I hope not to disappoint you folks here - I am NOT native speaker when it comes to English. I am a 100 % native Swiss.

So what am I doing here? Well - I did learn English, did understand it and did even speak it. That was when I was 20. Now I am 45 and seem to get old - every here and then I just don't get it, what they say on the radio or have to read the stupid white little text in a cinema.

So I must do something. That's why I am here. I already know how strange Swiss behaviour seems to some of you - we are reluctant, cold, do not open the door and so forth. Maybe I can show you, there are some of us who at least try to be openminded. If I find the words. If on the other hand some of you want to have original information on natives' behaviour - just go ahead.

Welcome to the forum!
May I just add that I've met a lot of Swiss who were open and warm.

What a delightful introduction. Welcome to the forum. I for one, am looking forward to reading anything that you may post. :-)

Welcome welcome. Love your introduction!

Welcome to the forum! Its always great to discuss with local Swiss who decide to join! I know a few Swiss people who are openminded and continue to meet more the longer i stay. Switzerland is a beautiful country, you are very lucky.

Oh and i am looking forward Chienbäse in your canton soon!

welcome, nice introduction!
you shouldn't indeed be oversensitive if you want to enjoy the forum (this applies to all, not just because you're swiss )
I can only speak for myself and my german-italian family, but the welcome we received by the swiss was very warm and we find most of you gentle, helpful and very humorous

Grüessich Maskmaker,

Nice intro. Don't worry about disappointing people, you're amongst peers!

Schöns Tägli.

Hey JustRose - Chienbäse (be honest - can you pronounce that correctly..?) is one of these things I am really close to. «Maskmaking» has in fact to do a lot with Fasnacht and above all I am located in Liestal. Don't hesitate to remind me when February 26. is approaching and I will help you not just to get caught in the herd, but get an overview, including cellar visits and whatever true natives do.

And warm thanks of course to all the others. Home, sweet home! I feel my English is getting better already, you make an end to the winter of my discontent!

Not only can JustRose pronounce it correctly, quite a lot of us Ausländer can do it.

Welcome! It's indeed a very nice intro. Sure, you can add a bit of Swiss touch to the forum ;-)

Slammer - I certainly will not underestimate any of you. Just an ironical question. Did you know only one generation ago people could tell you from what village in Switzerland you come just because of the accent? Not region - village! I myself admire anybody who masters the strange and archaic sounds we Swiss produce while speaking. Even more since I know we are often not very helpful with such things.

And I also remember the horrible Swiss kitchen culture just one generation ago. Boring. Potatoes and cheese, cheese and potatoes. I am so glad Italians brought us pasta and pizza, the Chinese their wonderful fried ducks and last but not least the Irish their Kilkenny's. I myself am glad for all Ausländers!

Maskmaker, welcome to the Forum. You're not the only Swiss here. But I beg to differ in certain points. Here in Heidiland it is still possible to tell if someone grew up in the upper or lower part of the village, only based on the usage of certain words, and that even these days.

On the other hand, my memory of Swiss kitchen culture goes back to the early 'fifties, in other words, more than two generations, but, although our family had no money to burn when I was a kid, our menu was much more varied than what you describe. Could it be that you just didn't like cheese and potatoes but were told, "Just shut up and eat it"?

Oh, and yet another point. 45 and growing old? Are you kidding? You are a teenager. In the USA, store staff would still ask you for ID for buying booze, unless you wear a beard. That's how I solved that problem, by the way.

Anyway, have fun with this crazy bunch.

That's right, you tell him! There are hundreds of 'near invisible' Swiss on here. And 45 - getting old. Bah humbug.

I hope you take a leaf out of the Captain's book, follow his excellent example and stick around a bit and earn some of those thanks you got in the first post. It's quite sad really how many Swiss come on here, say they want to help and promptly disappear into the depths after their Intro thread. Others stay here and give advice, tips and links to interesting or important information, which we really appreciate.

There are lots of thing in Switzerland which are hard for English speakers to understand and a helping hand with some of the answers would be great. Welcome to the Forum.

This Thread with quite a few questions on permits and the law in respect of laws of residence would be a great place to start.

