WEBVTT

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I applied to university to study medicine

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but switched courses to do maths

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so that I would have
more time to write poetry.

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(Laughter)

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Thank you for laughing at my life choices.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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And, apart from one
of the first poems I wrote,

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being a love poem about prime numbers,

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I told myself that the two
weren't really that linked.

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I liked maths because there was
always a definite right answer,

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and I liked poetry because
there wasn't a definite wrong one.

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But for me, when I switched
courses to do maths,

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I was given the option
of doing maths with a year abroad,

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and I thought that would be
a fun way to live in another country

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and experience another culture.

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So for a year I lived and studied
maths in Germany,

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and I thought it would be a good idea
to try and learn German

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because I'd heard
it was really popular there.

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(Laughter)

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When I arrived in Germany,

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my level of language speaking
was approximately:

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"Hallo, mein Name ist Harry.

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Ich bin English.

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Sprechen Sie English?"

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(Laughter)

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"Nein." 
- "Scheiße."

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(Laughter)

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Thankfully, as the year went on,
my language skills improved slightly,

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and I'd like to share a couple of things
that I learnt along the way.

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Now, I am aware that I am talking
about learning German

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in a German speaking country,

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whilst relying on everybody
to understand my English,

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but don't worry, "Mein English
ist unfassbar gut."

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(Laughter)

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What struck me
about learning a second language

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is that whilst everybody has
that same destination in mind

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of hopefully becoming fluent,

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the journeys that we go on
are very different.

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And measuring your progress
on that journey

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using verb tables and grammar exams,

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whilst helpful for some,

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for me didn't fully capture the excitement
of what it was to learn another language.

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So I began to set up my own milestones

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for when I knew
that I was making progress.

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The first was that once
those basic building blocks are in place,

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being able to trust your instincts.

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I remember explaining
a story to a friend

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where everything had worked out
in the end, and come together nicely,

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and I found myself using the words,
"Alles hat geklappt."

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I don't think I've ever heard
that word before,

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but as I said it,
it kind of made sense to me,

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because if you clap,

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that's a very literal
coming together of your hands.

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But also if you make a plan
and it works out,

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sometimes you feel like
giving yourself a mini-round of applause.

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The difference was
that when I said these words,

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I knew that it was the right word
to use in that context

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because it felt natural.

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Up until that point, if I didn't know
what a word was in German,

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I was just trying to say
the English word with a German accent,

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and try and get away with it.

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But more often than not
that left me looking like "ein Idiot".

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(Laughter)

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The second stage for me

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was when you first begin
to dream in another language.

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A lot of people talk about this,

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as for all of your external efforts,

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this is the point when you know
it's finally started to sink in.

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And the first dream that I had in German,

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I dreamt that I was in a German classroom
learning some new vocabulary,

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which meant that not only had
my subconscious taken in enough German

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that I could understand
so that I could dream about it,

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it had also taken in some German
I couldn't yet understand

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and was trying to teach it
to me in my sleep.

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(Laughter)

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Now, whilst I don't think

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this is the most foolproof method
of learning a language,

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it was quite exciting at the time.

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But the third stage for me,

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and the moment when I really knew
everything would be OK,

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is when you were able to either understand
or make jokes in another language.

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I absolutely love puns,

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and whenever any of my non-English friends
are able to make puns in English,

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I'm always really impressed.

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So, a moment came when I was speaking
to my German friend who was a poet,

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and he was talking
about how, when he has ideas,

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they begin to snowball into each other
into a kind of ideas avalanche.

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

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Without skipping a beat, I said to him,

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"Hey, if there was a lot of snow
between the months of March and May,

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would that be called an 'Avril Lawine'?"

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(Laughter)

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And he said, "That's hilarious."

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(Laughter)

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"You should definitely
put that in your TEDTalk.

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They'll all laugh lots."

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(Laughter)

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I think being able to play
with another language

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is a very exciting thing,

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and it's not something
you always get an opportunity to do,

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in particular, [in] grammar exams -

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well, they don't give you
bonus marks for puns, anyway.

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What I was experiencing was something
that I had experienced before -

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something that at school, me and
my bitter maths rival / best friend Luke

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had called "the nerd rush".

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This is the feeling you got

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when you first wrapped your head
around a concept,

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or were able to solve a problem
in a particularly neat way.

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This is a feeling I later experienced
when I started writing poetry,

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whether it was when the words
just seemed to fall into place,

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or whether it's coming up
with a particularly satisfying rhyme,

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or maybe even just thinking
of a ridiculous pun.

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For me, the difference was now

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that I was getting this
in day-to-day conversations.

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Whether it was the thrill of being
understood by the person in front of me,

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or just having a kind of slight idea
about what they were talking about,

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piecing together simple sentences

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became like mini-equations
to be solved there and then.

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It involved the pattern recognition
and attention to detail

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that I love from maths,

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and it combined it with the creativity and
the ability to think outside of the box

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that I really enjoyed about poetry.

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

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

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

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And I said to them, "How do you call
the thing that cooks the water?"

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And they said, "Das ist ein Wasserkocher."

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(Laughter)

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And for me, it just made perfect sense,

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and there were
all of these moments where -

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(Laughter)

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I would be really excited.

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I remember when I found out,

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I came home and I said to them that
the German word for glove is "Handschuh" -

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because it's like a little shoe
you put on your hands.

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(Laughter)

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And I thought, that's incredible.

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And they said,

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(Laughter)

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"Why are you so excited about gloves?"

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(Laughter)

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But I came up with this whole list
of my favourite words.

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My absolute favourite:

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I learnt that the German word
for "turtle" is "Schildkröte",

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which is like a kind of "shield toad".

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And when I found that out,

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I immediately looked up what a snail was,

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because I hoped that it would be
a kind of "shield worm".

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(Laughter)

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It turns out that the German word
for "snail" is "Schnecke",

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but the German word for "slug"
is "Nacktschnecke",

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(Laughter)

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because it's like a naked snail.

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(Laughter)

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And I thought that was fantastic.

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(Laughter)

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And my housemate said,
"Why have you brought snails home?"

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(Laughter)

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But in a way, this sticking together
of words could be quite poetic.

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I remember learning that the German word
for "iris" is "Regenbogenhaut",

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which translates as "rainbow skin",

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which I think is kind of quite beautiful

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and still has
that weird sort of logic to it.

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Similarly, I found out the German word
for "nipple" is "Brustwarze",

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(Laughter)

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which means breast wart,

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which, whilst less beautiful,

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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has still got
that weird kind of logic to it.

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

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

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

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

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(Laughter)

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But the German word
for "spoon" is "Löffel".

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If you had a specific spoon
that you only ever ate falafel with,

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you could call it a "Falafellöffel".

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(Laughter)

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So I've written a poem
called "Falafellöffel",

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and it's about a guy called Phil.

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You might be able to see
where this is going.

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It does involve
some kind of call and response,

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which is entirely in German,

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but I think you guys
will be slightly better at that

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than they are back in England.

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"Phil ist voll.

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Die Nacht ist gut verlaufen.

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Phil sieht ein Geschäft
und er fragt, was sie verkaufen.

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"Falafellöffel. Für Löffel
voll Falafel." -

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which means Falafal spoons,
for spoonfuls of Falafel -

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"Was?"

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"Falafellöffel. Für Löffel
voll Falafel."

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"Wie?"

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"Falafellöffel. Für Löffel
voll Falafel."

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

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

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In a falafel raffle he would
snaffle all the tickets.

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He always answers in affirmative
to offers of falafel;

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even if he’s awfully full,
he’d feel awful if he didn’t.

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(Laughter)

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And for us it might feel effortless

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to live a life falafelless.

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(Laughter)

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But Phil effervesces
unless he gets his falafel fix.

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So if Phil was ever
to be offered Löffel of Falafel

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he'd say "yes" despite not knowing
what the F a Löffel is!

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For Phil a life of love and laughter
will have a falafel after.

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(Laughter)

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So it’s "yes" despite not knowing
what the F a Löffel is.

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If a falafel fell off a Löffel,
Phil’d feel awful,

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(Laughter)

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so it’s "yes" despite not knowing
what the F a Löffel is.

