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

In mathematics there are right answers. In poetry there are no wrong ones. Find out how learning a foreign language, especially one that can be as beautifully logical as German, taught World Slam Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker the two were a lot more linked than he realised.
More information on www.tedxvienna.at
Poet and Mathematician Harry Baker has always had a love of language, and his work has taken him around the world and exposed him to many voices and languages used to express those voices. Living in Germany was no different!
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@Edgypoo]

"thank you for laughing at my life choices" great man

[@zenahrb8316]

Miles Edgeworth.Copy i think he actually said "life crisis"

[@alexanderanton468]

yeah thought so too, glad I'm not the only that noticed that

[@39abc93]

Fuyukine no he doesn't.

[@DanZhukovin]

He was asking for it

[@GalenMarekOfficial]

+39abc93 He clearly did, mate.

[@acearmageddon4404]

The worst puns are the ones, for which you need two languages to understand them. like: An assassin walks into a bar and gives his target a drink. The target asks if he wants anything in return. The assassin responds: "No, it's a gift." Thank you, you've been a great audience.

[@thonktank1239]

You seem to be good at this, please explain me the averlavine... please help me, I lack the ability to understand Puns

[@pascalstiemer]

Lord Darkon Lawine = avalanche avril = the month between march and may The pun was referring to Avril Lavigne the singer

[@thonktank1239]

+CamaradeSéculière _ I am German, I understood the gift pun, I just needed help with the avrilavine. But I sill don't know what a singer has to do with all that ◉_◉

[@pascalstiemer]

Die Bedeutung der Wörter ist bei puns meist Nebensache. Avril Lavigne hat natürlich nichts mit Lawinen zu tun aber ihr name passt halt einfach.

[@thonktank1239]

Well, good that pascalstiemer already explained it. Und ich weiss natürlich dass die nichts miteinander zu tun haben, deshalb das ◉_◉ trotzdehm danke :D

[@Stamnessj]

An English man speaking some German with his mouth, but screaming in Italian with his hands.

[@PusuMera]

Johannes Ottestad exactly now someone understands!

[@jellyacc]

haha thats what i love about italians

[@proudtitanicdenier4300]

Mr.WorldWide

[@youprobablydontlikeme3206]

Peter Griffin: Papedu pibedu

[@auriel6699]

I'm italian And I'm so offended about what he said whit his hand ! I'm joking , he was very nice and polite!

[@pirouette5212]

in my German course i immediately yelled "Krankenbruder" when asked what a male nurse is called, cause the female nurse is Krankenschwester right. I was wrong :(

[@thonktank1239]

The problem here is not that your Logical assumption was wrong, the problem is that I as a native german speaker don't know if there even is a word for a male nurse.

[@randomdude2026]

caffeineyeti 1 Ahem, there is no male german word for Krankenschwester. You can say Krankenpfleger, but this is the male form of Krankenpflegerin. So I suppose your teacher trolled you :D

[@ritterderkokosnuss3379]

Im german and as a kid I thougt that too. It was just logical :D

[@stephaniei6355]

this made me LOL

[@echt114]

nah, it's warmer Bruder

[@tashikamala6917]

I am german, and I'm on an exchange year right now. I don't know why, but the German language is known for not being pretty or nice or anything, and it just makes me really happy to See someone liking the german language so much and getting excited about it and stuff.

[@essennagerry]

Tashi Kamala I really like German! I picked it as a kid in school. :) I love how it sounds and I love its' nuances.

[@lenascheen7634]

Deutsch wird auch die Sprache der Dichter und Denker genannt,und das es sich do blöd anhört liegt an den menschen.Ich muss sagen,das ich mich selber manchmal stoppe dinge etwas härter aus zu sprechen.Glaubst du etwa französisch hört sich so schön an,weil sie das aussprechen,was sie sagen :,)

[@serenamadsen3278]

I love the German language!!

[@catriona5268]

Lots of people outside Germany have only seen films about WWII and base "what German sounds like" on Nazis yelling orders. They haven't heard normal people speaking normal German. Whenever I speak it, my friends are surprised and tell me "oh, the way you speak German sounds really nice." To which I reply that that's how most German sounds - they have heard the exception, not the rule. Personally I really like the elegance of German. It is easy to say a lot in a few words! And I think it is a lovely-sounded language too.

[@NoName-md6fd]

I always envisionned German as passion constrained by rules. Of course it is beautiful :)

[@Imfromjamaicaman]

Agreed, if you can understand a joke in another language, you have indeed progress, and if you can come up with a joke in another language, you have progressed further.

[@TheSassi14]

But you also need humor. Without that you can very fluent at a language but never reach any of these steps.

[@chaosgoettin]

everybody has their own sence of humor. If you laugh about it, your and the other person's sence of humor fits together "Wie ein Arsch auf'm Eimer!" :D

[@TheSassi14]

chaosgoettin Ich kenne es als "Wie Arsch auf Eimer". Vielleicht variiert der Spruch je nach Region.

[@snickersunddeinhungeristge795]

TheSassi42 ich kenne den garnicht XD gibts wohl net in meiner region

[@TheSassi14]

Snickers und dein hunger ist gegessen Ich komme aus dem Umland von Hannover.

[@khgdlqgsds4528]

I feel sorry for the subtitle writers of this video.

[@sunriselg]

Thank you. I had trouble understanding the poem, the subtitles helped a lot.

[@trystewilber9307]

Same here!!

[@Bizarro69]

(applause).... (laughter).... (applause)... (laughter)... (laughter)

[@Patrick89ish]

Danke !

[@dohuktube]

they're automatic from YT

[@minaa7011]

Someone show this guy Rhabarberbabera

[@samarhankir15]

omg yessss! hahahahhaha

[@elia7886]

NO PLEASE DON'T xD

[@Martinh1999]

I am german. But the Löffel part is hard to understand.

[@Grayvedygger]

No, the Löffel Peom is part english and part german. However he articulates some german parts in a way that it blends into the english parts which results in a very sluggish kind of expression :)

[@steffahn]

..felt the same, got maybe two thirds of the German and not nealy half of the English part when first hearing. But there are subtitles ^^

[@InsertTruthHere]

tyler t What's hardest I think is knowing which parts are German and which are English because his accent is kinda thick.

[@TheP4LAD1N]

bin auch deutsch aber wenn man die probleme kennt die viele nicht deutsche mit der aussprache von deutschen wörtern haben ist das "gedicht" ziemlich amüsant, diese alliterationen die eig keine sind machts noch komischer ;O

[@glockenrein]

The Löffel part is hilarious but I really needed the subtitles for both the English and the German.

[@ImCookiiez]

This guy is highly creative and I love his enthusiasm for the oddities that come with learning a new language

[@philaeew4866]

SHARP do you honestly expect KZbin people to understand Kappa? :P

[@SiriusGG]

Actually quite a lot do, including you.

[@glockenrein]

I'm German but I live in England. I think and live mostly English and what he says about jokes is very true. But there are two things that always come out German: counting and swearing.

[@DomqE]

glockenrein hahahaha verdammte Scheiße ;)

[@glockenrein]

Pretty much lol

[@henryduma6738]

I am French and feel so much the same. Swearing and counting comes easier in French.

[@99cseni]

glockenrein for me it's just counting

[@jhdrch2656]

csenge varkonyi same

[@justarandomgirlinarandomwo3698]

Hab grad einem Freund einen Limonadenwitz erzählt... Fanta witzig.

[@niklas8523]

just a random girl in a random world Aber nicht sofort oder? Sowas nennt man tee witz Muss man ziehen lassen

[@justarandomgirlinarandomwo3698]

NikName Short but unique ASMR Füße hoch, der kommt flach😅😂

[@justarandomgirlinarandomwo3698]

NikName Short but unique ASMR Schwarzer Humor?Ok.... Wie war die stimmung in der DDR? Sie hielt sich in grenzen...

[@niklas8523]

just a random girl in a random world deine mudda is wie darth vader Stinkt und sagt „ich bin dein vater“

[@drageekeksi]

Ein dad-joke hahahaha😂

[@juweinert]

8:00 I as a German would've called it "Falöffel"

[@isaanderdonau31]

Yep, that was my first thought as well (also German)

[@C43P9]

Julian Weinert Quasi wie 'n Göffel. Was, wie ich finde, übrigens das witzigste Wort dieser Welt ist. 😂

[@xGlitzerkiste]

Julian Weinert Same! I also immediately thought he'd say falöffel - i am German as well

[@Lolomatikus333]

+J. K. Ich find das Wort Göffel auch so geil, dass ich nurnoch Göffel zu Löffeln sage :D true story

[@frenchimp]

It was my first thought too, and I'm French. I've been learning German for four years. I'm a mathematician too, and I find that Harry Baker describes very well my own elation when I discover wonderful or hilarious German words or expressions, such as entgegengegangen... Which must sound totally banal to a German! I feel constantly tempted to play with words, and it often works. For instance, when I learned the word Hochstapler, I immediately wondered what a Tiefstapler would be, and as it turned out the word existed and, much to my delight, meant exactly what I had assumed. Or, when I came across the word Einheitsbrei, I felt immediately compelled to combine it with Streicheleinheit to get Streicheleinheitsbrei...

[@behrmaus1378]

I'm going to start German classes this coming semester, I hear the grammar is tough but German is such a beautiful language I believe it is worth the effort.

[@KeehseLP]

I think ist not that hard.. english russian and so on are way more complicated than german

[@Hyonyx]

Spastus, Sohn des Retardus english is way more easy.. there is a reason why it is the "world language"... the grammar can be learned quite fast - in German, that isn't the case

[@behrmaus1378]

+Hyonyx I'm from the U.S. and English is not an easy language to learn for foreigners, in fact it is the most difficult language because it is composed of so many different languages. However, many foreigners learn it because they want to integrate into society. Even if a foreigner has an accent it's acceptable because it is evident they are trying to adapt to our society. German is no different in my opinion it is just a language and like all languages it has its rules in grammar. Übung macht den Meister!

[@Hyonyx]

Edith I'm a German native speaker. I have learned English, Korean, Chinese and French. English was the easiest language to learn so far, while Korean was the hardest (not chinese!)... The reason is that English and Chinese have an easy grammar compared to german, (or korean) because they don't have, tons of special cases when it comes to eg. sentence structure... I never hear pupils complain about English but French (and Latin or Korean) have tough grammar, and when we are allowed to drop a language class only 5% drops out of her or his English class ^^ congrats on starting to learn German btw :p

[@KeehseLP]

Of course English is the easiest when you have learned korean or chinese.. But you are a german native speaker so how can you say that its hard to learn it? You never had to learn it

[@jk666]

This had me laughing SO hard. As an English person living in Germany, I also found all the German words for gloves, snail and slug and turtle really funny when I learnt them.

[@jessieca6757]

"Shielded toad" totally cracked me up! :-D

[@Sookielein]

@@jessieca6757 I'm german and I never thought anything about the word Schildkröte when using it but now it cracks me up as well lol

[@thegoodestman]

When my American wife thought she had figured German out I told her that the opposite of „jemanden umfahren“ is „jemanden umfahren“

[@yesmissfrancon]

One of my favorite logical German words is Mutterkuchen. In English this is placenta. It literally means mother-cake (which nourishes the fetus). I should add, though, that placenta also means cake in Latin.

[@kraenk12]

Hahaha good one.

[@TheSassi14]

I am German and I often think in English. In my dreams there is never any language.

[@leayo1682]

TheSassi42 Same

[@graup1309]

TheSassi42 Same here. But yeah, I just substitute the 'dreaming in a language' part with 'just randomly and without any input whatsoever starting to think in a language' which is amazing.

[@somegingerthings9530]

TheSassi42 Same here. I often just randomly think in englisch without wanting to do it. And sometimes I only can think of the englisch Word for something I want to express in my native language (German) 😂

[@leayo1682]

somegingerthings Me too! When I think about stuff on the internet I mostly think in english.

[@Julia-wy8et]

somegingerthings Same! It's so weird being in Class and trying to explain something in German, but you only come to think of the english explanation... and then you have to explain why you can only think in English.

[@M41785929]

That moment when you are watching Ted Talks in English, and in the Ted Talk they start talking in German, but you don't understand that much because you don't know German, because actually you are just an argentinian person (who speaks Spanish) trying to understand an english person that isn't speaking the language you do understand.

[@luschmiedt1071]

Maira Robiglio ich am german and I don't always unterstand What he is talking Abort XD

[@Hugo-pj4bm]

tyler t German? no way lol

[@l.l.5948]

+tyler t German is quite hard actually.

[@miss_walderdbeere]

Please don´t mind. My native language is german and i didnt understand his german very well... actually i needed full ttention and got only like half he was sayin´ when talking german.....

[@dutchik5107]

tyler t i think you mean dutch if you are englisch. since its like german with a lot less grammar. closest to englisch. vocabulary wise close to german. bjt the german language has its own linguistic category. a category above English, French, Dutch and all.

[@erikengheim1106]

As a native Norwegian speaker, I've also noticed that my American-English speaking personality is different from my Norwegian one, even the sound of the voice. I speak in a lower register in American-English than in Norwegian. Much of this I think is because it is hard to separate the culture that goes with a language. The ways you express yourself in a language is connected to the culture which formed that language.

[@bilvotel3119]

I also noticed that about me. I am much more open to communicate with strangers when speaking english

[@hannahhannah1110]

"Es hat geklappt." (English: "It has clapped.") doesn´t mean clapping to yourself. Instead it refers to one single sound (one clap) in the moment of success. The phrase originates from hunting, especially trapping. When you hear a clap from the trap, respectively the trap has clapped, it has clapped and you succeeded. And by the way, telling someone else that you just perform a little dance of joy to yourself, wouldn´t be very German like.

[@LeaLikesIcecream]

Hannah Hannah oh my. Das mit dem klappen wusste ich nicht :D

[@TheSassi14]

Why would you eat Falaffel with a Löffel? XD

[@flauschiblue7388]

TheSassi42 maybe the falafel breaks and crumbles, or it is completely covered in dip ? :o

[@steff7395]

TheSassi42 made my day 😂😂😂

[@DennisSmdFreefightTrainer]

Pio Day hahahhahahhah I am dying

[@jamesgrey13]

Because you're full of foolishness!

