Is there an actual point to this thread, or is it still Friday?

Tom

Basically you're sad that banks or other companies don't hire only native English speakers? It looks like that to me.

Well, deal with it. It's the same for the multitude of German or Swiss companies here which are more than OK with one's approximative German. I didn't hear anyone complaining about my German here. I bet my syntax is not always perfect.

This linguistic intolerance is one of the reasons for which I didn't want to move to the French part when we were offered this possibility. I know the French. They would laugh, literally in your face, at the slightest error of pronunciation. Have never encountered this attitude with any native German speakers.

They might ask for a native speaker level and that's OK, it means the role really needs it. And you know what? Even if it's a subtle way of actively protecting certain jobs for the local workforce, it's still OK. All countries do that.

I like when people master languages that they do not need.

True, although speaking from my experience it's the level of empathy that counts in these professions, not a specific common language. My last German language teacher here was someone who was educated in German starting with kindergarten in my home country and could really explain every bit and nuance in terms I could immediately understand. But it takes a degree in philology and pedagogy, if say my kids will be asked to perform the same task they won't be able to do it without a proper formal training even if they (theoretically) are native speakers of both languages.

The Swiss French are really quite tolerant in general as well, I’m constantly being complimented on my French and people are very willing to go out of their way to help me in a conversation if I’m struggling, even in stores etc. Of course you find the odd grumpy one, but my trips to Bern where I have tried my best to speak German have also resulted in a few grumpy responses. We have a lot of migrants here in Suisse Romande, most are thus used to interacting with non native speakers in one capacity or another.

The job ad is for this a "Informatiker / Geoinformatiker (m/w/d) für Infrastruktur & GIS". I guess that the requirement is because you are going to have contact with customers.

Yes. Just means that perfect German is required.

Yes. Very helpful to integrate, learn the language, etc. Especially in professional setting.

Its a job where you have extensive customer contact and those customers are the infrastructure departments of small villages and towns. I find it perfectly reasonable to ask for the language skills to match that job.

So, no surprises: Technical training / studies in the field of geomatics (university of applied sciences or equivalent).

Indeed, I'm a lazy guy. I flow like water, following the path that offers less resistance. If I wanted cut-throat competition I've stayed at home.

Even in Romansch? I'm curious if not speaking the local dialect is an issue in Graubünden, though they all speak Swiss-German in my experience.

I speak a few words,, enough to buy gas, icecream, and beer.

Otherwise, I speak Italian there.

Tom

yeah, thanks! I wasn't complaining at any given moment about the requirement. For me, again, the weird thing was the "mother tongue" word that called my attention for the reasons stated on a previous post. For me on the requirements should say "native speaker level of Swiss German" and that would have been perfectly fine and totally understandable. But that "Muttersprache" made me grind my gears.

I think the requirement for German lies in this part of the work: "Fähigkeiten im Konzeptionieren, Erklären und Darstellen von technischen Sachverhalten" and the fact that some of the clients are municipalities. The instructions just have to be totally correct. Is seems a reasonable requirement, to me.

But they do the same here in Italian, so it's hardly unusual!

"addetta/o bancaria/o back office & corrispondenza (madrelingua tedesco) in Lugano"

Tom

A role in this context means a job
Mate is a term of endearment like a friend

The original question was about the legality not acceptability.

Socially accepted is not the same as legally accepted. This is definitely not Legally accepted.

Fluent yes, native no.

I can't think of any job where fluent non-native speakers wouldn't suffice. For instance, I'm sure you as a native German speaker have the English to do this job were it in English despite occasional harmless Germanisms.

Besides, there isn't real definition of what constitutes a "native" language and even less a "mother tounge" to the extent they are distinguishable.

Of COURSE it is, and why wouldn't it be?

Clearly people like you will never be hired.

Il porco, you need to look elsewhere to feed your paranoia.

Tom

Someone else mentioned "role" first.

"Mate" at the end of a statement is usually somewhat passive-aggressive - I call you my friend but you're not my friend, mate. Different in other contexts.