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| Switzerland ranks way ahead of the UK in the UN Human development report list of the world's best countries to live in. It means a lot of things.
If one has not learned the local language, then i would put it to arrogance of the people who stay here 4-5 years and still do not learn the language. Many dont even understand that Swiss German did not evolve from German at all(only the script was borrowed from German, but not for speaking), why would someone speak in a foreign language all the time just to please another who does not have a proper perspective of things?. Funny to hear complaints about "Swiss language and arrogance" from people some who learn only 1 language in their lives as a matter of pride and principle.
If its racism you are speaking about, i have seen a lot of racism in the UK, and such racism i have not experienced here. Racism in UK is has been reported in many studies and periodical reports. One look at the comments section of UK Newspaper articles shows how much racism there is over there(Times Online, Daily Mail, ...). There were several TV programs in BBC, Channel 4 which which showed proof of racist behavior in individuals and groups, with instances of violent racist assault, some of which resulted in serious injuries to the victim. The N word and Paki word are still used it was revealed in videos(i am not at all referring to instances like the harnless incident involving Anton Du Beke here and i think Anton is a nice guy, i am talking about real vicious people). Switzerland is a much more civilized country in this respect, it is simply the fantasy of certain individuals who like to say its 20 years behind, its the other way around.
Gays lead a happy life here in cities, and in cities it is much better than in the UK for them. In villages, yes SOME people are not so happy about gays, but its not at all bad as some make it out to be. In the UK too in villages its often a hus hush subject.
Women's rights. Why not see the Global Gender gap rankings?. http://www.weforum.org/en/Communitie...work/index.htm.
The statistics does not agree with you.
One of the reasons why it feels much better for some ethnic minorities in the UK is the ghetto culture, well one always has his people around him and many feel happy this way. But integration is the best way to live. There no need for a ghetto culture here, one's not driven to that point. In Switzerland there is Ghetto culture only among those who choose to do so with no outside influence. | |
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Can we just share our felt observations or opinions, without needing to prove points one way or another? I think this thread is fun, and interesting, but it won't stay that way for long if we argue with people's comments.
I'll also stress I love it here, so i'll try to balance my comments, but here are my observations:
UK - walk around village (not the same in a city), smile at people, say a greeting - perfectly normal?
CH - walk around village, smile at people, say a greeting - odd looks "what's wrong with him"?
CH - walk towards and pass groups of teenagers in the city; never once felt intimidated, any threat or danger in my 2.5 years here
UK - walk towards and pass groups of teenagers in the city; will have anxiety and some hassle or issue once in every few weekend visits
Goes without saying probably, that I'll happily cope with cultural difference 1 in exchange for the benefit of cultural difference 2!