威廉·哈斯于1912年5月出生于捷克斯洛伐克的奥斯特拉瓦城,早年曾在布拉格的捷克大学和查里斯大学攻读法律和哲学,其间,曾旁听过布拉格学派的学术讲座。1939年,由于德国入侵,哈斯逃亡英国,在威尔斯的加地夫大学学院学习经济学、哲学、德语等课程。自1945年起在该校讲授语文学、德国文学等课程,同时陆续发表有关语言学和哲学的论文。1954年就任曼彻斯特大学普通语言学高级讲师,这是该大学对此职务的第一次任命,也是伦敦地区以外大学的第一次任命。1964年升任比较语文学教授,故曼彻斯特大学普通语言学系的建立和加强可以说是哈斯在该校多年努力工作的硕果。此外,哈斯是英国语言学会的发起人之一和 Born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, in May 1912, William Haas studied law and philosophy at the Czech University and the Charles University in Prague in his early years, during which time he studied the academic lectures of the Prague school. In 1939, due to the invasion of Germany, Haas fled to England and studied economics, philosophy and German at the University of Wales’s Cardiff University. Since 1945, she has taught courses in the fields of Chinese literature and German literature. She has also published papers on linguistics and philosophy. In 1954 he became senior lecturer of general linguistics at the University of Manchester, the first appointment of the university for the position and the first appointment of a university outside London. In 1964 he became professor of comparative linguistics, so the establishment and strengthening of the Department of General Linguistics at The University of Manchester is a fruitful result of many years of hard work at this school. In addition, Haas is one of the initiators of the British Language Institute