Ok, so first, what’s up with that name?
The year was 1994. I was big into second-hand flannel, Anne Rice, Smashing Pumpkins and NIN, playing the viola, and of course all things German.
I’d been taking German since 1990, and I’d already participated in one GAPP exchange, but high school was really where it started to click.
In 1994, our high school hosted about 10 German students from our exchange school in Cologne (Köln), Germany, the Kaiserin-Auguste Schule. I hosted one young lady, Tatti, and my best friend hosted her best friend, Tini, so the four of us became even closer than one might perhaps expect from a normal exchange. Gossiping about your classmates in a language they can’t understand is great motivation to improve your language skills, let me tell ya. Petty, but total truth.
I was pushing and pushing myself with my language production, and no matter how ridiculous the things I was saying sounded, I enjoyed laughing at myself and my mistakes, and kept on trying. And I said some pretty ridiculous stuff. I kept our guests in stitches fairly regularly.
Then one day, after the group had made an excursion to the beach or hiking or something else outdoorsy, I walked up to one of the very sunburned German students and said, “Du bist so rot wie eine Tomate.” (You’re as red as a tomato.)
Their eyes got big and their mouths dropped open and loud exclamations of surprise could be heard from the entire group. The sunburned one opened his mouth and almost shouted, “Brenna!! That was a perfect sentence!!! That’s the first thing you’ve ever said right completely in German!!”
I was a little taken aback by their enthusiasm, but my success was celebrated the rest of the day and on into the week, with each student passing on the news to the next, “Did you hear? Brenna said something right in German!!”
This incident also earned me the nickname die kleine rote Tomate (the little red tomato), since I also had a whopping mass of red hair (and still do, though decidedly less of it). I embraced this moniker, as well as the designation of person-who-once-got-something-right-in-German. And I vowed to be person-who-often-got-multiple-things-right-in-German. Which took some effort and a few years, but I finally got there.
All this is to say: you are going to say some pretty ridiculous things before you get to that point that a perfectly crafted sentence falls from your mouth without any effort or preparation. Don’t be afraid to be ridiculous. That’s how you learn. Laugh at your ridiculousness and celebrate your fails as well as your victories.
And get yourself some people to gossip with in the language you’re learning. That’s golden.
Question for the audience: What was *your* moment that really stuck out as an important turning point in your language learning journey? You can leave a comment or send me an email (brennabyrd@uky.edu). I’d love to hear it, and I’d love to share it with my students if you don’t mind.
Till next time,
die kleine rote Tomate 