Can we talk about the bands engl7sh knowledge?
So Till was the first one to learn it. Knew enough to communicate in the early 90s. Probably most fluent of them all since he also probably read the entire dictionary and synonyms.
Richard did 0 to 60 in just 2 years. Obviously, moving to NYC and having English speaking wife helped a lot, but from 1998 not being able to, to 2001, speaking with easy, is truly impressive. Sassy german accent. More fluent in street talk than eloquence.
Then we have Schneider, who I think is as good as Till and Richard, but has the heaviest german accent making it seem like he's not as good.
There's Paul who's simply not used to expressing his opinions in English, and therefore, his brain cannot keep up with his tongue.
Dear sweet Olli, his English skills are as mysterious as himself. We probably only heard him speak English 3 times..
And then there's Flake. We know his skills got immensely better in the last 10 years alone. Went from don't wanna say something in case I sound stupid to reading books publicly.
Overall, like for a lot of us, english is necessary for survival. Especially if you travel a lot and meet lots of people. But kudos to them for learning it so quickly, especially when they were already in their mid/late 20.
Hi 👋
Oh, this is a wonderful ask! I think about the band's English learning journeys and their language skills in general quite a lot (it kind of is one of my 'roman empires', to use a contemporary phrase), since there are a lot of different skill levels present in this band. Let's work our way through it:
1. Till: the language genius of the band
I noticed Till's talent for languages and to express himself quite early on, and like you said, he seemingly was the one person in the band who could use English already in the 90s for conversation and explaining, like in this interview:
Another interview where Till speaks about the Nazi accusations the band has to face time and time again, he expresses himself and the points he likes to make so well:
Not only does Till speak English, from my knowledge he apparently speaks spanish, russian, I heard him speaking some polish - he is really talented in this regard and he has my utmost respect for it!
2. Richard: if eagerness to learn was a person
Richard seemed so lost on their first America tour in 1998, he was quite isolated from the rest of the bands which participated in this tour which made him apparently feel pretty lonely (I mentioned his language journey a bit in this ask). Movies helped him quite a lot to get more acquainted with the english language, and apparently he mastered english well enough around the time when he met his later-(ex) wife Caron in the end of the 1990s. Surely moving to the US together with her must've refined his english skills a lot, but to even consider moving there, he must've already speak enough english to at least feel a bit comfortable in an english speaking environment (at least that's what my thought process would be). I must say, I admire Richard's drive and eagerness to learn this language so quickly, and he became competent to express himself quite well. Here's an interview from 2004, he seems so relaxed speaking english, which makes me quite proud of him:
Here's another interview from 2017 as an example, Richard speaks quite fluent and seems to be very comfortable in the english language. He once said it's easier to make small talk in english than in german - he might not have to most sophisticated vocabulary in english with grand words and uses a lot of fillers (his famous "you know" always at hand), but he knows how to express himself in a straight forward yet entertaining and charming way.
3. Schneider: hidden talents
From what I've heard, Schneider definitely knows how to express himself and has a surprisingly well equipped vocabulary. I say 'suprinsingly', since I didn't expect this at first - like you mentioned, his german accent seems to distract from this fact a bit. In comparison to Thomas Lang (an austrian drummer), Schneider of course sounds a bit clunky and not that relaxed - nevertheless, he comes across quite soft spoken in the english language and knows his way around expressions.
In this interview Schneider finds his way into the speaking 'flow' a little better in my opinion, and brings across his points quite clearly. Despite his heavy accent, you can still understand him quite well (at least that's what I think) and it seems like he puts a lot of effort into finding the right words to describe certain things coherently.
4. Paul: motivated endeavours to express himself
Paul seemingly can use english to make conversation to a certain degree and understands the language without problems. In the earlier days of Rammstein, while speaking english he came across a bit ungainly, searching for correct expressions or words, like the infamous "slimey into people" - but you still know what he means 😅 I think here you can notice what you mentioned in your ask, he knows exactly what thoughts he would like to express, yet is a bit inhibited by the fact that he doesn't know the correct words for it.
