Zurich educates foreigners about good manners...

Because they're the experts, aren't they?

In Swiss manners, yes. In English manners, no.
Furthermore, the important word is belehren. It is all about belehren Germans. What they belehren them with is far less relevant than the pleasure of belehren.


p.s. belehren = to instruct, to teach so.

Who was it that said that manners are an awareness of the feelings of others?

What is a "Swiss manners"? There is only English manners or scruffy derivatives. Give a hillperson a pile of gold, incubate 100 years, and this is what you get. Delusions of civility.

I actually think that is does make sense.
In general, Germans are much more direct than Swiss, which sometimes is considered to be rude in Switzerland. It is all about adapting to this culture.

Noting wrong about my bad manners Uuuuhhhhhhhh shut its about good manners .Gee whats that Now have a nice day

"This culture" you say. Where? Point to it please. Asking an Englishman to adapt to the culture and manners of the Swiss is asking him to adopt an unacceptable handicap.

That is why they focus on Germans

The poster says "Learn about our manners" in English.

The cheeky sods are clearly directing their message at us, too.

I wouldn't mind, but the average Zurcher wouldn't know what manners were if they came up and slapped him round the chops with a wet haddock.

The cheek of it!

You are the sole judge of what is acceptable to you. Just... don't forget the logical consequence of "unacceptable".

I am French-German and used to switch between extreeeeeemly different definitions of politeness and manners. So to me, the Swiss are just plain average people. But I habe given a few advices to Germans in France. Obviously, I should have charged them for that. The latter being the true Swiss part of the matter.

It's a bit like asking Michael Schumacher to teach people about the advantages of driving at 30mph.

Cheers,
Nick

In a land where exoticism is a sausage with a slightly different veal to pork ratio, they ask us to "try something new".

It is the opposite: Schumacher is a German living in Switzerland. He should learn to drive 30 mph here

If you look into real reports about you can see that the idea is to educate both sides. Many Swiss perceive some sayings of Germans as rude and aggressive when they simply use everyday expressions from home, and many Germans in Switzerland do not realize that some of their expressions are perceived as aggressive and arrogant here. Just compare it with British-American communication ! Then, they also tackle the way in which young Balkanese speak Swiss-German. Many of them think it sounds sexy while it in fact sounds idiotic ! Many Swiss perceive some sayings of such Balkanese youngsters as aggressive or unfriendly while it in reality simply is a lack of understanding of the local dialect.

It is not about manners basically but about misunderstandings. In your report you can see that quite many Germans here in Switzerland understand the matter very well, and in at least one case BETTER than an asked Swiss. Because quite many of them can see the point and the finesse !

Hmm, Swiss teaching Germans about manners ... pot & kettle?

btw, clearly the posters in English are directed at some recalcitrant ex-colonials ... rather than those of us fortunate enough to have been born into the Commonwealth!

One of the posters has a line about not living beyond their means. The Swiss banks provide a perfect example!

Cheers,
Nick

Correct me if I am wrong but I suspect a great proportion of non-ZH resident Swiss nationals would find the idea of Zurich teaching manners to the rest of Switzerland to be somewhat ironic. On the other hand the posters do just state 'manners' and make no claim as to their standard.

But it is quite amazing how Balkandeutsch has established itself as a dialect in so short a time. Not even the Turks or the Italians managed that and it took the Swiss about 300 years.

Heheh. Not sure whether to groan or thank you for that one, at least it made me chuckle.

I understand this guy is the instructor.

He gets rave reviews.