Zurich is an upmarket banking city and the financial capital of Switzerland. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that it's often labelled as the most expensive city in the world. Zurich is famous for luxurious lifestyles, high-end shopping, and fancy chocolates. And all this at the foot of the Swiss Alps.
Most Swiss people do speak English (often excellent English). Swiss people may also be self-conscious about the fluency of their Hochdeutsch (often unnecessarily, to my ear at least).
Nearest places
| Freiburg | Germany | 85 km |
|---|
| Strasbourg | France | 147 km |
| Ulm | Germany | 158 km |
| Stuttgart | Germany | 163 km |
| Füssen | Germany | 164 km |
Switzerland boasts some of the world's most famous inventions – they created Velcro, cellophane, the Swiss Army Knife, absinthe, the potato peeler, Helvetica font, LSD, muesli, edible chocolate gold, and milk chocolate to name a few.
Languages required for Swiss jobs
However, the multilingual Swiss are increasingly adapting to the growing international workplace: twice as many people in Switzerland speak Swiss German or English at work than they do at home.For Swiss German cantons, here are the most common greetings in Switzerland:
| Swiss German | English | Geography |
|---|
| Sali | Hi | Aargau, Zürich |
| Tschau | Hi | Aargau, Zürich |
| Tschou | Hi | Bern, Solothurn |
| Hallo | Hi | |
Vienna: Viennese or Viennois. Warsaw: Varsovian. Zurich: Zürcher.
Since four different languages are spoken depending on the region you are in you would say "Danke" for "Thank you" in German, " Merci" in French and "Grazie" in Italian. There are also many English words that have made it into everyday expressions.
Geneva is a very safe city, as far as tourists go – though it does see some petty theft and vandalism, especially at train stations, airports and tram and bus stops.
But Geneva is actually more expensive in this category, with a European family of three paying an average $705.80 a month for food in the French-speaking city against $629.30 in Zurich. Housing is also more expensive in Geneva: an average of $2,340 against $2,100.70 in Zurich.
All Swiss in the German speaking part of Switzerland do understand High German and most speak it as well. Spoken Switzerdütsch varies widely across the country, so even if you only visit Zürich and Bern, you would have to learn two dialects if you really want to blend in with the locals.
While the majority of Swiss speak one of the four national languages, the number using foreign tongues - especially English - continues to rise. Of all the foreign languages spoken in Switzerland, English is by far the most dominant and could soon become the main foreign language taught in schools in many cantons.
Geneva is well worth a visit. It just depends on what you're looking for. One day we spent a week in Geneva. People from the UN hate to be posted to Geneva because it such a sleep clinic.
What do they speak in Geneva?
Throughout the year, in Geneva, Switzerland, there are 8.2 snowfall days, and 321mm (12.6") of snow is accumulated.
Tap Water. Tap water in Switzerland is pure, rich in minerals and perfectly safe to drink – in fact it's often just as good as any of the stuff you can buy in bottles. Don't necessarily expect it free in restaurants, however; bottled water (either still or sparkling) is the norm.
The top-produced variety of Swiss cheese is Le Gruyère, of which more than 28,500 tons was produced in 2015. Perhaps surprisingly, mozzarella is second, followed by Emmentaler, séré (the Swiss-French word for fromage frais) and Raclette. Emmentaler, with its distinctive holes, is a favourite.
To apply for a job in Switzerland you'll need a CV, cover letter and educational certificates. You should write your application in the language of the job advert/company, be that German, French or Italian, unless specifically asked to submit your application in English.
The French spoken in Switzerland is very similar to that of France or Belgium due to historical French policy of education in Francien French only in schools after the French Revolution. It has only minor, mostly lexical, dialectal differences influenced by its local substrate languages.
French is the official language** in Belgium, Benin, Burkina, Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central, African, Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte, d'Ivoire, Democratic, Republic, of, the, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial, Guinea, France, Guinea, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Republic, of, the, Congo,
This meant they were able to continue speaking their various languages without any attempt to impose one uniform 'Swiss language' on them. Towards the south and across the Alps, Italian is spoken; to the west, French; while German is spoken in the central and eastern parts of Switzerland.
Difficulty: some of the cantons were themselves formed over the line that separates German and French dialects, meaning that they are bilingual: Bern, Fribourg and Valais. That is why there is no Swiss language. And yes, all of that on 41,000 square kilometers.
Learn more There are four official languages in
Switzerland, which means you have at least four possible ways of
saying hello in this country.
Use time-specific greetings.
- Say "buongiorno" in the morning.
- Say "buon pomeriggio" in the afternoon.
- Use "buonasera" in the evening.
List of majority native English speaking countries
- Antigua and Barbuda.
- Australia.
- The Bahamas.
- Barbados.
- Belize.
- Canada*
- Dominica.
- Grenada.
Key to abbreviations: sg = said to one person, pl = said to more than one person, inf = informal, frm = formal.
Useful Swiss German phrases.
| English | Schwyzerdütsch (Swiss German) |
|---|
| Good night | Guet Nacht |
| Goodbye (Parting phrases) | Uf Widerluege Ciao Tschüss Bis spöter Sali Adieu |
How to say “Hello” in Switzerland
- In German: Say “Grüezi” to greet one person, or “Grüezi Mitenand” to greet two or more people.
- In Italian: “Buongiorno” during the day and “Buonasera” in the evening.
- In Romansh: “Bun di” for good morning. Pronounced as “boon dee”
Higher standard of living: Swiss cities, houses and food are all top quality. Crime is very low, so you'd feel pretty safe roaming around in the middle of night all alone. There're no beggars on street, and every body around you looks very well off, it's surreal. Higher pay and lower taxes: Swiss wages are pretty high.
The signs in Zurich Airport are very clear, they are in english, and the airport is very easy to manage.
Italian is the native language for Italy, but around 29 percent of the population speaks English. In America, where Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language, when you count native speakers and Spanish students, only about 16 percent of the population speak it.
The handshake is the most common greeting in Switzerland, and Swiss Germans may shake hands upon both meeting and departing. The Swiss French and Swiss Italians may shake hands and give you an “air kiss” or an embrace, depending on the rapport they have established with you.
English is widely spoken in Norway, and virtually every Norwegian can speak fluent (or understand a minimum of, this is mostly the elder people) English. Tourist information is usually printed in several languages. Norwegian is also related to Icelandic, German, Dutch and English.
Language. The official language of Zurich is Swiss German although English and French are widely spoken. Many of the IT, computing, banking and engineering companies in Zurich will employ non-German speaking staff for skilled jobs that don't involve Swiss customer services.
Swiss Standard German is virtually identical to Standard German as used in Germany, with most differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, and orthography. For example, Swiss Standard German always uses a double s (ss) instead of the eszett (ß). There are no official rules of Swiss German orthography.