Here's another, more "recent" interview from 2017 - he's a bit more comfortable speaking english, yet for me as a native german speaker, it became apparent (through all the english interviews I saw with him) that Paul tries to transfer the typical german sentence structure into the english language, which of course doesn't fully work and gives of a bit of a circuitous vibe. Yet he's quite understandable as well I think.
And a personal favourite of dear @dandysnob (who helped me looking for Paul's interviews, thank you dear 🤍), which shows Paul has no fear to make contact with fans using a different language than german 😊
5. Olli: Once again an enigma
I found several quite interesting and charming interviews with Olli, who's a joy to listen to (he comes across as shy and yet eager to answer the question he gets in a friendly and detailed manner), but all of them are in german. In my ask about Olli during meet and greets, it was mentioned that he doesn't seem to be really comfortable in the english language.
6. Flake: from fearing of ordering a cup of bacon to fearless one-man show
Flake is someone who isn't scared of expressing his opinion about matters and things he doesn't enjoy (he's not the biggest fan of the US to put it mildly) and also expressed that he struggles with the english language quite a lot (for example during 'Rammstein in America'). Plus he sometimes has a reoccuring stutter (since his child hood), is quite shy and he has, together with Paul, the broadest Berlin dialect you could imagine - and what does this guy do? Mastering the english language just enough to give public speeches about his early musician days in front of a whole audience, really overcoming his fear of public speaking and doing so gracefully in a different and hard language for him! Mad respect for him, and he maintains his distinct humor while doing so:
Flake's vocabulary isn't really refined, but good enough to express his thoughts in simple and understandable phrases. Same as Paul, he seems to adapt the german syntax into the english language, yet he speaks so fluently, barely searching for the words he needs!
Plus he even had the guts to sing in english on stage, another iconic moment, linked here (can't put any more videos in this post due to the video limit).
"But kudos to them for learning it so quickly, especially when they were already in their mid/late 20." I borrow this statement of yours to bring this post to an end, since this is exactly my point of view here - it really is remarkable how well many of them find their way around the english language 😊
I love to hear the band members speak English, and I find the German accent adorable. I wanted to add something that Schneider said about his own English skills in an interview with the Swedish magazine Close-Up in 2001 (translated from Swedish):
«I speak a bit of English and I understand the language reasonably well. But when I’m representing Rammstein, I don’t like to use English. I can’t express myself as clearly as I’d like, nor can I explain in detail who we are, what we stand for, or how we got here. We’ve been to the States a couple of times and I’ve picked up a bit here and there, but so far English is reserved for small talk.
I studied a bit of English at school and have actually been taking private lessons over the last few years. This summer I plan to study more with a private tutor.
(...) Another aspect of the problem is that you easily lose your train of thought when you constantly have to stop to let the interpreter in. Everything gets complicated and it’s harder to establish any personal connection with the journalist.»
Schneider is the only one I can recall talking about actually taking English lessons. He did some early interviews in English, including the infamous Swedish tv interview with Till where he accuses the vocalist of being a f*ggot.
Till mentioned to Kerrang that he picked up some English by listening to western music: «Of course we would catch some words and try to translate the rest with like a dictionary. So it was really from the basics.»
As for Oliver, he is (sadly) the band member who speaks the least English. Since he is also shy, he might have felt self-conscious about speaking English in a professional setting, and so I have never seen any interviews with him without an interpreter. He does communicate with people in English when he has to though, and he has also talked to fans in English as well. 🥰
For me, the best example of how bad Oliver's English is, is how he made Flake do all the talking in this Spanish interview from 1997. Oliver just stood there next to him, looking pretty (and doing a great job at it, of course).
💬 0 🔁 0 ❤️ 0 · Silent Oliver looking fabulous · Since I got reminded of this interview today, I figured I would post it. It is a Spanish i
