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"Language learning opens up new horizons and new worlds" - An Interview with Dr. Uwe Schütte
- Natalie Moore
- Jun 18, 2021
- 5 min read
Written by Natalie Moore
18.06.21
Sometimes, when you're in your own little bubble of university classes, lecturers and student peers, you forget that there are a lot of other degree programmes being taught and a lot of other students and lecturers on campus. For me, my on campus world contains French and Spanish lecturers, my fellow French and Spanish students and the French and Spanish native speaking assistants. This two-language bubble must be why I have, until now, never had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Uwe Schütte - and what a pleasure it has been. One that I'm about to share with our readers, so make sure your phone/laptop/iPad battery isn't low because you don't want to miss this.
First, a bit of background. Dr. Schütte is a Reader in German and Head of German at Aston University and is also an established author, with an impressive and extensive number of books, articles and monographs. For now, that's all I'll tell you as I'm leaving the rest to Uwe himself, but all I'll say is... prepare to be impressed.
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Routes: Hi Uwe, thank you for doing this! To begin, can you tell us what your job role is at Aston?
Dr. Schütte: I am a Reader in German and Head of German at Aston University. I teach most content modules on all levels.
Routes: What languages do you speak?
Dr. Schütte: German, Bavarian, English and a little French from my long-ago school days.
Routes: Do you have any examples of languages helping you in a way you didn’t expect?
Dr. Schütte: I know some kitchen Italian, so on holidays I am often left in charge of ordering food for the family. Also, in Germany I am often approached by British people who have no language skills whatsoever, so in almost all cases I am happy to help them. Occasionally, though, I need to explain to them that they cannot expect everyone to speak their language, for example in shops where migrants are working who have learned German to integrate but have no English.
Routes: Other than the language itself, how has language learning helped you in either your career or personal life?
Dr. Schütte: I studied English Literature in Germany in order to take in the wealth of writers from Poe and Lovecraft to Joyce and Beckett. Before that, deciphering song lyrics by my favourite bands with the help of a dictionary allowed me to understand what the songs were about. My love of English music, literature and popular culture was so great, that I decided to stay in this country after my self-organised year abroad in 1992. But 30 years on, much has changed, sadly. The conclusion I have drawn from Brexit is to return to Germany for good next year.
Routes: According to your staff biography, you have a keen interest in German popular culture, especially music, and you recently published an English-language cultural history of the band Kraftwerk - can you tell us a bit about this band and what made you so interested in them?
Dr. Schütte: Kraftwerk are the most important German band ever as they invented the concept of electronic music which in turn changed the course of global pop music. All current music styles from rap to techno/house and r’n’b hark back to Kraftwerk’s influence. That is why they are Germany’s foremost cultural export. I organised a very successful Kraftwerk conference at Aston in 2015 which featured on BBC Breakfast TV* and led to German volume on the band.
The book I did in English for Penguin tries to situate the band in the context of German culture and art scene, from a German perspective. It does very well here, and it will be published in the US in June.
Routes: Do you pursue music yourself in your free time?
Dr. Schütte: I wish I could play an instrument or indeed program electronic music, but all my attempts at various stages in my life failed miserably. Therefore, I leave it to writing about music, both in an academic and a journalistic capacity. Apart from Kraftwerk I am interested in a Slovenian band called Laibach on which I organised another conference in their hometown of Ljubljana. They make pretty weird albums and ironically toy with fascist imagery, which regularly upsets people. My current projects are to edit a Companion to Krautrock as well as an essay collection on the writer W. G. Sebald, both for Cambridge University Press.
Routes: You’ve been interviewed as a guest academic on Radio 4 - can you tell us a bit more about this experience; what were you invited to speak about, did you feel nervous beforehand, what was it like knowing you were live on air with loads of people listening?
Dr. Schütte: I am a regular contributor to German radio stations as a literary reviewer since my student days, so being in the studio feels very normal to me. I still tend to say too much when on air, radio people don’t want long-winded explanations, though, but short snappy statements. In connection with the US publication of my Kraftwerk book, I get interviewed by US subscription radio networks which boast up to 87 million listeners. I found that figure intimidating at first, but once I get going that disappears. They ask the same questions over and over again anyway. Where I still get nervous, though, is in front of TV cameras. I took part in a TV programme* on the German poet Hölderlin recently, and filming took a whole day on set, I was pretty exhausted at the end.
Routes: You regularly contribute to national newspapers and literary magazines in the German-speaking world. How did you come across this opportunity?
Dr. Schütte: I never envisaged myself as an academic, let alone at a British university. My original plan was to become a journalist. So I took various stabs at submitting literary reviews to smaller papers and exploited the connections that arose when journalists commented favourably on my books. With more than 20 books under my belt, it is increasingly papers and magazines approaching me with commissions. I see journalism as a means to bridge the world of academia and the real world out there.
Routes: Do you have any advice for people learning languages?
Dr. Schütte: Don’t ever expect to fully master a foreign language – but do keep trying! Language learning opens up new horizons and new worlds.
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Anyone else a bit speechless? Radio interviews, TV appearances, being an academic author and teaching and inspiring the next generation at university level? If Uwe ever succeeds at learning an instrument (and we're rooting for you, Uwe!), I think the world had better watch out - there'll be no stopping him! Maybe he'll end up on tour with Kraftwerk at some point in the future...
That's all from us here - a massive thank you to Dr. Uwe Schütte for taking the time to talk to us, it has been beyond interesting to hear about your work and truly inspiring for all lovers of languages, music and journalism. I don't know about everyone else but I'm off to search Kraftwerk on Spotify!
Published 18.06.21
by Natalie Moore for Routes into Languages West Midlands
very well written article that makes it easy and interesting to read!