I find locals in the Zurich area to generally be quite forgiving with Swiss German when spoken with an American accent, candidly because many of them find it funny. when the older folks switch to English it is often out of courtesy, and for many of the younger folks it is because they have a genuine interest in improving their conversational English.
come to think of it, the only time I have had my miserable Swiss German corrected publicly is by German waiters, shop assistants, etc., who typically make a point to correct my Swiss German into German (even when the Swiss German is correct).
With one of your earlier threads, I felt sympathy for you and I, along with other people, tried to offer you some advice, help, and companionship, which you seemed to ignore in favor of starting multiple dumb threads about the same subject. You keep harping on about utterly insignificant things like binge drinking and smoking like your life depended on it.
Im going to go out on a limb here and suggest that your problems go much, much deeper than your physical location. You've been here for one month and you're already complaining about a lack of friends, employment, the difficulty of learning Swiss german, and the variety of restaurants. How naive does someone have to be to expect to move to a country, learn the language, make friends, get to know the surroundings, and find a job in 30 days? I can barely fathom the level of impatience it must take to want to give up on an international move in a month.
But as Prof says it really depends on where you are. We were in Hanover and now we're in Neuchâtel which has the huge advantage of being French speaking.
Tom
Is the US or Canada a better place to live?
Is Middle Earth or Hogwarts a better place to live?
Belgian chocolate is great, though.
A DINK couple with a high income benefits a lot from the generally lower tax rates in Switzerland. However, the higher cost of daycare in Switzerland (and the discriminatory tax on the second salary) may make it near impossible for the second partner to find any job here.
For example the above comment is just bizarre and completely incomprehensible to me. As is the whole smoking issue. So MY vote would be Switzerland, which doesn't really help you, does it?
All I can say is pack your bags and head north my son.
@OP However, I'm always open to be proved wrong with some nice italian beers just tell me about them .
Lived and worked in Brussels for over three years. Best thing about it is the Eurostar that gets you to civilization in under two hours.
I am not into comparisons but Brussels is very ordinary. A dull, flat, dour version of Switzerland without any of the Swiss upside.
There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch