Hello everyone,

I am a Phd student and I am in Zurich for 4 months now. As my english speaking is not so good and my teacher also suggested I came accross the forum and thought it would be useful to be a member of this forum.
So I'm looking for a volunteer(native speaker) who have time to come with me around city and talk or have a coffee.
I hope to find a good friend here............

have a nice weekend
Proshat

Hi

I do not live in Zurich but if you are a PhD student, your supervisor should help you with finding a coarse in high level English. Your university will undoubtedly have courses to write in English, at academic level for example, or grammar courses etc. Your department should normally pay for this. (Also, if there are accredited courses in Zurich, you could try the Cambridge certificate in Proficiency. However, I think tailored courses for writing academically would be much better for you).

Secondly, if you are at ETH, there should be lots of resources available to you. I know ETH has an online forum for students, but also consider becoming a member of uni sports clubs as they are likely free for you or cost almost nothing.

Lastly, get in touch with fellow phd students in your department. Go out and have lunch with them; your shared situation will likely make you quick friends or at least people you can talk to for advice.

Lastly, being an overseas phd student can be very lonely, the trick is to get to know people as soon as possible, so definitely start to become a club member soon, this is also a very Swiss thing to do apparently...

Hello Proshat and welcome,

There are lots of ways to meet native english speakers. Here at englishforum we occasionally meet for events such as drinks, hiking, eating, etc. There's a hike tomorrow but only if you're single (and pretend to be over thirty).

There's a Zürich site at meetup.com and most of the group speak English: http://newintown.meetup.com/24/ Right now, the group is not active but this will change soon.

You can also join the Yahoo group called Expats-In-Zurich, which is an English speaking group for foreign residents. Beware though - it's a mailing list with a lot of "hot air" (i.e. nothing interesting) although occasionally there are events. There's a river cruise tomorrow, for example.

I'm sure there are more resources, but these are the ones I use.

Good luck,
=DM=

Hi Proshat,

You should update you profile to include your native language - it might be easier to find a language exchange partner if you find a native English speaker looking to practice another language?