The author
Stefan Jan Brede
Hello, nice to meet you!
My name is Stefan Jan Brede and I’m the author of the manuscript ‘That Damn German Language!’. Below are a few facts and figures about me for your information:
I was born in the year of the first moon landing and grew up in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where I attended secondary school and took my A-levels („Abitur”) before studying Political Sciences and Modern History at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. During this time, I had already begun working as a freelance journalist.
After two years at the Goethe-University I relocated to the United Kingdom where I went on to study European Politics and Applied Linguistics at the University of Buckingham and graduated with a first-class honours Bachelor-degree.
After returning to Frankfurt, I continued working as a journalist for several years before I changed tracks and began my second career as a copywriter at an advertising agency. This was followed by promotions and moves to various other advertising agencies, including one I co-founded, until I started my own advertising consultancy in 2013.
‘On the side’, I also opened a specialist whisky shop in Frankfurt, and in 2017 a renowned language school in Frankfurt asked me if I would be interested in teaching some evening German classes for bankers, financial managers, administrators and lawyers (e.g. from the ECB and the U.S.-Consulate). As working as a consultant and copywriter can be quite a solitary affair at times, I accepted the offer and discovered a passion for helping others to gain a better understanding of the German language.
In 2023, I finally began to organise and compile the various documents and papers I had produced for my students on the subject. And from this, almost organically, emerged the manuscript that now lies before you in digital form.
P.S. I have many years’ experience in public speaking and presenting (including pitch presentations to advertising clients and as a tasting master in my own whisky shop) and am always happy to be available for topic-specific talks, presentations and readings.
A few stops along the way
"Language is a sword. Keep it sharp."
Kurt Tucholsky
- University of Buckigham, Buckinghamshire, UK
- McCamm Erickson - Advertising Agency
- Ogilvy - Advertising Agency
- Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Agency
- Frankfurter Rundschau - National Newspaper
- dpa - Deutsche Presse Agentur (German Press Agency)