because of what he’d done,nor the problems overcome, But that despite that his dispositionremained a sunny one.

It hadn’t always been like this.

There’d been times when he’d triedto hide his brightness, You see, every starhits periods of hardship, It takes a brighter lightto inspire them through the darkness.

If we go back to whenhe was born in a nebula, We know that he neverwas thought of as regular, Because he had a flair about him, To say the Midas touch is wrong but all he went nearseemed to turn a little bronze, Yes this sun was lovedby some more than others, It was a case of Josephand his dreamcoat and his brothers Because standing out from the crowdhad its pros and its cons, And jealousy created enemiesin those he outshone Such as the Shadow People.

Now the Shadow Peopledidn’t like the Sunshine Kid, Because he showed up the dark thingsthe Shadow People did, And when he shone he showedthe places where the Shadow People hid, So the Shadow People hadan evil plan to get rid of him, First up -- they made fun of his sunspots, Shooting his dreams from the sky,their words were gunshots, Designed to remind himhe wasn’t very cool And he didn’t fit in with anypopular kids at school.

They said his head was up in spaceand they would bring him down to Earth, Essentially he came from nothingand that is what he was worth, He’d never get to goto university to learn, Only degrees he’d ever showwould be the first degree burns >From those that came too close, they told him he was too bright, That’s why no one everlooked him in the eyes, His judgment became clouded So did the sky,With evaporated tears as the sun started to cry.

Because the sunshine kid was bright,with a warm personality, And inside he burned savagely Hurt by the words and cursesof the shadowy folk who spoke holes in his souland left cavities, and as his heart hardened,his spark darkened, Every time they called him namesit cooled his flames, He thought they might like himif he kept his light dim But they were busy telling lightningshe had terrible aim, He couldn’t quite get to gripswith what they said, So he let his light be eclipsedby what they said, He fell into a Lone Star State like Texas, And felt like he’d been punchedin his solar plexus.

But that’s whenLittle Miss Sunshine came along Singing her favorite songabout how we’re made to be strong, And you don’t have to be wrong to belong,just be true to who you are, because we are all stars at heart.

Little Miss Sunshine was hot stuff, The kind of girl when you looked at her you forgot stuff, But for him, there was no forgetting her, The minute he saw herher image burned in his retina, She was out of this world,and she accepted him, Something about this girl meant he knewwhenever she was next to him, Things weren’t as dark as they seemed,and he dared to dream, Shadows were nowhere to be seen;when she was there he beamed, His eyes would light upin ways that can’t be faked, When she grinned her rays erasedthe razor-tipped words of hate, They gave each other nicknamesthey were "cool star" and "fun sun," And gradually the shadowydamage became undone, She was one in a septillion,and she was brilliant, Could turn the coldest bloodedreptilians vermillion, Loved by billions,from Chileans to Brazilians, And taught the Sunshine Kidthe meaning of resilience.

She said: “All the darkness in the world cannot put out the lightfrom a single candle So how the hell can theyhandle your light? Only you can choose to dim it,and the sky is the limit, so silence the critics by burning.

” And if eyes are windows to the soulthen she drew back the curtains And let the sun shinethrough the hurting.

In a universe of adversitythese stars stuck together, And though days became nightsthe memories would last forever, Whether the weathermansaid it or not, it would be fine, 'Cause even behind the cloudsthe kid could still shine.

Yes, the Sunshine Kid was bright,with a warm personality, And inside he burned savagely, Fueled by the fireinspired across galaxies By the girl who showed him belief.

Thank you very much.

(Applause).

Source: Youtube