Sound's like my girlfriend.

Tom

100% agree, as a Swiss I'd say that's very true. Many Swiss that marry foreign partners don't do so because they find that particular culture more interesting, appealing or enriching than their own, but because they can "get a better deal" than with Swiss women.

I think the word you were looking for is "arrogance"

[/arrogantism]

Amazing what rubbish you can read on a Forum...

Some macho, traditional Swiss men, mainly from rural areas- do go and 'buy' brides abroad to ensure they can continue being control freaks without being challenged, that is true.

What forum was that again...? (I'm asking for a friend )

I love stereotyping and there are few better victims than the overweight sixty year old with his 23yr old Thai girlfriend. But I have met many Swiss females having a foreign partner as men... a bit more than a third of all marriages are binational and by far is the number one country of origin of the Ausländer Germany, for both female and male Swiss...
http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/zueric...1.3083239.html

And a headline for which I could once again stone a 20 min "journalist":
http://www.20min.ch/news/schweiz/sto...edels-28244094
(For those who don't get it: The "Bund Deutscher Mädels" was the female version of the Hitler youth)

what? like 2 for 1 or something?

You see so many Swiss men with Asian (Thailand and Philippines) women.
I think that Swiss men generally want to be control freaks and cannot handle Swiss women that are generally well educated, confident and independent.

Yet I know two or three Swiss women, though educated and confident, who do not even have their own email addresses, and I find it extremely odd to receive news from them via husbands' emails. Independent you say

So it's okay to say that foreigners generally use generalisations to describe the Swiss?

generally, yes.

And there am I with an Asian wife that happens to be well educated, very confident and independent.

Sorry for picking your post in particular, but the last page of this thread is completely full of stereotyping...

Take it easy, people love to do that. Your wife will continue to be educated, confident and independent, no matter what some might think of "Asian women". Sure, there will always be some examples to confirm their beliefs, and this is why they feel entitled to stereotype. Anyway: the usual background noise.

I am quite happy

I like stereotyping when it comes with the right humour... (ok, I guess this one will only work for the more advanced German students here.):

I kinda like educated, confident and independent women...but the confidence is that they are confident enough in themselves not to have to argue. Funny how that people will argue..sorry discuss things then feel that they have 'lost' if they don't get their way or change the other persons mind..confidence in themselves should inspire confidence in others not belittle them...

I spoke to a Swiss girl/lady on the train/walk to work for a few months we never knew each other's name as soon as we knew each others name...she is nowhere to be seen (I don't think she change jobs because of me as the conversations were light hearted and sometimes amusing although in broken German/English)...and she even blanked me at the station one weekend..not even an acknowledgement..I mean it's not as if I wanted anything...

Umm, read the posts again, why would any man want 2 wives when 1 is enough to drive him crazy? If she came with some good livestock or some other such dowry THEN it would be a better deal (actually livestock would be good given the price of meat here!!) but I am not sure you can fly a cow from Asia.

Fixed that for you, I think it is ok but don't like to generalise.

Well, I have to admit... I sometimes do have difficulty distinguishing between my own stereotyping and just naturally making observations. For example, when I moved here, I automatically noticed that people here, in general, are not as friendly and do not seem to smile nearly as much as people in the US. Therefore, I came to stereotype the Swiss as being unfriendly. But of course, I realize that I am making that assumption based on my experiences as an American.
Anyways... I think it's completely natural for anyone to make cultural observations and to notice cultural differences, especially after moving to a foreign country. But I guess the trick is to always keep in mind that there are plenty of exceptions and, perhaps most importantly, that our opinions are usually not much more than precisely just that... *opinions*

Quite so Carrie, I think you can't avoid stereotyping if you want to say anything about any particular group that isn't 100% homogenous, everyone is stereotyping, it's unavoidable. But sometimes it doesn't hurt being a bit sensitive and aware of the exceptions, who rightly get defensive when exposed to a stereotype they disagree with, something I often lack unfortunately.

on the same degree as it is ok to say that the Swiss generally use generalisations to describe the foreigners.