A Humorous Guide to Switzerland

Languages of Switzerland - Hape Bolliger  / pixelio.de A few weeks ago, I came across quite an ignorant statement in the comments of a blog I'm following. Someone in all earnest claimed that there was no country on earth with more than one official language. I was dumbfounded. Haven't they heard of Canada* with English and French as official languages? Or maybe Finland*, where Finnish and Swedish are both recognized as formal languages? And what about Switzerland with not two or three but four official languages ? I decided to leave a short comment pointing towards the facts. After all, here was I - together with more than 8 million other inhabitants of Switzerland - a living witness to the different languages spoken throughout Switzerland. Besides, a quick google search would have brought up plenty of websites dealing with the issue of multilingual countries. The Four Official Languages of Switzerland  Switzerland is a country that unites several regions that are...

Swiss Passport - Deborah Weber  / pixelio.de  While writing my posts about owning a passport that isn't worth much and one that is totally worth it , I discovered  a great online resource for comparing the power of different passports. A website called Passport Index  lets you explore passports from all around globe. On Passport Index you can see which to which countries you can travel freely if you own a certain passport. On the website you can check out an individual passport (e.g. Passport of Congo ) compare up to four different passports see an overall ranking of all passports  find out if you can travel to more countries if you acquire another passport read news about passports and immigrations laws from all around the world Obviously, I was interested in the Swiss passpor t and checked how it ranked in the overall ranking. I mean, we Swiss can travel to a lot of countries without needing a visa! This is what I found. Top 10 of Worlds Best...

Swiss Cow - Andreas Hermsdorf  / pixelio.de What word do you associate with Switzerland? What is the thing that first comes to your mind when you hear "Switzerland"? I wanted to know what you - my readers - thin k about Switzerland  and created a poll. Slowly but surely the answers started coming in. What You Think About Switzerland The results of the poll are interesting but not entirely surprising. I hoped people would add answers of their own in the comment section but that hasn't happened so far. You can still participate in the poll here:  What you think about Switzerland What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Switzerland? - Results Mountains (12 votes) Money & Banks (11 votes) Chocolate (7 votes) Chuchichäschtli (5 votes) Cleanliness (4 votes) Neutrality (3 votes) Punctuality (2 votes) Cheese & Milk (1 vote) Watches (0 votes) © 2017 IRENE WYRSCH "A HUMOROUS GUIDE TO SWITZERLAND" ALL RIGHTS R...

Matterhorn - Gallus Tannheimer  / pixelio.de  I've always wondered what people who were born and raised outside of Switzerland think of our small country . Is your view of Switzerland mostly affected by the news, movies or by a personal visit? Is it a positive view overall? Has your opinion of Switzerland changed over the years? If yes, why and how? I would be more than happy to read your answers in the comment section below! For those who don't feel like writing answers I've created this poll. If your answer isn't in the list, please add it as a comment below! You can see a summary of the results here . What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Switzerland? What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Switzerland? Money & Banks Mountains Chocolate Cheese & Milk Watches Punctuality Cleanliness Chuchichäschtli Neutrality © 2017 IRENE WYRSCH "A HUMOR...

Beautiful Switzerland Mercer recently published their 2016 Quality of Living Rankings . Not surprisingly, there are several Swiss cities that appear among the global Top 10 of cities with highest quality of living. I mean, who wouldn't want to live in this beautiful, clean and orderly country?! This year, Zurich wins the contest for highest ranked Swiss city before Geneva. Here is the full Top 10 Cities with highest quality of living: Vienna, Austria Zurich, Switzerland Auckland, New Zealand Munich, Germany Vancouver, Canada Dusseldorf, Germany Frankfurt, Germany Geneva, Switzerland Copenhagen, Denmark Sidney, Australia Another aspect of the Mercery survey covers personal safety for foreigners and their families. In a world full of disputes, safety is definitely an issue to ponder when deciding to move to a foreign country. In terms of personal safety, Switzerland ranks very high . There are three cities in the global Top 10 safest cities. Have a look at the ...

I recently had a conversation with one of my friends from abroad about the popularity of my name. As it is, my name " Irene " seems to be a quite normal and fairly popular name in English speaking countries. Living in Switzerland, however, it always seemed to me a name more suitable for grandmothers than for someone my age. While growing up I even was so unhappy with my name that I  dreamed of having a more popular name like Daniela or Sabrina. The name 'Irene' Luckily, I wasn't able to change my first name then because I started to like my name when I began to travel the world. Not only has " Irene " a beautiful meaning (it means 'peaceful') but it's also a very international name. Most western languages have their own version of it: German: Irene English: Irene French: Irène Italian: Irene Spanish: Irene Russian: Irina Greek: Irini Portuguese: Irene Obviously, the pronunciations vary a bit more than the spelling suggests.  ...

