Swiss Language

[BWBriscoe]

A friend of mine has a job offer from Swiss and she only speaks English. She is slightly apprehensive that this will affect her work.

Obviously we have the international aviation language, but apart from that, what is the official language of Swiss Intl Air Lines?

Will just being an English speaker hinder her in any way? Do the crews address passengers in English as well as French and German? Do any British crews work for Swiss?

Cheers

BWB

[B Fraser]

I lived in Switzerland for a while and found the language bizarre as it varies between cities.. I'm not talking about dialects but the actual language. Hi in Zurich is Greuzi but is Salee in Berne and god knows what they say in Ticino, Basel, Geneva, Luzerne etc. Thankyou is a rather wierd merci vielmals. The obvious thing to do is to buy a teach yourself Swiss book however I don't believe that such a thing exists. If I'm wrong, do send me a PM !

As a Brit, I was always a foreigner albeit a foreigner first class however I'm told that the Swiss are mellowing towards the outside world i.e. anywhere else in Europe. I believe that in the Appenzeller canton, women got the vote in the 1970's and the bizarre bit is that they didn't even want it :sad:

Anyway, you've heard the worst and the good bits are an infrastructure second to none, scenery that makes Scandinavia look ugly and the chance to experience a country quite unlike any other. The expat community will be invaluable for explaining the quirks in the system e.g. when your friend moves into their apartment on one of the few official moving days each year (I kid you not), bare wires hanging from the ceiling is the norm.

The cost of living is outrageous so your friend will be making a few cross border shopping trips for groceries, just don't upset the border guards as such practices are frowned upon and I had my passport detailed for an hour on more than one occasion when crates of beer were spotted in the back of my car on the way back from Konstanz.

Enjoy ! I can't wait to go back.

[jojodel]

Hello!
I don't know what job your friend is considering. But usually the offer should also contain the language requirements.
I work with Swiss since it's beginning and for my job (pilot) english is used ever since. But recently due to many different people joining the company, a lot of things are done in german and french as well.
For private use-if you live around Zürich-you'll be better off if you
speak a little dialect or some german.
I won't comment on cost of living in London or about dialects across the channel. I don't have time nor is there enough space in this reply-column. But I've got some experience also.
But to be serious: everyone is highly welcome to work with Swiss
and please let me know, if I can offer any help or advise.

Cheers, jojodel

[seacue]

I French fellow I know worked for a "major international company" at Zurich for a few years. The company officially spoke English internally and his English is very good. Unfortunately most informal things were done in a German dialect which he didn't master.

Likewise his wife, who is also pretty good at English, didn't master the local language & felt isolated in Switzerland. She wasn't allowed to work since it wasn't the EU and she didn't have a critical skill.

They've moved back to France, even though the salary is considerably less. French social benefits like child care are so much cheaper that I suspect their standard of living hasn't suffered much from the lower salary.

Edited to note that this happened well before the agreements with the EU that studi mentions.

[Radar35]

BMBriscoe - PM me I will gladly help your friend, as a swiss/brit dual citizen I can help you!

I would'nt worry too much about the living v language though.:ok:

[Jet_A_Knight]

Studi,

Can you please confirm, that I did read correctly, EU citizens have UNRESTRICTED right to work and live in CH??

Since when has this been in place??

[TEC TEC]

Are you daydreaming? SWISS hiring pilots?

SWISS International Air Lines is soon going to make another 50 pilots redundant. And that will not be the end of the plight.......

[B737NG]

Alternative you can live in south Germany or France and commute. If You dont do it daily it helps... a few words would helps in all three languages there.. merci vielmals... grazie mille and merci for the beginning as well as Gruezi midanant... bon jour.. bon giorno. Just for the sake of it and you will see it opens the door. Until you get access to the heart it take longer.....

Wiederluega, au revoir, arrevidercci

NG

[B Fraser]

I was there in the days before the bilateral agreement and it was a heck of a job arranging the paperwork to the point that I even had to get a good conduct note from the UK police (I await the jokes with baited breath). Hopefully things have improved.

My local Italian in Oerlikon was run by a bunch of Indians and 24hrs notice was enough to guarantee a curry-fest for all the Brits. Talking of Oerlikon, there's a restaurant in Zurich that has an anti-aircraft gun on a platform above the door. Beats a cuckoo clock I suppose :}

Hopefully I'll manage a trip back to CH later this year ... yippeeee :ok:

[flufdriver]

Being a Swiss who'se been living outside of Switzerland for a long time and having had to adjust to many different societies, I find it quite amusing to read about foreign nationals living or planning to live in Switzerland and the perceived travails they may face. Whilst I will admit that many of my compatriots can be a bit narrowminded, I find that Swiss people are in general very accepting of foreigners in their midst unlike many places that I have had the (dis)pleasure to visit in my 35 plus years of being a vagabond.

In earlier days it would always have been expected that any foreigner would be able to communicate in the national language of the country s/he happens to seek employment. I guess in the technical side of aviation we are lucky in this respect.

One good thing about most european languages except for english is that most words are pronounced the way they are written.

Nowadays, when I visit my home country I find that the percentage of Swiss-Swiss is declining at a considerable rate in the Cities, which is ok with me since I consider myself a global citizen!

Hopp-Schwyz!

[error_401]

Grüezi BwBriscoe,

What kind of job?

Administration?

Flight crew - then DON'T TELL because that would rise hell between about 150 graduates from the Swiss Aviation Training (former Swissair) on the seniority list and as much layd off copilots who actually flew for Swiss before 2002... and 2005 as the nex lay-off wave is imminent :{

Cabin crew?

Ground handling?

Be more specific!

Tschau


P.S. Don't try to spell the greeting and salutation unless you speak one of the several swiss german dialects ;)