Swiss culture:

So, I'm planning on moving to Switzerland once I have my PhD to start work as an associate professor in electrical engineering.
I already know a little bit about Swiss culture from the couple of times I've visited and various bits of research into the subject.
However, I would like a more in-depth analysis from an actual Swiss person, or an expatriate.
Things like: culture, cuisine; customs and the most ubiquitous dialect from each canton to learn, as I understand they're somewhat different from their base language?
Thank you in advance.
Also, Älplermagronen mit Apfelmus is the best version of macaroni anything I've tried.

Other urls found in this thread:

economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/07/economist-explains-21
fortune.com/2017/04/27/estonia-digital-life-tech-startups/
mic.com/articles/146542/the-unexpected-story-of-how-this-tiny-country-became-the-most-tech-savvy-on-earth
inghams.co.uk/ski-holidays/ski-resorts/switzerland
myswitzerland.com/en-gb/hunting-in-graubuenden.html
swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/-an-addiction-add-the-underlineopen-season-in-the-alps/33410682
englishforum.ch/
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

We had a Canadian who went up Switzerland for 6 months, didn't learn any Swiss German. The last I heard, he's moved to Italy and wants to learn Italian

i see swizterland as a paradise for rich people, but unfit to make a family if you are below mid-high income, since the cost for living is extremely high

Canadians are feckless idiots t b f

Which is exactly why I want to learn the correct dialect(s). Where I'm looking to work the dialect is some form of Swiss German though, so I'll learn that first.

That's why I'm going for the associate professor route, once you become a full professor in electrical engineering, you pull a beastly salary.

Brutal.

what do you mean "you had a canadian"?

did it fall off a maple tree in your backyard or something

I mean, that there was a Canadian on the language learning general /lang. We, as in, the German learners

He never learned Swiss German because everyone at work spoke English, and he was too autistic to talk to people outside of work, and he didn't have time to take a language course.

He wasn't particularly stupid, but he wasn't ever exposed or immersed in Swiss German

Am probably going to switzerland for a holiday in february. Should I ? Or is it too snowy in winter? Can I still do stuff?

Do you know where exactly you will be moving? Imo best case is living somewhat close to a neighboring countries border because groceries and stuff are really expensive there. I live right at the border and we have the biggest supermarkets in europe because all the swiss come over here to buy stuff. Alltough with a PhD you probably wouldn't care that much

Just learn german. It makes no sense to learn one dialect, there are so many of them.

for 1-2 persons it doesn't matter
but if you have 3 kids, it's a different matter

Well, I'd like to go out and socialise.

There's plenty of cultural sites to go and visit, user.

I should be living and working in Zürich.

Good call, that way I'll still be useful in Germany and Austria.

>economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/07/economist-explains-21
>fortune.com/2017/04/27/estonia-digital-life-tech-startups/
>mic.com/articles/146542/the-unexpected-story-of-how-this-tiny-country-became-the-most-tech-savvy-on-earth
Good going.

>There's plenty of cultural sites to go and visit, user.
Like what? Will I be able to climb some of the mountain paths? Is going in feburary a bad idea? I can change times

Well, if you're going for the outdoors:
>inghams.co.uk/ski-holidays/ski-resorts/switzerland

Is skiing the ONLY good thing to do there in winter? I was planning on doing other stuff...

There's also snowboarding and sleighing.

Hey. Could you take a pic outside your window and tell me what area you're from? I've been looking for a Swiss poster for a while. I want to go in Feb. is skiing/snowboarding really the only thing to do? Can you still climb some plates on the alps in winter?

Drinking mulled wine whilst going on a horse-drawn sleigh tour? I'd say that's pretty comfy, they also give you a blanket.

We are all jokesters, look at the 2018 image of the federal council.

The guy on the far right looks quite stern.

That's the Federal Chancellor.

I'm not going to take a pic (I have no idea where the camera has gone to, the sun is right over the pilatus and ruining any picture I might take, and I don't feel like it) so have a googled one instead.
I assume there are other things to do, but I'm not exactly normie material, so I almost never go out and don't know about it.
There's plenty of things to see (Lucerne has some lovely churches, the two wood briges, the old town in general, the musegg wall, at least two reasonable interesting museums), but I don't know if sightseeing interests you.
From february 8. to 13. the Fasnacht is happening, so that might be a good time to visit the city.

I have no idea about mountain climbing.

His Wikipedia picture makes him look much friendlier.
Also, the Federal Council seems to be majority ethnic German and masculine, I like that.

Ok. Will be sure to look this up

Okay that's fine. Could you just tell me how snowy it is, and if I can climb any mountains in Febuary as a tourist (non-professional hiker)?

>fasnacht
Why does this sound like a Nazi celebration?

What is this tour called?