There are many different reasons people decide to move to a foreign country. I am not talking about refugees of any kind, since they usually do not have a choice to leave their homes. I am talking about people who are actually living quite comfortably but then decide to pack up their things and move to another corner of the world. Some move for ideological reasons, some for love, some for adventure, some simply for a change in their daily routine, and some - obviously - move for a job . Actually, I believe that there is a large percentage of American and European expats whose relocation is job related. I do not have a statistic on that though. When considering a move abroad one should definitely take the local job market and salary situation into account. This is where Switzerland is at its best: very low unemployment rate (under 5%) and high salaries . In Europe only Denmark features higher average annual salaries than Switzerland. Europe's Highest Salaries (2015) Switz...

Bloomberg has recently published a list of worlds healthiest countries . And guess who made it almost to the top of the list? Exactly! Switzerland was chosen the 4th healthiest country in the world! This doesn't surprise me since Switzerland is well known for it's populations healthy eating habits . Who beat Switzerland in healthy living? On top of my head I would have thought that the Scandinavian countries like Sweden or Norway would be right at the top of the list. Great health systems and a modern lifestyle should do its trick, right?! However, none of them are found ahead of Switzerland. Sweden is placed 6th and Norway 9th - still very good though. The top three healthiest countries of the world are definitely not what you'd think they'd be. Maybe with the exception of Iceland as #3 healthiest country. But I don't think anybody would have guessed Italy to be the second healthiest country of the world. I mean, how healthy can pasta and pizza be? Maybe the r...

I've been writing about the four official languages of Switzerland , especially Swiss German , quite a bit. It is high time that I introduce the least known language of Switzerland: Rumantsch (ling. "Romansh"). "I speak Rumantsch" (Engadiner Post) Rumantsch is spoken mainly in the Swiss canton of Grisons which is located on the south-eastern side of Switzerland next to Italy and Austria. According to a census taken in 1990, roughly 65'000 people were speaking Rumantsch regularly, of which 40'000 used Rumantsch as their main language of communication. In in 2000 this number shrunk to only 35'000 people. Not much if you consider the 7 million inhabitants of Switzerland.  Despite the small number of native speakers, have the mountainous and secluded areas of Grisons produced several different dialects of Rumantsch: Sursilvan Sutsilvan Surmiran Puter Vallader In the 70ies and 80ies Swiss linguist Heinrich Schmid developed a written...

Zurich by Antje Warmbrunn  / pixelio.de We did it! Zurich was ranked #2 of world's most livable cities by a  Travelers Digest  article in 2012. The website has gone inactive in 2015 but a more recent survey, the 2018  Mercer Quality of Living Survey  confirms this good ranking. Not surprisingly, the high quality of life and safety of Zurich were responsible for this appraisal of Switzerland's largest city. What made me laugh was the short remark at the beginning of the entry about Zurich: " Especially great for bankers who are addicted to chocolate "! If you actually consider visiting or moving to Zurich, you should not forget that Zurich is also world's most expensive city  but Switzerland generally provides above-average salaries! © 2012 IRENE WYRSCH "A HUMOROUS GUIDE TO SWITZERLAND" ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No Thieves in Switzerland - Dieter Schütz  / pixelio.de Switzerland recently has had the honors to be included in the top 10 of world's safest travel destinations by Travelers Digest (the site has gone inactive in 2015) . Although it is definitely nice living in a safe country where street crime is almost non-existent, I was a bit bummed that Switzerland didn't make any of the more attractive top 10 lists. I mean who wouldn't want his country to feature one of the Top 10 Adventures for Thrill Seekers Top 10 Best Airports of the world Top 10 Best Cities to Live In Top 10 Best City Skylines Top 10 Best Places to Watch Sunsets Top 10 Best Wildlife Viewing Top 10 Countries with the Most Beautiful Women The alps, great paragliding locations, bobsledding, snowboarding or river rafting in Switzerland are not considered thrilling enough I guess. I would claim though that Zurich Airport is one of the nicest and most organized airports in Europe. It's tough to...

Swiss Francs - Kurt Michel  / pixelio.de Switzerland is expensive. Life in Switzerland is expensive. If you've only thought it a rumor that living expenses in Switzerland are horrendous you are now officially proven wrong! After several years of absence Zurich has reclaimed the throne of world's most expensive city! Zurich #1 of Most Expensive Cities In 2012, The Economist  published a survey that placed Zurich number one on the list of the most expensive cities. Even in front of Paris, London, New York and Tokyo! In Zurich or Geneva you buy a cup of coffee for 5 Swiss Francs . This equals more or less 5 USD, depending on the exchange rate. In other cities of the world people don't spend more than a dollar or two for their daily caffein intake! We Swiss still like to drink a lot of coffee though! How Zurich makes up for high cost of living That is just one side of the medal. True, Switzerland is more expensive than many other countries but salaries are generall...

