Is there anyone out there from Délémont?

Or anyone out there who knows the place?

Care to share your opinion? the good and the bad, and your reason for thinking so, so I can see if it is something that might apply to us.

We are a family of 4 with 2 young children currently in German speaking part of CH, near Basel. Looking to move with an eye to settling somewhere permanently. Where we are is great - if hard work, but the language is a problem and we can see it being more and more so as the children advance through school. We are a billingual french/english family so moving to the french speaking part is the appeal but there's not much of the french speaking part within daily commute of Basel!

We don't want to move to France, been there, done that, got the team t-shirt and for reasons which I won't go into, its just not something that appeals.

I'd be grateful for your opinions. We have done lots of research, visited, spent the weekend, been shown round etc etc, but not really had much of a chance to hear what people who have lived there, really think!

Thank you.

It's Delémont, like deux-lémon. Do you speak German at all? that'll play a big role in your decision I think
Delémont cna't be really compared to Basel. The latter is more cosmopolitan. But for a Francophone I don't think you can beat Delémont and Jura in general but still enjoy the commute to Basel. Delémont is quieter, and more tranquil in my opinion. I, myself, am considering moving from Basel to Jura as I don't speak a single word of German

Yes we speak some German, and I have made a passable attempt at understanding Swiss german, but nothing in comparison to our French, which is mother tongue for three of us. Infact, that is exactly what has frustrated me living here .. we do not have much day to day need to speak German beyond a quick chat here and a quick chat there, and that is no way to improve your German. Plus at home it is getting just to complicated finding time to fit all 3 languages in!

Where we live now is a very very small village so Delémont concerns me because it is so much bigger to what we are used to!!! But it is what we have been used to when living in UK and France previously, and as you say, Basel is so easy to reach.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Hey girl!

I appreciate to get some feedback too because if we don't leave Switzerland for our next contract, we want to move to the french side/jura.

Delémont buddies? We could start a trend ...

I like Delemont - it is one of those towns that noone really knows about.

Have a look at www.delemont.ch which will give you a lot more information.

Hi there, this post caught my eye (these parts don't get much mention on this forum!) as my partner comes from a village just a few minutes from Delémont, so I go there, and have been there many times.

If you could be more specific at what you would like to know maybe I could help a bit more..

I know there's a couple of cinemas, a swimming pool, tennis court, and a market every saturday (fruit and veg), and it's quite beautiful around there. I find people really friendly around Jura, and there's some interesting history.

If you're concerned about moving to the city, why not have a look at the villages around. I know it's a bit cheaper for sure. (Courfaivre, Rossemaison, Vicques, Courendelin, Courcelon for example...)

Hope this helps!

It does - thank you! As I said we have done so much research, maybe too much as now we have so many facts, figures, so much info, done school visits, spoken to people in just about every level of la mairie about different things .. so much so that I think we are now finding it hard to see straight and remember what we liked about the place in the first place! And as someone else has said, its a place no one ever really hears about ... so the fact that you say you know it and your impressions are positive is great!

Yes surrounding villages are lovely but we are anxious not to extend the daily commute ...

The one thing I would be interested in hearing about, but it is very specific, is the billingual (french/german) primary school class on offer in Delémont ...

Delémont is a really friendly place if you catch up the rhythm of life there - the paste of things. It is a small place, very very francophone, as language was the whole point of making secession from Bern in the first place. It is a big village with good commute.

Jurassiens are on the revolutionary side, so if you enjoy bible-belt style fanatism, forget about the whole canton of Jura - but I doubt that you have that problem.

The bilingual school is ment for german speakers to integrate eventually into the french speaking jurassien system. To francophnes, it only gives a more intense start with German, that's all. But they will not continue middle school biligual due to the nature of this project. If you choose Delémont, German will be just a foreign language and education will be totally francophone. That is the nature of the place and the identity of the canton. As language is a sensitive topic in Jura, I would just go for the French programme and let your children become real Jurassiens.

On the commute side: be careful not to live too far from the railway station, otherwise, you commute to Basel centre will be over an hour. The train travel time is 30 to 39 mn, but then one needs to go to the real destination.

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Es wird nichts ausgelassen, um mich hier herauszuekeln. Ein Lehrbuch. False accusations and attacks continue. There is no stopping righteous people when they are wrong.

Thanks Faltrad. Yes - that is what we had thought about the commute if you start looking at villages outside/outskirts of the town.

The billingual primary school was really only as an encouragement to our 8 year old who is getting up tight about the standard of his written french (spelt entirely as if writing German ) .. we just thought it might make for a softer landing for him, but against that is the total immersion method that he sailed through age 4 when entering kindergarten here ...

