Brentwood School student to represent UK in German Olympiade

Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Well, Year 10 Brentwood School student Martha Machray certainly does as she will represent the United Kingdom at the world finals of the International German Olympics in Hamburg.

Fifteen-year-old Martha won her category of the Goethe-Institut's International German Olympiad (IDO - Internationale Deutsch Olympiade) and is one of only two students chosen to represent the UK in next summer’s 2022 event.

The Goethe-Institut promotes German language, intercultural exchange, art & culture, and the Internationale Deutscholympiade is a biannual worldwide contest in which contestants can put their German language skills to the test.

The German Olympiad #IDO2022 is the world’s biggest German language contest and gives students the opportunity to showcase their German language and culture skills in a competition with students from 75 countries. In addition to competing to be the world's best German learners, participants will meet other students from all over the world and get to know other cultures.

Martha won a national contest to qualify for the international final and the chance to compete against the world's best German learners. Students whose mother tongue is German, or who have at least one parent/guardian who is German-speaking, are excluded from the competition as well as students who have lived in German-speaking countries for more than six months.

Martha explained: “I am so thrilled to have been selected to represent the UK in the Goethe Institute's IDO 2022. When I started learning German in Year 7 it quickly became one of my favourite subjects. Every year my school's German and Music departments organise a ‘Liederabend’ where students perform German music and poetry, and this got me really interested in wanting to learn more about German language and culture.”

Brentwood School Headmaster, Michael Bond, said: “The Modern Language Department at Brentwood is thriving, and bucks the national trend of decreasing numbers of young people who learn languages. We are delighted that so many students enjoy learning about other languages and cultures, including French, Spanish, Mandarin, Italian and German. Martha's achievement is certainly one to celebrate and we wish her all the best for the world finals in Hamburg.”

Head of German, Mrs Miriam Morris, added: “This is an incredible achievement. Martha is an inspiration to all language learners and shows what can be achieved with hard work, passion and dedication. We wish her every success in the finals in the summer.”