Helene Souza  / pixelio.de Most people who travel to a foreign country usually try to get along by speaking English. That works fine for most locations nowadays. However, many travelers and especially expats consider it a must to know at least the basic courtesies in the language of the place they are visiting or living.  In addition, knowing at least a few words in the local language will help you get in touch with locals and thus make your travel experience a much more interesting one. Everyone likes a foreigner who is trying to speak the local language. Even or maybe especially, if it sounds a bit odd. And don't forget to smile! Smiles are the same in every language. In the past I wrote about the different cantons of Switzerland and their dialects of Swiss German . However, I haven't yet taught you some useful Swiss German words and phrases. Now, I'll do exactly that. Basic Swiss German Words and Phrases For those who plan to visit Switzerland in the future ...

Swiss House - manwalk  / pixelio.de Have you been to Switzerland? And have you ever visited Sweden? If you've been to both you probably know that Sweden is very different from Switzerland. To an English speaker the names of these countries and their inhabitants might sound a bit similar - Swedes and Swiss - but they are culturally, geographically and on many other levels quite different. 7 Differences between Switzerland and Sweden Switzerland does not border the sea . In Switzerland the only big waters are lakes and rivers . Sweden has an extremely long coast line and a lot of sea islands.  The highest Swedish mountain is 2'111m high and called Kebnekaise. Switzerlands highest mountain is the Dufourspitze which is 4'634m high. That is more than twice as high! The Swedish people speak Swedish and the Swiss people speak either Swiss German, French, Italian or Rumantsch . Yes, Switzerland has four official languages ! Sweden is about 10 times bigger than Swit...

Swiss Flag - berggeist007  / pixelio.de Yesterday, on the 1st of August 2011, Switzerland celebrated its 720th anniversary! The celebrations included many fireworks and even more cook outs and they inspired me to look into the history of Switzerland and it's 1st of August celebrations. Here are some of my findings. 10 Facts about Swiss 1st of August Celebrations Traditionally, it is assumed that Switzerland was founded on August 1st in 1291 but the true birth date of Switzerland is unknown . Think about it for a moment. Switzerland is so much older than the US or France that both gained independence in the end of the 18th century. The first 'version' of Switzerland included only three of todays 26 cantons : Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden . They took an oath to cooperate and assist each other in the quest for political autonomy from the Austrio-German Habsburgian rulers . This oath allegedly took place on the Rütliwiese , a grassy hill on the shores of Lake of Lucerne. ...

Switzerland has four official languages : (Swiss) German, French, Italian and Rumantsch. The spoken language, however, in the so called 'German' part of Switzerland is not actually standard German but Swiss German. Swiss German Dialects Swiss German is spoken in more than half of the 26 cantons of Switzerland  which makes it the most spoken language in Switzerland. In fact, in 21 of the 26 German is recognized as the official language, in some cantons together with another official language like French or Rumantsch. People from each of the (Swiss) German speaking cantons have their own distinct dialect . Someone who grew up in Berne has a very different dialect from someone who was raised in St. Gallen or Zurich. The dialects differ slightly in grammar and a bit more in vocabulary. The biggest difference lies definitely in the pronunciation of the words! Yet, despite the differences a native of Zurich can understand almost all other dialects, with the exception of some mo...

I am planning on spending this weekend at Lake Neuchatel in the French part of Switzerland. To be more precise, it is the French speaking part since it obviously isn't French territory. Therefore, I thought of telling you about what I call the Swiss language phenomenon . Dictionaries - Andrea Damm  / pixelio.de Switzerland is relatively tiny, especially compared to the US or Great Britain. Even Italy is actually big in comparison to the Swiss nation. In fact, Switzerland is about 40 times smaller than California which means that Switzerland could fit 40 times into California. I actually learned this from an FAQ about Switzerland on the website  Facts about Switzerland . I always knew Switzerland was tiny but wasn't sure how tiny in comparison to the US. Sorry, Brits and Aussies out there, I haven't found a comparison to your countries! Anyway, tiny Switzerland does not only have 26 semi-independent cantons but also four official languages . We Swiss either speak Fr...

Americans and Brits are familiar with the division of a country into smaller parts such as states and counties. In the US, the different states may differ in their legislation, the accent of its inhabitants, the climate and the landscapes. Mississippi and New Jersey for example are very different places on many levels. The segmentation of a country for administrative purposes makes sense especially in one as big as the USA. However, in a small country like Switzerland its benefits are somewhat obscure. Do we really need to split the country into smaller parts to be able to manage it? Today, Switzerland consists of 26 cantons which are more or less the equivalent of states in the US. The reason for this division is mainly historical . The Swiss Federation or Helvetic Federation started with just four cantons that united in 1291 against their common enemy, the Lords of the House of Habsburg. They were the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden and Nidwalden . Over the next 500 years anoth...