What can I say, I'm a man of leisure? I guess that's the curse of being raised in the upper middle class and being from an upper class lineage? Although, I do like a little action, hence the the skiing and enjoy hunting:
>myswitzerland.com/en-gb/hunting-in-graubuenden.html
>swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/-an-addiction-add-the-underlineopen-season-in-the-alps/33410682
Excerpt from above link:
>There may be an extra window for hunting “high” game later on at the onset of winter, if the targets for numbers of animals to be shot have not been met. The idea behind hunting in September is that the population of game is thinned out before they go into winter quarters.
Just from a quick Google search.

4 Swiss Germans, 2 Romands, 1 Swiss Italian. Pretty "diverse" if you will.
From next year there will probably be 3 women.

Mountains look snowy from out of the window, there are hiking routes useable in winter too.
It's not. They'd probably consider it very degenerate. It's carnival.

Switzerland is only expensive if you come from another country, otherwise you make a wage proportional to the cost of living. What is nice however is vacationing in places like France becomes very cheap for you due to the exchange and high salary by comparison.
Swiss people are very friendly and funny people in general, though there are exceptions. They are not at all shy about racial humour like Germans in Germany. If you know French you can also get by in the third that borders France just fine.

bump

>Which is exactly why I want to learn the correct dialect(s)

that would sound extremely funny, they are used to high german speakers BTFOing them in high paying fields

>What is this tour called?
I don't remember off the top of my head, though I would imagine almost any would offer the same or similar service.

Aren't Romands basically French?

So, just learn the 'official' versions of German, French and Italian?

>Aren't Romands basically French?
In Geneva, yes. Not so much in the other regions. Though, they do tends to be more on the left.

Im seriously suprised this thread is civil and nice. I was expecting Sup Forums levels of hate or someone shitting on stuff.

Have a wonderful new year everyone.

I think the romands also have some dialects too.
Of course one of the languages is enough, if you go to zurich you need german. Forget about the dialect, you will pick it up within a few years.

Thank you, this is certainly more useful than a generalising Wikipedia article.

I'm glad it is, I dislike the overly hostile nature of Sup Forums, even in regard to the innocuous.

I just like the fact that Switzerland gives you a slice of say France, Germany or Italy, unspoilt by needless progressivism (*read regressivism). I want culture, without being told it is the wrong culture to want. Thank the Swiss for being neutral.

Just the heads-up:

Switzerland is a small country and most German-speaking Swiss have already established circles of friends and acquaintances. It very easy for them to just take the train/car to go back to their birth city and visit old friends/family.

So it will take a lot of effort on your side to break in and become friends with locals. You should definitely exploit the more relaxed and openatmosphere at the university.

Though I can already predict that you will at first spend a lot of time in the expat bubble, establishing relations with other foreigners first.

Good luck.

went there for a year, it felt like a tame version of its neighbors...
It can be good or not depending on what you're looking for in a city, for me it was a bit too calm and too clean, and I'm not the warmest person myself, but it generally felt cold.
Also retarded costs of living, but if you can get a salary that's up to swiss standards, then you're good.
I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad place to live in, but it's not for everyone (and far from the paradise some seem to think it is).

Switzerland is the apex of mankind

I LOVE Switzerland

Thank you, I'll try my best to befriend the locals as it'll give a strong base and a more in-depth knowledge of the surrounding area.

Can't say I agree, the times I've been it has been plentifully friendly. Though, I haven't stayed for as long as you have.

Me too, it seems like the perfect mix of Europe.

never heard of this?

englishforum.ch/

No, thank you for the link.

Bump for more information.

What is life in Geneva like nowadays?
I remember growing up there 10 years ago and was considering visiting perhaps next year. Any recommendations?

>What is life in Geneva like nowadays

Lot of non European immigration lately, don't be surprised.

That's a shame.

Geneva has become the Marseille of Switzerland. I have never so many non-Europeans in Switzerland.

I'm guessing it's mostly North Africans/Turks?
Regardless it's a bit of a shame honestly, but I was expecting it.

>I'm guessing it's mostly North Africans/Turks?

Same mix than in France, since it's french speaking.

And btw Vaud canton is much less impacted... for now. If you want to stay in the region it's much more pleasant in Lausanne or Vevey.

The Swiss are still fairly nationalistic though, right?

Hmmm, well.

I would not call it nationalistic.

Id call it selfpreserving. We are not against immigration but we are for controlled one.

And we put the sovereignty of our country first.

Idk.

>self-preserving
Come now, don't shy away from political correctness, that IS nationalism and there isn't anything wrong with it.

...

What would it like for an Asian (Japanese) to go and work in Switzerland?

Since I am working in pharma industry, I will prob look for Basel.

What is Basel like in terms of housing and price of things? Also, I suppose it's a Swiss German city?

Basel is German speaking officially.
But really it's a tri-lingual city. Since some of its suburbs are actually in France most people will speak French as well, and English of course.