My name is Alex, and I’m a 25-year-old recent UK university graduate originally from Cyprus. I’m moving to Delémont soon to start my career in engineering. While I’m excited to begin this new chapter, I’d love to hear any insights about life in Delémont, especially from other English speakers living in the area.
As someone who primarily speaks Greek and English, I’m curious about how easy it is to get by in a French-speaking town, and I’d love any tips on fun things to do or places to explore. Looking forward to hearing from you all and hopefully connecting with some locals or fellow expats!
Welcome to the forum! Delemont is a nice area, lots of inexpensive property to rent Inexpensive! Set in rural surroundings, no need for a long commute! Schoolboy level French should be enough. Many speak English. Brilliant Aldi, which you may remember from student times! Delemont is the home of Schaublin, famous Swiss lathe manufacturer of years gone by, Lots of Swiss hobby engineers have a Schaublin or similar Swiss lathe. Just about the best place to start a career expense wise. I am interested in engineering and have bought numerous items off local engineering firms via ricardo.ch. Very popular area for horse riding too.
They are not very big! The 70 will fit in a suitcase! The 102’s are reasonably priced. I paid 130chf for a 102 with a nice 1950s cross slide but without a tailstock. It has a monster Brown Boverie 3 phase motor that was heavier than the lathe! Best ever small purchase was a box of Vallorbe hand files, normal sized, about 13mm wide. Cutting metal for the first time with those is like using a perfectly set up Ferrari manual transmission, compared to a really nice Ford Fiesta transmission that you previously thought was fantastic. Some of this stuff is really on another level. I actually think this must be the best region in the world to start an Engineering career too. Couple that with the best all round value housing in Europe. The people I have interacted with most of the time, if they are born and bred here as engineers and still doing it as a hobby, are simply on another level. One person designed robots and wafer steppers for semiconductor manufacturing. You can’t make it up!
Wife works there every once in a while. I have just visited for the weekend. It’s a calm town, and in spite of being in a French speaking canton it’s common to listen German in restaurants and bars in the town center. I have the impression of being a bit more open than other regions in Switzerland.
From the nature side, you’ll see some snow very soon. Delémont is at the feet of Jura, the hiking paths marked with yellow signs are endless
Hi, Alex! Welcome to the group! Interesting times await you in Delémont! Although French is the main language, many people speak English, especially young people. It will be hard at first but with time you get used to it. You only have to visit the local parks and cafes to admire this beauty. I have been living here for 5 years and I can honestly tell you that it is a lively city with many interesting things.
