After studying in Marburg , Münster , Dortmund and Appleton, he initially taught German as a foreign language as a “German assistant” at a school in London. He became a teacher at the Gevelsberg high school, and later at the Kamen comprehensive school. In 1974 he was offered a position at the Rhineland Pedagogical University, Aachen Department, and worked at RWTH Aachen from1989 onwards. He retired in 2003.