[@lukasbeck4421]

TheSassi42 that's the reason he said "IF you had a spoon for falafel"

[@jerrit20]

Hey! Glad to see he is still doing awesome things. I went to school with him in Germany.

[@TheMrKeksLp]

That's amazing!

[@craz3747]

wtf

[@EinFelsbrocken]

@@imluvinyourmum *_INTERNET_*

[@rosaroteseinhornregenbogen8555]

As a German this Talk was hilarious

[@timeaesnyx]

Rosaroteseinhorn Regenbogen please explain why.

[@xypaisb8026]

as a German I still don't understand what this is about

[@alkahina5458]

@@timeaesnyx we have to learn that in english we cant just put words together. Its pretty normal to just call the things how we see them and it sound terrible sometimes to describe things in an subsentence.

[@Zarr0c1337]

@@timeaesnyx like @Bobo Riro said we can just add 1 word with another one and we have a new word with a new meaning e.g. Freezer = Kühlschrank, we can break it up like kühl+schrank -> eng cool+closet and the logic behind it is that it kinda make sense to "add" these words together, this is als the reason german words can be add up to a very very long bit single word sometimes they do exist sometimes not but even if not german speaking people will kinda understand what u mean :D (and it sounds very funny if u speak these long words veeery fast x))

[@gtacheats1638]

@@Zarr0c1337 Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungs-gesetzesentwurfsdebattierklubdiskussions-standsberichterstattungsgeldantragsformular

[@eb3279]

This is almost exactly how I experienced learning German. I still think in German most of the time. Excellent, smart, logical language.

[@wadwad5368]

I just understand flafflaffelafell...😂

[@antoniusnies-komponistpian2172]

Try subtitles.

[@vanillacokejunky]

did you say Lalafell

[@scheffsache]

Falafellöffel.

[@metaphysicalfreediver]

falafelawful

[@YakiMasala]

I'm a 27 old male german and i still can't get over the word "Brustwarze". But you got to be hounest. We are more likely to say "Nippel".

[@agnetelundvaldfisker1382]

Same in Danish, it's called "Brystvorte", which means the same as in German, but a lot of people (especially young) just use "nipple".

[@essennagerry]

I've been living in Austria for four years already and never heard the word Brustwarze, everyone always said Nippel. I'm pretty sure the next language reform or whatever will rule out Brustwarze and adopt Nippel. :D

[@Niemer82]

There is no need for a reform because "der Nippel" is allready a proper german word. It is used for a lot of things. Mostly for small things pointing out of something bigger.

[@johangrostkerck6046]

In Dutch we say tepel

[@bonazza4476]

Das gleiche mit Regenbogenhaut und Iris ,ich dachte mein Wortschatz wäre eigentlich ganz passabel aber habe noch nie von Regenbogenhaut als wort für Iris gehört.

[@listocalisto8124]

as a persian-german, also being fluent in english, i also found that my personalities differ very much from each other, when using a different language. in persian, which i obviously use in conversations with relatives, i am much more polite and in self-doubt, whilst when talking german in everyday life, i am - just like harry - pretty direct and maybe even offensive to some people. on the other hand i've been told that when speaking english i do tend to be very objective and neutral towards things and sometimes even sound like i'm holding a scientific speech. the sudden change of personalities is pretty interesting

[@GuideTheNation]

Thanks for the insight. Im a german native and I made similar observations, in my mothertongue I seem to have absorbed a way of expressing myself similar to the well-structured, polite and calm way my highly educated parents would do. In some social situations this actually feels really restraining, on the contrary in more formal contexts that "framework" is giving me a confidence boost. Well, while travelling I have created an english alter ego which has become waay more relaxed, outgoing and fun for myself. This in turn has influenced my german habits ever so slightly. I guess that process is a part of coming of age and developing a strong personality. cheers

[@HippasosofMetapontum]

i feel the same xD for me it is mostly about flirting - i feel i get girls way easier, when iam speaking or writing in English than in German :3

[@livemusicisalive1030]

It's actually quite funny and I love his enthusiam about german (especially that he's not like everyone else just thinking it sounds angry but goes in depth with all the meaningful words this language has)

[@voyance4elle]

He's lovely!! :D some of his jokes really cracked me up xD loved that outside perspective on our language and on some words like Schildkröte and Wasserkocher ;)

[@oyonggofomocci2078]

DUDE Chinese is the same! glove is 手套 which means Hand-covering. I like how these languages are so analytical; you build a new concept using existent concepts until it no longer is practical, then you make another one. Now I want to learn German, since it seems like Chinese, but with the words stuck together instead of separated.

[@oyonggofomocci2078]

Nevermind, I scale back a bit, Chinese is not quite AS analytical as German. WHICH MAKES ME MORE EXCITED TO LEARN IT

[@moonshifter0]

@@oyonggofomocci2078 how advanced is your German by now?

