I am a single Japanese-American father in his mid 30s raised in California and have a 4 year old son who is half Japanese, half Czech. We are currently in Asia although we have lived in Prague for the past several years.
My mother, who is also Japanese-American and currently retired in San Francisco., is interested in living with us in Europe for 7-8 months out of the year to be closer to myself and her grandson.
Having come upon an opportunity to reside in Switzerland, I was wondering if a town such as Lucerne or Lausanne might be a recommended place for all of us to settle in?
My only fear is that my son, and my mother, might experience some of the prejudice/racism that others seem to have mentioned. I also fear that my mother may feel very isolated given that she's retired and will not have any social connections in the country.
I should mention that we are all highly educated (MA/PhD), upper middle-class professionals and never noticed anything strange or amiss during our short visits to Switzerland -- and Lucerne was by far my favorite city in Switzerland.
However, I thought it would be useful to get the thoughts of people who have lived in Switzerland for a few years.
Our neighbour in Witikon (Zurich) was Japanese, and I have two Korean and one Japanese -German families in my preschool in Adliswil (also Zurich).
A colleague is married to a Japanese woman. She told me that there are lots of Japanese/Swiss and other asian/european families living in Uster. Which would be a little cheaper than Zurich city.
Another friend of mine is Malaysian living in Luzern area and she finds it quite isolating...I think you will find a lot more diversity in and around Zurich...
I have never experienced the prejudice toward foreigners that I often read about here on the English Forum. Though I believe most of it to be true and I think it is very sad, I myself have never experienced this. In my humble opinion, here is why...
I integrate. I greet everyone one on the streets with a big smile and "G ü ezi". I am trying to learn the language and speak what I know with my neighbors and people I meet. I almost always initiate the contact and try to suck up any pride or shyness... this has landed me Swiss friends. I embrace the Swiss culture, love it, admire it, and don't bring out comparisons of why I think my culture might be better.
Here is another bit of encouragement, having lived in Europe quite some time I feel that Asians are the most accepted of the foreign immigrants. In Scandinavian countries this is the case. Polls usually end with Vietnamese or Japanese being the most popular due, again, to how well they try to integrate. Asians are conservative and don't like drawing a lot of attention to themselves, this is very popular here.
I have a Swiss friend, born and bred in Luzern. He is married to a Malaysian lady. Both are university educated professionals. They moved to near Lausanne, because of the prejudice they encountered in day to day life in Luzern. For them, Lausanne was better. I don't think they were meaning out and out racist abuse, but the more subtle way people interact. My wife finds that in and around Basel, she's also subject to prejudice, despite being well integrated, speaking German, having Swiss friends. The prejudice comes mostly from a minority of check-out operators, that kind of thing. Again, it's not overt hostility. But it is noticeable. Mind you, the check-out operators in our local supermarkets are mainly French, so it's not exactly restricted to the Swiss.
i will tell you that lausanne is very diverse and the non european population is big.coming from nyc, i feel like lausanne is pretty open to all foreigners, and there are many- personally, as a latina in switzerland- I happen to feel much more comfy here in lausanne than the german speaking part, but that is only my own experiences. either way, i think it would be a good place to have your mother and child spend time- our son is really happy to enjoy the fresh air and outdoor activities here.
Hey, if your wife is Czech, I can hang with her if you move to Lausanne. We have a same age child, too. Even my lovely colleagues who swear by Lucerne (stunningly beautiful there) say it's rather...rednecky.
I was also going to the same about Lausanne. I'll add that there is quite a good group of International English speaking women there were she can meet women of all ages right away.
Lucerne is stunning, and full of Asians. Unfortunately for you they are Japanese tourists there for a couple days. Lucerne is central-central Switzerland, where the country began (we are talking land of William Tell). Lausanne/Geneva are much more international, but then you have to deal with French. Zurich is also becoming very diverse, Uster as mentioned is very nice and one train stop from Zurich city. I (American, half-Korean) have been living in and around Zurich for the past couple decades, and it has steadily improved for foreigners, lots of ethnic groups establishing themselves. Zurich is German speaking (dialect) anyway...so pick your language.
I have been to Lausanne a few times in recent years and I have felt a lot more comfortable there than in other German speaking places in Switzerland. To be more specific, at restaurants and shops, people treat me much more naturally than elswhere and I also feel more relaxed walking down the streets of Lausanne than in other places. That's why I have been considering moving to Laussane in the future.
Good luck to you guys wherever you choose to settle in.
I have been to Lausanne a few times in recent years and I have felt a lot more comfortable there than in other German speaking places in Switzerland. To be more specific, at restaurants and shops, people treat me much more naturally than elswhere and I also feel more relaxed walking down the streets of Lausanne than in other places. That's why I have been considering moving to Laussane in the future.
Good luck to you guys wherever you choose to settle in.
I personally would prefer Lucerne to Lausanne, just a little at least. Lucerne is a bit cleaner, smaller and nicer and more bike, family, and pedestrian friendly it seems to me and it also has unbeatable nature at it's doorstep. I lived there for a couple of years, it's small enough that once you get acquainted with people, you feel well at home. Lucerne is small but very international and has a fairly large (for the Swiss environment) Asian community. I personally doubt that racism is a real issue there, any more than any where else I suppose. Swiss-Germans in general can be a bit cool if they notice an accent or someone obviously of another ethnicity but they are also more likely to speak good English than the Swiss-Romands in my experience.
The largest amount of international English speaking companies are in Zurich, Basel and..... around the Lac Léman (from Geneva to Lausanne)
A very large % of the population speaks or tries to speak English. Lausanne and Geneva have large international communities and Lausanne in particular is surrounded by a beautiful natural environment.
At least if you speak French, you won't have to learn a new language! In the German part, even if you speak German you still have to learn a new language.