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A fluffy falafel is often iffy
if he’s honest,

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but it’s "yes" despite not knowing
what the F a Löffel is.

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If half a Löffel of filthy falafel
is overly lethal,

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even as we leave Phil
he’d still have a message for his kids,

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saying "yes" despite not knowing
what the F a Löffel is,

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always "yes" despite not knowing
what the F a Löffel is.

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So when I say: "Wie viel Falafel
ist zu viel Falafel?" -

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which of course means: How much falafel
is too much falafel? -

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could you reply in unison, as one:

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"Vier Löffel voll Falafel
ist zu viel Falafel." -

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(Laughter)

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which of course means: Four spoonfuls
of falafel is too much falafel! -

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If anyone doesn't speak German, I can talk
you through it, if you repeat after me:

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"Vier"
- Audience: Vier

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Harry Baker: Löffel voll
- Audience: Löffel voll

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HB: Falafel
Audience: Falafel

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HB: ist zu viel
Audience: ist zu viel

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HB: Falafel.
Audience: Falafel.

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HB: Wunderbar!

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(Laughter)

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Wie viel Falafel ist zu viel Falafel?

00:10:49.815 --> 00:10:52.459
Vier Löffel voll Falafel
ist zu viel Falafel.

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Wie viel Falafel ist zu viel Falafel?

00:10:54.698 --> 00:10:56.725
Audience: Vier Löffel -

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HB: Lauter! Wie viel Falafel
ist zu viel Falafel?

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Audience: Vier Löffel -

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HB: Schneller! Wie viel Falafel
ist zu viel Falafel?

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Audience: Vier Löffel -

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Vier Löffel voll Falafel
ist zu viel Falafel

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if it left him on his deathbed
with a message for his kids

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saying "yes" despite not knowing
what the F a Löffel is.

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always "yes" despite not knowing
what the F a Löffel is.

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Phil war voll.

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(Laughter)

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Die Nacht war gut verlaufen.

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(Laughter)

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Phil sah ein Geschäft
und er fragte, was sie verkaufen.

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"Falafellöffel. Für Löffel voll Falafel."

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"Falafellöffel! Für Löffel voll Falafel!?"

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"Ja - Falafellöffel!
Für Löffel voll Falafel!"

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You’ve got to make an effort
when you travel!

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(Applause)

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One of my favourite poets in the UK,
called Disraeli, once said to me

00:12:16.938 --> 00:12:18.722
that learning another language

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is like learning
to think in another colour.

00:12:21.144 --> 00:12:24.152
And I've spoken to other people
who say they feel like they have

00:12:24.154 --> 00:12:26.827
different personalities
in different languages.

00:12:26.828 --> 00:12:30.087
And I learnt quite early on
whilst learning German

00:12:30.103 --> 00:12:34.329
that when I express an opinion in English,
I would often say things such as:

00:12:34.379 --> 00:12:39.573
"I think, maybe, if you want,
we could possibly do this."

00:12:39.591 --> 00:12:44.017
Or: "I feel like, you know,
if it's not too much trouble,

00:12:44.031 --> 00:12:46.379
possibly we could do that."

00:12:46.829 --> 00:12:51.310
And whilst in English that just makes me
sound very unsure of myself,

00:12:51.310 --> 00:12:55.402
in German, it rapidly affects
the sentence structure,

00:12:55.417 --> 00:12:57.859
and then I didn't know
where to put the verbs.

00:12:57.864 --> 00:13:00.439
(Laughter)

00:13:00.465 --> 00:13:03.770
The result of this
was that the German Harry

00:13:03.770 --> 00:13:07.574
became a lot more decisive and direct
about what he wanted to say

00:13:07.577 --> 00:13:08.860
than English Harry,

00:13:08.865 --> 00:13:11.161
purely because I lacked
the language skills

00:13:11.161 --> 00:13:13.391
to be able to doubt myself in that way -

00:13:13.391 --> 00:13:15.122
(Laughter)

00:13:15.122 --> 00:13:17.442
which was an incredible thing.