[@AhmedEssam-rp1to]

Vor 3 Monaten habe ich das Video gesehen und Es hat mich inspiriert Deutsch zu lernen. Ich habe jeden Tag der letzten 3 monaten Deutsch gelernt und jetzt kommte ich hier um das Video noch einmal anzuschauen und Ich habe viel ausgelacht. Ich bin ganz völlig seiner Meinung, Deutsch ist sehr logische Sprache. Lebenslauf ist bisher mein Lieblingswort . Es ist viel besser als CV auf Englisch.Ich glaube dass ich im Lauf der Zeit mich in der Sprache verliebt habe. Ich bin erst Anfänger aber es macht jetzt echt spaß, Deutsch weiterzulernen.

[@Graf_Leo_von_Caprivi]

Ahmed Essam kommen - kam - gekommen "Kommen" ist ein unregelmäßiges Verb.

[@kraenk12]

Du sprichst schon besseres Deutsch, als viele die hier geboren sind! Weiter so!

[@MikhahS]

@@kraenk12 Seitdem "hier geboren sein" keinerlei Anspruch zur Folge hat (Sprache, Sitten,...), selbstverständlich möglich.

[@kraenk12]

MikhahS Als ob das in Marzahn oder der sächsischen Provinz anders wäre, unter den ganzen „Möchtegern-Ariern“. 😂

[@Luk-qm2re]

Great!

[@peachsoda111]

I started learning German about a month ago and last night I had my first dream in German! 😄😄😄😄

[@pixelfan7261]

What was it about?

[@susannicolasheehan]

Das ist sehr lustig und toll. I have just recently started learning German (and the word löffel yesterday)! I love it. :) Dankeschön for this video. Tschüss.

[@yangana4099]

Susan Sheehan I love the german word Löffel. You should check out Schüssel.

[@gamescept8737]

Susan Sheehan I'm from Germany and I can definitely assure you that you'll find more of these funny words^^

[@toyfabrik2993]

Next thing to learn is "Den Löffel abgeben", so you can actually use the word in everyday life... ^^

[@MusixPro4u]

Or Schlüssel

[@l.l.5948]

German is such a beautiful language!

[@Luxalpa]

Damn I want to learn German now! But I'm already German :S

[@nacho74]

Smaug fail

[@costillero2189]

learn swiss german

[@shaolin89]

hahahahahaha

[@Trisador9]

costillero d schwoobe händ doch ken stiich schwiizerdütsch z lehre xD

[@johannschneider6372]

Du sprichst eine der schönsten und komplexesten Sprachen der Welt, sei doch froh!

[@bizdickson6561]

I had a similar experience learning German. My math skill soared and I have dreamed auf Deutsch!

[@KoreanwithMissVicky]

He's a genius. I admire his sense of humor and passion that obviously shine through his speech!

[@manboobstv3083]

Finally someone who was actually fun listening toand not as boring as the most people on Tedx Talks. Kind of an refreshing experience tbh.

[@pixelfan7261]

I loved his entusiasm, but had to skip the foolish Falafel part.

[@lennartbehrendt788]

@@pixelfan7261 Yes, that wasn't exactly my humour either. But he did a great job!

[@Widdekuu91]

I've had 4 years of German at school and about 10 years of hobby-ish reading German books. I still can't fully come up with jokes, but I cán eavesdrop on Germans in the train. And scare them afterwards, by politely greeting them in German when I left the train (and trough this action, revealing I heared all of their secrets, including; 'Hey that girl (me) is pretty, look at her legs, I like her ankleboots') Even if it was just for the looks of horror on their faces, it would've been worth it, learning German all those years.

[@lulana9545]

lol assis will give their useless thoughts about your body no matter which language you speak. 🤦

[@someoneelse4720]

German jokes are actually quite easy to come up with. Most times, it's just a fun combination of words. For example: Was bekommt ein Engel, wenn er in den Misthaufen fällt? - Kotflügel.

[@gtacheats1638]

@@someoneelse4720 der ist halt leider net witzig

[@someoneelse4720]

@@gtacheats1638 der ist halt echt witzig. Meiner Meinung nach. Die Geschmäcker unterscheiden sich eben.

[@martinpalmer9810]

I have always had fun doing just that - casually listening in on the foreign language conversations of others; especially when they were speaking about me and trying to decide as to what nationality I could be. When I pulled out a German language magazine and started to read it, they changed their minds on me being an American in favour of the now greater probability that I was Canadian.

[@joseespinoza6283]

"Learning another language is like learning to think in another colour" Das ist sehr schön!

[@loubest3935]

The title sounds like a parody of a Ted talk

[@lemonadepie9631]

haha it does

[@VirtueOwl]

😂😂😂

[@user-nf3hh8kn5r]

Linus Martin LMAO

[@pollyrawlings2108]

Well Done Harry - this is great fun (and brilliant) thank you.