But I'm liking the whole "frenchness" of your answer - because that could make the difference for us from feeling like (very welcome) visitors where we are now to feeling like we are actually at home.

It's hard to predict. I have never actually lived there, I just have quite a few nice experiences over the years. But Jura is also a montain rural area, and stubbornness is part of their vocabulary. Welcome or not welcome, I don't know, you will have the couple of stupid people like every where else. But I always was "de passage" and spoke French, had open people and no ambiguious judgemental comments. They allowed the national gay pride to be held in Delémont with no difficulties in the 90ies. Perhaps others did have bad experiences.

I do underline however, that Delémont is a small place, and does not qualify as urban life style by any standards. Big village would be the word. Looking at votations, they always vote left, against the Swissgermans. They do have a UDC/SVP/PPS, but not in the same proportion as the Swissgermans. BaselStadt votes by the way often like the Romands too.

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Es wird nichts ausgelassen, um mich hier herauszuekeln. Ein Lehrbuch. False accusations and attacks continue. There is no stopping righteous people when they are wrong.

Fully agree with this. If you are going to commute to Basel, then you need to make the trip to the station as short as possible.

Driving to-from anywhere is a bit of a bind - especially between Reinach/Aesch and Basel, so training will be your best bet, which means you don't want to waste your life commuting.

We considered Delemont a while back as French would have been easier for us, but we've stuck with Basel - principally because I don't like to commute >30 min.

I always found it freaky that you could be a stone's throw from Basel yet be ordering your food in French.

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Never let right or wrong get in the way of a good opinion

Try living in and around Fribourg, you never know which language the next person will use.

I'll actually move to Delement as soon as I can. I feel entrapped in this German speaking part of the world and can't stand to say the least. I am pro-French, they are a bit more receptive than their German counterparts. They do have a farmers' accent though especially for someone coming from France...

Understood. Will not be stalking you if it all turns out to be a disaster .. promise. Have come across a few wrong-uns here too, but you just have to filter them out ..


Thank you for looking up the voting information .. in all our research this was a stone we had left unturned. And am liking the results. And where we are now is a very small village, so big village sounds really quite exciting (I know, I need to get out more ..)


Our current commute is just under 40 mins from house to SBB, so we are thinking that within walking distance of Delémont station will be the same, plus better for relaxing/working as we currently have 10 mins bus then wait then 10 mins train which is good for nothing. Used to commute 3 hrs plus daily (and that was when the trains were on time) in and out of London so finding the current length commute sublime!

There is a stampede to Delémont now. I'd better secure the new house before prices start to inflate.

Am wondering what a farmer's Swiss french accent would be, but finding it hard to imagine as brain cannot get further than french with a weird sort of Norfolk accent?

The Jurassien accent is great!

and.... Hoorah, more English speakers in Jura!

We are also French speaking as monther tongue and lived during 4 years in Delemont before moving to Basel (we originately come from the Romandie). Nice little city with a great deal of nature surrunding, very friendly (village like) people, nice little shops/Saturday market BUT every shop close from 12-2 pm so that the city "dies" between this time and for the kids excepts walking/having fun in nature there is almost no playgrounds, very little activities (but the library and the movie theater are nice, I heard the dance studio is good too) for small ones compare to Basel. But Basel is not far away....
For school, it seems ok and they even introduced a german-french curriculum last year I heard.
Hope it helps...

You better hurry! I don't want to see fighting over a flat within the next few weeks haha

There was a publicity campain in billboards two years ago in Basel: the canton of Jura was presenting its wonderfulness at the doors of Basel, inviting Basler to make the move.
I must admit that I thought of it, but my commute would be one hour... so no way. What I liked in Delémont is that people answer back nicely when you talk to them and it is a stressfree environment. Far too stressfree for some people, though.

Update bilingual school: look "brochure école bilingue delémont" and you will find a pdf fron this adress www.jura.ch/Htdocs/Files/Departements

They say:
- for German speaking kids from Basler families
- German speaking inhabitants close to Jura canton
- Students from Jura in contact with both languages in their family

	Quote:
	A QUI S'ADRESSE LA FILIERE BILINGUE?  Aux élèves issu-e-s de familles bâloises et germanophones envisageant de s'installer dans le Jura.  Aux élèves germanophones habitant à proximité du canton du Jura.  Aux élèves jurassien-ne-s bilingues qui, dans leur environnement

	Quote:
	familial, sont au contact du français et de l'allemand.

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Es wird nichts ausgelassen, um mich hier herauszuekeln. Ein Lehrbuch. False accusations and attacks continue. There is no stopping righteous people when they are wrong.