00:13:17.442 --> 00:13:21.276
Another side effect
was that whilst in English

00:13:21.276 --> 00:13:26.057
I think I'm slightly more comfortable
talking to a thousand strangers

00:13:26.064 --> 00:13:28.462
than one-on-one kind of small talk,

00:13:28.462 --> 00:13:32.348
in German, because I was so excited
about learning the language,

00:13:32.348 --> 00:13:35.372
small talk with strangers
became like homework.

00:13:35.372 --> 00:13:37.982
I was really excited to ask questions

00:13:37.982 --> 00:13:40.562
and learn quite simple facts
about other people's lives

00:13:40.562 --> 00:13:43.822
because that was the sort of vocabulary
that I could understand.

00:13:43.822 --> 00:13:46.402
Similarly, I was really excited
to talk about myself

00:13:46.402 --> 00:13:48.502
because I needed to practise.

00:13:48.502 --> 00:13:51.743
And so whilst German taught me
a link between maths and poetry

00:13:51.743 --> 00:13:53.944
that I hadn't previously
been able to imagine,

00:13:53.944 --> 00:13:57.954
it also taught me things about
my own personality that I hadn't expected.

00:13:57.961 --> 00:14:00.993
And I realized that these milestones
I'd given myself in German,

00:14:00.993 --> 00:14:02.362
and learning a language,

00:14:02.369 --> 00:14:04.007
were things that I've seen before.

00:14:04.010 --> 00:14:05.261
When it came to maths,

00:14:05.265 --> 00:14:07.031
whilst it might be difficult at first

00:14:07.035 --> 00:14:09.430
to get your head around
the basic building blocks,

00:14:09.432 --> 00:14:10.611
once they're in place,

00:14:10.614 --> 00:14:13.923
I think then you can begin to have fun
with it and jump between them

00:14:13.923 --> 00:14:15.993
and trust your instincts
whilst doing that.

00:14:15.993 --> 00:14:17.234
When it comes to writing,

00:14:17.234 --> 00:14:21.053
if you can immerse yourself enough
in the world of a poem or a story,

00:14:21.053 --> 00:14:24.443
then it becomes possible for these ideas
to seemingly come from nowhere.

00:14:24.443 --> 00:14:27.943
I've often gone to bed,
or just fallen asleep in the daytime,

00:14:27.943 --> 00:14:29.403
whilst writing a poem,

00:14:29.403 --> 00:14:31.874
and when I wake up,
there'll be a new idea there,

00:14:31.886 --> 00:14:35.353
that's almost as if I've tried
to teach it to myself in my dreams.

00:14:35.353 --> 00:14:37.684
And the final thing
was with these two things,

00:14:37.684 --> 00:14:40.824
as with learning German,
as with many other aspects of my life,

00:14:40.824 --> 00:14:43.036
I realized that once you put the work in,

00:14:43.044 --> 00:14:46.873
you can get comfortable enough with
something, and be willing to take risks,

00:14:46.873 --> 00:14:48.239
but also have fun with it.

00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:51.017
That's when you can really start
to put yourself out there.

00:14:51.020 --> 00:14:52.925
After I finished my year abroad,

00:14:52.940 --> 00:14:55.905
I came back to my final year
at university in Bristol,

00:14:55.918 --> 00:14:57.316
and I was moved up

00:14:57.331 --> 00:15:00.555
from the beginners German class
to the advanced German class.

00:15:00.564 --> 00:15:03.324
And, whilst at the end of the year

00:15:03.324 --> 00:15:05.845
I did quite well in
my listening and speaking exams,

00:15:05.845 --> 00:15:08.844
I still managed to fail
my final grammar exam.

00:15:08.844 --> 00:15:12.235
I did, however, pass my maths degree,

00:15:12.236 --> 00:15:14.947
and since then I've been able
to do the poetry full time,

00:15:14.948 --> 00:15:17.384
and travel around the world
doing what I love doing.

00:15:17.384 --> 00:15:20.885
So in a way it's been
quite a unique and weird journey

00:15:20.885 --> 00:15:23.204
but everything has "geklappt".

00:15:23.843 --> 00:15:24.874
Thank you.

00:15:24.874 --> 00:15:27.250
(Applause)