[@XxKagarwaxX]

I had a hard time at the beginning understanding you (I am german) but after a few minutes I got used to it and I have to say: Dein deutsch ist wirklich gut! another great translation in my opinion: Sloth = Faultier (which basically means lazy animal)

[@LLFRA]

I speak both German and English. But when he presented his poem, it sounded like none of these languages.

[@soulintent4129]

This dude is so amazing, he puts every word beautifully in the sentence so that it keeps you interested and still willing to listen to the rest of his talk, he s so gifted

[@BillyRHall-hj3jo]

ich kann nicht mehr, dieser kerl ist einfach genial😂😂😂😂, and yes learning another language is much easier when you are having fun and making jokes. huge thumbs up

[@Dafoodmaster]

in dutch it's also waterkoker (water cooker) handschoen (hand shoe) schildpad (shield toad) and naaktslak (naked snail)

[@melissa397]

As someone who also learned German from scratch, I found this talk incredibly sweet!

[@SaschaHusenbeth]

I just love british people that are open minded and learn other languages. They don't have to, so the fact that they still do it says alot about them.

[@calinho7689]

Sascha Husenbeth sadly there aren’t that many of them...

[@BernhardKistner_dice45]

@@calinho7689 openmindedness is a collector's item, a rare one ... oder wie Einstein gesagt haben soll: Viele Menschen haben einen geistigen Horizont mit dem Kreisradius Null. Und das nennen sie dann ihren Standpunkt.

[@calinho7689]

MrDice45 dem kann man nicht widersprechen

[@christopherscharf8185]

Factual error there is no such thing as too much falafel

[@SimonLausch]

disagree

[@tashikamala6917]

Christopher Scharf agreed

[@youtube.com-handle]

agree to disagree

[@MaxMustermann-ds4xz]

Maybe he actually did have in mind "404 too much not found."

[@christopherellis2663]

Christopher Scharf He died with a felafel in his hand....

[@feitur]

One of the most entertaining Ted talks I've seen in a long time. Great job mate.

[@o0blubblub0o]

he captures pretty well the reasons why i love this language. i really love to take the things that i say apart and rethink what it really could mean. i guess it is a good execise for your mind and german is perfect for this. and a few moths ago i had a conversation with some people about why gloves are called "handschuhe" and not "handsocken" which means handsocks.

[@vincentm99]

that's exactly it. you quite literally shocked me, you synthesized the process of learning a language like no one did before. You are truly awesome, thanks ;)

[@jony1495]

that moment when a native english speaker learns a couple words in another language. Worth a TED -Talk :D

[@haemse]

This guy is genious, his german poetry is quite complex.

[@urwrstntmre]

Jan Haha good point. Kind of a rare thing, especially in the US

[@Binerexis]

Jan The title is also misleading

[@MineArtworks]

no, it's not.

[@echt114]

Anything that begins, "that moment when..." deserves a downvote. Too bad they don't work.

[@vivasreno]

German also teaches you directing a musical performance.

[@gamescept8737]

silenciooutstanding so true

[@ShaoVideoProduction]

You confused german and italian...

[@JC-fk8mp]

silenciooutstanding how so??

[@FreshLlamanade]

At least you can conduct Mahler

[@xCorvus7x]

Ach, tatsächlich? Inwiefern?

[@osnapitzwill]

I am a completely different person in Spanish, so I really get where he's coming from. I'm at least 90% more sarcastic, a bunch more likely to flirt, and direct in a way that I wouldn't dream of being in English. Man I love learning languages.

[@lenalaatsch]

wenn er deutsch spricht klingt das wie holländisch 😂😂😂

[@urwrstntmre]

Kpopfreak 0'0 Die beiden sind ja ähnlich...

[@lenalaatsch]

Ethan G. woow no sh't bro 😂😂😂

[@user-bj9zz3tv4v]

Kpopfreak 0'0 cause Dutch is German with the English accent

[@arjenbij]

Масло Масляное no.

[@m.h.5400]

Kpopfreak 0'0 Nahh ich als Niederländer kann dir da nicht zustimmen.

[@blub2121]

Strength: 2 Agility: 4 Constitution: 3 Intelligence: 9 Wisdom: 10

[@DrINTJ]

I was waiting for the part about the link between maths and poetry...

[@pixelfan7261]

The title is pure clickbait! :-(

[@drk_fi]

I literally had my first German dream last night. I laughed myself awake and remembered hearing myself say "This dream is in German" as I was opening my eyes

[@luken136]

Omg luckyyyy praying 🙏 that I get mine soon

[@iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii4222]

So good, I remember those moments when I taught myself your language. Satisfying and it makes sense.

[@Albinopfirsichsaft]

When I talk English I'm much more informal than in German. It's really interesting, the pure use of the language makes me sound and feel kinda calm.

