HI all,

I am sous chef from london and will move to german part of switzerland with my family.We havent decided yet,where we ll move to.
Any suggestions?
And my biggest worries is the language.But i am ready to learn.

Hi There! You should not be worried about the language. You
will get along just fine. If you want to take German, try
www.klubschule.ch. This is a school that offers relatively
inexpensive classes.

Cheers.
Grant

Thank you very much.Its good to hear something positive about my life changing move.

If you work in a kitchen, you will learn the language in months, weeks. The culinary vocabulary is not that vast. I used to be a chef and when I was in Sweden, I told them to be patient. If I did not understand something, I told them to repeat it until I did.

it worked a treat.

Work in a kitchen and you will become fluent very quickly. Good luck with the move.

Hi,
English/Australian chef also.. Dont worry,most speak English and actually like to. It helps to prove that you are making an effort to learn though.Learn the Vegetables and Ingredients first as that will be the most frustrating for others you work with.. Full on Kitchen rythms are all the same the world over..The team spirit is the most important element..So strong and confident,but humble, NOT arrogant, you know the drill..
Swissli's are unpredictable 'Heimlifiess" Swiss german is a spoken language with many regional dialects,the written word is German so they all speak and can understand it. Good Luck..
Anywhere in the Zurich area there are volume restaurants,hotels etc..
There are also Catering Companies..
Some good places here..I am doing private and relief work at the moment from Diessenhofen a nice bordertown on the Rhine,and dreaming of making an assault on a place called the "Guterhof" in Schaffhausen, its a new project renovation thats 2 years old,quite fantastic, all quality,but no-where near its potential !! Well done on escaping the UK.
Cheers for now
Will Stephens

These are more positive experiences then I have had, but good to hear. Actually, suprised to hear. I am myself, however out in the sticks, so that might have something to do with it. I am eager to learn german, but since I have been here I have worked in kitchens where they speak french, portugese, and english (languages I understand). The only full on german kitchen experience I had was bizarre. The Chef there didn't like Swiss so he was importing east germans and firing the Swiss Chefs, because the germans were cheaper and the Swiss, he said were poor institional workers. They tried to work with me, but the germans didn't. It was strange on many levels. Have any of you cooks heard of Seganti catering? That guy Beda, a Cannuck, great guy. Very organized. Good experience.

This is very good advice as it is how I also rapidly learnt the basics!

If you speak English, I'd suggest you schedule interviews or appointments with managers of all the pubs. If anyone is hiring regardless of whether you speak German or not, it's them.

Also try out Catering Companies such as Candrian Catering, Adecco and The Canadian

All the best. I'm a Hotel Manager and been looking for a job for the past 3 months. My German is pretty limited so haven't been successful yet.

The OP hasn't been online for nearly a year and...er doesn't look like they will be back any day soon.

ALSO,
A company I used to work for, which I will give in PM, owned like 8 or 10 pubs, and they were german. Any of the names you know in Zurich, like Big Ben. German is important, even if I don't know it.