Just as Greek was not a truely global "lingua franca" , even Latin was not, English will never be a universal language spoken in every village. I would fully agree if we are talking about the Zurich airport police - they should know English and I am sure they do. But a village cop in one of the most rural areas of an already pretty rural country?
I would not call it cultural arrogance, but I find it completely wrong to call anybody who dares to not speak English "illiterate" (and if you make this statement, make sure to spell it right ).
Forgot to add, that the wife speaks french as her first language, but no luck there either. But I had thought maybe English could be the common base....
In England we have something called 'Language Line". If you want to report a crime and don't speak English, which in London is very common, you ask what language they speak, call Language Line and get over-the-phone interpreting. Anything more serious and you bring in an interpreter in person. Is there not something similar in Switzerland?
I expect that if you insisted and it was a serious matter that the police have access to a 24hr language line who can speak to you on the phone and relay to the police. They will also have access to professional interpretors who are independent and impartial who would be used for statements and interviews.
I worked in West London for many years and we had many many languages to cope with and could not hope to communicate effectively in them all. We always managed to muddle through though.
I would actually think though that those police who do not "Speak" English would understand the basics as they would have had some input from school. I have my Deutsch Certificate but cannot speak German. I could however understand a bit of simple crime reporting and get the jist.
Perserverance, patience and understanding is the key I think.
caz
In England, if communication was not possible, Language Line would always be used, no matter how trivial the report. It is not acceptable for a crime to go unreported because of language barriers, and it is the police's responsibility to overcome communication problems. I just wondered if it would not be the same here.
What - you mean all these people immigrating to the UK couldn't be bothered to learn English, the NUMBER ONE language, today's lingua franca, and were merely content to be illiterate ?
I am frankly shocked and awed.
I agree with you Blakey - we did use language line all the time. I was querying the access to this here for station reports possibly out of hours and possibly in an area not used to having a language barrier - ie not in zentral Zurich. It is a costly service to run and use. It was used by all public services. Maybe they don't have such a thing here.
I suppose a short cut would be to phone them - language line - yourself and hand the phone to the police
caz
True it is completely wrong, illiterate means unable to read & write.
Not sure of the correct word to describe somebody who cannot speak English, maybe inarticulate?
let's cut to the chase here - this is Switzerland and, whilst it's very clockwork-like and ordered, don't leave your laptop in your car.
the issue of language is an interesting one. As the demographics show that Germans and Italians are most common in the Swiss-German area, do you think that police officers should be compelled to speak English as well as (most likely) two other languages?
the best thing you could do is to go to a police office/station and report it there. You have much more in the way of non-spoken communication to fall back on and it'll probably restore your faith in humanity.
and never ever leave your laptop in your car. Did they really enter through the windscreen?!!
finally - LOL at J.L-P..... finding the cop with the worst eyesight in town
Much like I expect to be able to find that there are specific officers within the force who can individually speak many languages in LA, NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, etc etc... I am relatively sure that there are specific officers who can speak a variety of languages in Bern, Geneva, Zürich and Basel.
The rate of expectation for this goes down considerably in the smaller towns and the more you go off the path that may be beaten by Americans, Brits, Aussies, Canadians, etc etc.
Calling Switzerland a "touristic country" is ridiculous. It is a country where plenty of folks visit, yes BUT even in Orlando (talking about touristic areas!) you are much more likely to find police officers who speak Spanish and English as opposed to German, Italian, French or (it would be a minor miracle) Romansch because those two languages are languages they can expect to encounter every single day.
I am still continually amazed and think it is fantastic to find people on the street who can speak English. I "expect" that it is a good possibility that someone within the larger police departments speak English and Chinese and Turkish and.. and... but not everyone. That's a bit much to expect, eh?
Further, I expect that that specific officer who is conversant with that specific language... gets to go home to sleep and eat and relax.
I'm sure in a stressful situation that isn't the top of your mind... but it bears thinking about NOW.
My impression is here in switzerland lot of people know english but refuse to speak to you in english. Considering schwyz canton is more nationalistic than others I am not surprised. The trick is start with a bit of german and change it to english, atleast they know you are making an effort to learn/integrate and in most cases try to help you out
I also have issues with language - I am, in a word, crap. Which is why, if I need to report something to the police I go there in person as I find it much easier to deal with a foreign language in person rather than at the end of a phone. It soon becomes apparent to even the ploddiest plod that switching to English would be a good idea .
I have never met a policeperson in Switzerland that could not speak English better than I speak German. Worst case, between the two we normally make our selves understood in Germglish.
There's something Gothic about that, but I can't put my finger on it.
Wasn't a Maserati, was it?
And did you accept?
Kids in school in Zurich speak good English. As can majority of young and not so young adults. But I have found many shy about using it and many more, excessively modest about their ability.
However I have also found strange reactions when being compelled to use it, depending on the manner and appearance of the English speaker in front of them.
They don't speak English in Canton Congo?
You do surprise me...
A couple of years ago, my residence permit disappeared from the office which was handling its renewal. Despite the fact that I had personally handed it in across the desk a mere fortnight before, they informed me that it was my responsibility to report the 'theft', since it was my loss, not theirs (they were lovely about it, though, and smiled warmly as they told me this, so it wasn't all bad).
I wandered along to the local cantonal police station (in Zurich, not Congo, thank goodness), went up to the counter, noticed the plastic kangaroo on the desk, the postcards of Ayer's Rock on the windowsill, and the six foot wide Australian flag hung across the back wall, and proceeded to jabber away to the duty officer in English, confident that he would understand everything, being such an obvious Ozzophile. I was so confident, in fact, that it never crossed my mind to ask if it was OK to speak English, as I would normally do in such a situation.
Twenty minutes later, my statement was filed, and I was ready to leave. Before turning to go, however, I asked the duty officer how long he had spent in Australia.
"I've never been there - all this stuff belongs to one of my colleagues. He loves the place."
Since then, I always address people in German, regardless of their apparent competence in English. If they reply in English, then I continue in English. If they don't, and it concerns something really important, then I might ask them very nicely if they wouldn't mind possibly indulging me by speaking English. If that doesn't work, then I just get on with it, with the aid of a dictionary and lots of hand waving.
But I never make presumptions like I did at the police station.
And I shall never again greet a police officer with a cheery "G'day mate" and a wink...
Very often, the officers working at the communication centres are older sergeants who are closer to the pension than the academy. No offence to them You should get better luck in a urban police station.
While I have more sympathy for this situation then the COOP not having their website in English issue. I still can not understand why as English speakers we expect the locals to speak English.
In innnerschwyz I would not expect people to speak English as well as the majority of Zürchers appear to. That goes for the local plod too.
As a minimum it might be worth while learning off something like:
Es tut mir sehr leid, aber Ich spreche sehr wenig Deutsch. Sprechen Sie English?
I'm very sorry, but I speak very little German. Do you speak English?
Nope, that day I was driving a vroom*, not the vroom .
Accept?
*an A6
And in true Islamsts-will-take-over-the-world-with-minarets style, where will this "All Cops Speak the Queens English" dictum end ? Will understanding a crime description be enough ? Will they have to be versed in the understanding of terms like "Guvnor", "Sarge" and "Your Nicked me old beauty".
Will it extend to police raids with a compulsory "Shut up, you slaaaag" as they cuff someone just in case the prisoner happens not to be a local ?
Let them build minarets. thats what I say.
As a minimum I would expect them to understand "don't shoot!" .