[@cajsalindqvist5042]

I just Love Harry baker. Best poet ive ever seen.

[@gingerstarksyoble8261]

alles was du hier gesagt hast, hat mir total getroffen. Ich bin Deutschlehrerin in Colorado and am always trying to explain to my students what you have demonstrated hier. Brilliant.

[@gerrie001]

This is by far the best talk I've ever seen!

[@grandadrian522]

Yeah, dreaming in another language. I'm from Germany and when I participated in an exchange to Poland (to improve my English), I suddenly started to dream in Polish the 3rd day. I never learned Polish and did not know any of the words they said in my dream but somehow I understood everything.

[@Wazkaty]

Fantástic!

[@Dankschon]

Well that's because Polish and gibberish are undistinguishable from one another.

[@ric112]

"if a falafel for little filipino awful so it's just annoying what the f falafel is the fluffy people actors have been iffy' I recommend turning subtitles on.

[@prithwirajpal4212]

One of the best TEDx talks!

[@emerwalsh2627]

As an Irish person who speaks English as a first language who is also learning German I can really relate to this, love this guy!

[@wuloki]

When I learned English as a German, I remember when during some english conversation I suddenly thought in english. This was probably the moment I started to get the language. The difficult thing about German I think is that you can take two random words and put them together on the fly. In German you do this so often that you don't think about it, and a lot of German jokes work just becaue of that. This leads to the situation however that you tell someone learning German that the word you just used was a "makeshift-word" which isn't in the dictionary. That's also the reason why some German words are ridiciously long.

[@moonshine6542]

There are some German kinds of tongue-twisters/storys, which also plays with merged words. One of it ends with the word: Rabababerbarbarabarbabarenbartbabierbierbarbärbel

[@fredanskyi]

To an English speaking German like me that poem was pure brilliance

[@creativegermanlearning]

This was great! I just started learning German and yesterday I was learning oven mitt, Ofenhandschuhe. I loved the hand shoe part! Great job!

[@elchkeksfwf7901]

Since that day he is known as the Falafel Rapper. Diese Kommentarsektion ist Eigentum der BRD.

[@jlr177]

I am waaay more passive while speaking german than I am while speaking english. It's so weird.

[@playrisk7928]

J LR i know! it's the same for me (I'm a native German speaker)

[@knecht6974]

J LR I can express critisism so much better in english than in german, but in german talking about politics or insulting is much more fun. Calling somebody a fucking facist in english is boring, calling somebody a *DRRECKKSS FASCHISTTTTT!!!!* is fun

[@stellaw3620]

Adam Moer why do I Agree so much with this xD but non-political insults to me are way funnier in russian tho, coz you can Just put them all after each other without anything in between and it still makes perfect sense

[@meg136]

J LR im german and I can speak english very good. its weird that Im so much nicer to other when Im speaking english

[@zoltansafran8]

potato.just.in.underwear awh you might be good but youu speak WELL, I know you dont have this in german but it really hurts my eyes :D

[@yuppyprolepaste4926]

I love Harry Baker, he is wicked poet. This has cemented my esteem for him - I have read a poem in German side-by-side with it's English translation, but I cannot imagine reciting a poem in two languages. Really awesome. Incidentally, Loefel is my favourite German word.

[@sasuke22dante]

what a nice way to wrap up the talk!

[@notAshildr]

Four spoons of Falafel is not too much Falafel. Weil vier Falafellöffel voll Falafel vielleicht voll machen, für viele fühlt es sich aber nach zu wenig an

[@calinho7689]

Me (No, not Ashildr, I had the name before Doctor Who, and I'm not changing it!) du musst uns Lauchs und seine lyrischen Künste verstehen...

[@Apostate_ofmind]

its so wonderful to start dreaming in another language! Problems arise when you cant speak your first language well anymore cause you think in English XD My sentences structure is all fucked up now XD

[@thonktank1239]

Same problem, sometimes I don't even remember words in German anymore and my brain keeps pushing the English word into my head... so instead of speaking good german and okay English, I speak mediocre German and mediocre Englisch...

[@essennagerry]

I feel you, oh dear I feel you xD my Bulgarian is so alien...

[@essennagerry]

Lord Darkon DUDE! XD I'm even better/worse than you - I do this with three languages. XD That moment when you realize you speak *no* language like a native. XD

[@js6271]

when I first learned English, I dreamed in English with subtitles in Spanish!

[@lisa_vxng]

@@thonktank1239 I'm a native german speaker and just regularly stop mid-sentence coz I cant remember the german translation for the english word in my head and my parents' english is not good enough for that (fine with my sister tho)

[@Naturmuslima]

Thanks so much. So cool hearing this about my native language. This Polyglot idea changed my life so much. Language is simply a key to soooo many things. It pushed me to an extend İ couldnt dream of before

[@atutalor]

wow this is a brilliant crossover between english and german language

[@leonardreidiess9777]

This guy is 98% Calcium.

