Since 1998 I've been working at the
Katholische Universität Eichstätt in the field of
linguistics; currently, I mainly act as the coordinator of the project Innovative Europäische Sprachlehre (Innovative European Language Taching) at VHS Donauwörth. I received my doctorate’s degree in Romance,
English and German Linguistics in 2000. In February 2004 I received
my post-doctoral degree (habilitation) in English and General
Linguistics. My two main research and teaching areas are
Eurolinguistics and issues connected to at universities (especially
the didactic model LdL).
Furthermore, I’m particularly interested in doing “linguistics
for society”, which means searching for how linguistics can
contribute to societal issues: I’m referring especially to
economic growth, to the transformation from an information society to
a knowledge society and to social peace. See also my Blog.
Connected with this is my concept of "Basic
Global English", which aims to enable beginners of English a
rapid achievement of communicative competence. Also connected with
this is my goal is to make information and knowledge accessible to a
broad public. This is why I am more and more publishing my
contributions on-line. On the website “Sprachwissenschaft
für die Öffentlichkeit” (linguistics for the
public) some of my students present their projects in a style
intelligible to everybody interested in language issues. I hosted the
linguistic internet periodical Onomasiology
Online (OnOn) from 2000 to 2010. Since July 2004 I’ve
been hosting the academic internet venue EuroLinguistiX
(ELiX).
My book Europas Sprachen und Kulturen im Wandel der Zeit, Wohlstand durch Wortschatz?, Wort-Waffen abschaffen!, Europa-Quiz-Buch und European Quiz Book are written for both an academic and a lay audience. In Europoesia you can read my work as a lyricist.
On YouTube you can see videos with me (private channel, channel of Vhs Donauwörth).
You can book me (if desired together with students) for lectures, talks and workshops on the following topics:
language and socioeconomic development
language and peace
language teaching (mother tongue and foreign languages)
dealing with errors in class
languages in Europe / Eurolinguistics
English as an international lingua franca
intercultural communication
language history, esp. vocabulary history
Learning by Teaching as a didactic model
humorous linguistics / linguistic edutainment
YouTube has a number of videos with me on linguistic and didactic topics.