Welcome to the forum! Living now in Basel for 5 years. I have come across many open and wonderful Swiss as well as the latter. I love it here and will become Swiss this year being with my Swiss partner now for over 11 years and married for 5. I still have not made it to Liestal for the chienbäsä yet! Hopefully next year!

welcome and cheers for your honesty.

Thank you for putting things right, longbyt. I was not aware the purpose of this place is mainly legal consulting. And I play the chester - fool I am!

Being a craftsman I would probably consult a lawyer in such a situation or go for lunch with a well educated human resources manager. More wisdom is not.

I will keep your words in mind and hold back with silly remarks.

It's not silly or anything like it.

Most of it isn't legal counselling as such - it is simply trying to sort out the enormous amount of semi-legal stuff one gets tied up in - especially the non-EU members. The laws here are not all that clear - going to two different offices with the same question my well produce three different answers.

The catch is that, unlike you or me, new members cannot always afford a lawyer and haven't got a load of friends here at all, let alone a HR friend who knows both the ropes and the language.

There are plenty of other 'problems' to cope with anyway. Just trying to explain the way every town and village has its own rules about rubbish collection is a full-time job for someone on here.

I suppose I'm not always very kind to new Swiss members. As I said, some stick around and help a lot - others disappear as suddenly as they arrived. When you get on in years, you've seen it all before, again and again. Makes us a bit cynical I suppose.

Nice to hear that you're around again this evening anyway!

Hi maskmasker, and welcome.

You'll hopefully learn the somewhat odd forum humour here...please feel free to continue to joke :-)

Very impressed with your English, one point (which I would not point out if everything was not so perfect...). It is "jester" (fool, knabe in german)..."Chester" is a town in England...which I am sure you are not!

Now in exchange, will you tell be what this chienbaese is? (sorry no umlaut on my iPad)

Cheers, HH

Longbyt - nevermind. I just couldn't leave it to show I am touchy.... But of course you are right. Let me add that most Swiss authorities are really helpful. Other than in many countries these persons do their job - sometimes not more, but this also means they will hardly ever feel like showing you they got the power. When I have questions about filling out my tax form, I phone the respective tax office man and he will give support. So I'd always suggest to try this first.

Hey heckenhocker - and this to me! I was in Chester. I remember a strange statue in front of the old Cathedral there, strange because the sour rain washed away most of it. Same with the city walls - the mortar is stronger than the sandstone was. I will write down jester 100 times this evening and thank you for the finetuning. In return I give you another translation for jester: (Hof-)Narr.

But now for this often mentioned Chienbäse. Chien is the Swiss pronounciation of the German word «Kien», which is resinous pinewood. «Ä(n) Bäse» is a broom. How does that go? Take a bundle of pinewood, fix it onto a long broom-stick with nails and wire and carry it on your shoulder. It may be heavy, you have to carry it only one or two miles. But burning, that's the point! When it gets dark on Sunday evening before the Basler Fasnacht, such burning brooms are being carried through Liestal, BL. To make it more impressive, there are fire-wagons too. These may contain several cubic metres of burning wood. You will find pictures of this spectacular tradition under www.fasnacht-liestal.ch

Please note: If you decide to go there (you won't be alone, it has become an attraction over the years), wear something fireproof like cotton or wool. Do not choose one of these modern textiles that migth shrink or melt in the heat. The fire-wagons sometimes stop for a few moments, if that is where you are you will remember this hint...

You do, of course, realise that what you are saying is that Swiss authorities are really helpful towards you. Some of the people working in official capacities are indeed very helpful to 'aliens'. Others are not.

From a language point of view alone, do you understand how difficult it is to make oneself understood on the phone in a foreign language? Not all the offices are prepared to talk English with us on official matters. And quite honestly, I would say that expecting a Swiss to understand the English of a person whose native tongue is something 'foreign in tone' and probably containing foreign 'constructions' is going a bit far. It is difficult enough for native English speakers to sort out. Read a few of the posts on here - some of them I cannot make head or tail of.

It just isn't that simple. And Swiss are, obviously, looking at 'our' problems from 'their' point of view. We see the other side of things.