[@Chrobin111]

Elektra Lundstedt NA15B Wtf?

[@cosmechav]

Elektra Lundstedt no calcium

[@lomparti]

LOL

[@foureyeswonder]

Hahaha

[@calinho7689]

Leonard Reidiess then I’m 99% lmao

[@healthandspirit3238]

" thank you for laughing at my life choices " lol :3 poetry !

[@Domihork]

It always amazes me how english native speakers are so amazed by learning another language, they make a TED talk, they put it on their facebook, they tell their friends about how bilingual they are... When for the rest of us, it's quite normal that we had to learn English and we experienced all of this in young age and some people speak even more languages...

[@stellamarisgallardo487]

I feel exactly what he described while learning German, it has so much logic and it is enjoyable to learn...!

[@lealippard1045]

It took me almost the whole joke to understand that he was trying to say "Vier Löffel voll Falafel."

[@Lugmillord]

This guy is a great comedian.

[@RoRo91xx]

Adding this to a Playlist and cannot wait to watch! :) I love both Foreign Languages and Science.

[@darrylwhitefeather207]

I had to put on subtitles for the poem and it was brilliant.

[@juliaelric3180]

I saw title and I was oh my God I love german (I'm learning), I love poetry, I have to watch that!

[@SHARPxOix69]

Was geht

[@seanm1328]

#DankeiBlali

[@SHARPxOix69]

Ey ohne Dregg Alder

[@timstemmer3506]

@madzia matusiak do you teach it to yourself?

[@Felixkeeg]

The poem sounds like having a stroke, but these puns are amazing!

[@martinpalmer9810]

I hope that his math is better than his poetry. The guy is obviously not a romantic.

[@siddharthkrishnan3317]

I love this guy! He is the guy who got me into poetry!

[@MsKatiable]

Such an amazing talk! Thank you

[@skaaads]

when he tells them to repeat after him, it sounds like in every church in germany. kinda dead xD

[@grauwolf1604]

kinda!

[@TheMymimi100]

I feel like I am funnier in English. For me englisch as a language is like a flowing river. It just runs down the stream without ever stopping. Where as German feels like as if you are working the fields. Every word is a hit with a tool on the ground. So I actually like speaking english more but since I live in Germany I don't get to talk much englisch :(

[@essennagerry]

Skulduggery Pleasant Neither is my mother tongue and WOW, what a good description! I always say English rolls off the mind's tongue easily. :D But I have to say, I love German a lot. It's such a greag feeling when I speak it fluently and say things exactly as I want to say them instead of working my way around all the stuff I can't yet express. :D

[@amneenja5720]

essennagerry i speak english, and i know a little bit of german and French too. French takes that flow to the extreme and makes it super hard to understand because a 20 word sentence can come out in what sounds like 3 really long words...

[@essennagerry]

AmNeenja I see where you're comming from. :D

[@bashersully7667]

This is such an accurate description of the German language. German makes it exhausting to build complex sentences even if you are really good at the language, that is because it demands you throw the verb and prefixes all the way to the end if you wish to use even the most basic prepositions (Example: Because/Weil or That/Dass). Making it truly hard work to just let it flow. Another thing that prevents German from being fluent is the lack of useless words and letters, odds are every single letter in a German sentence is necessary and logical. But English has those little illogical nuances that really make the language flow smoother, and simple grammar that makes it easier to speak what you think at the moment you think it. Whereas with German you constantly need to keep holding verbs and prefixes at the back of your mind. This is coming from someone who doesn't speak either of these languages as a mother language, and thus holds no bias.

[@hansmahr8627]

It doesn't really make a lot of sense to say that one language flows better than the other. Yes, the position of the verb in German is different than in English but it's completely natural for a native German speaker, you don't even think about it. There are languages with all kinds of word orders, it's nothing special. German also has a lot of 'useless words' as you call it, in fact colloquial German makes use of an unusual amount of so called modal particles that slightly change the meaning of a sentence. And of course there are also a lot of filler words, just like in every other language. What you're describing is basically just an effect of your English being better than your German, which isn't surprising considering that German is harder to learn.

[@dagmarsigridmanondenijs-bl7156]

Vielen Dank! Dein TED-Gespräch war wirklich wundervoll. Ja, ich habe wirklich unterschiedliche Persönlichkeiten in verschiedenen Sprachen. Nochmals vielen Dank!

[@ErrorNull403]

12:12 It's so true, the way I express myself is so different in my other languages.

[@TheoTarver]

Amazing, sehr toll

[@dekay183]

the only dude eminem is afraid to make a disstrack against

[@greywolf271]

Great talk, not just about learning the language but about the "Nerd Rush"

[@ElinT13]

Brilliant! Love his talk.