Hi all,
My wife, 1 year old son and I are considering to move to Basel. We both speak English and French. Obviously our 1 year old son does not speak any languages yet
My question is: how feasible is to work in Basel but to live and commute every day from a French speaking Swiss canton? Would that be a bad idea?
My preference would be to live in a French speaking area for two reasons: I am more familiar with French than with the German language (our knowledge of German is zero) and I find French a more useful and appealing language for my son to learn than German (some may disagree).
On the other hand I read a few people not being too optimistic about being a frontalier and living in France so I wonder if living in a Swiss French speaking canton and working Basel is feasible at all feasible and generally a good idea.
Hopefully member ecb will be here soon to tell you of her family's experience with the same. It works really well I think- the Jura Canton is quite close, and another bonus is that property and rentals are much cheaper. You could look at the area around Délémont- with goo road and train links. It makes total sense if you speak French already, and then your son will learn German at school later.
The closest French-speaking canton is the Jura. Its capital, Delémont, is a 40mins car ride from Basel, so yes, that is doable as a commute.
Every other French-speaking canton is too far out, imo, for a daily commute.
Others can probably comment better on what makes more sense. You should know, though, that at least in public schools in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, French is still being taught as a foreign language (at least as of now, though there's ongoing discussions about this) and this is mandatory, so at least there'll be some exposure. I am not sure if the opposite applies, i.e. if German is taught on a mandatory basis in the French-speaking part.
I also wouldn't discard the idea of living in France and border-commute, literally thousands do that every day. However, of course there's additional things to consider in the mid- to long-run, e.g. child care, schooling etc. as there might be substantial differences between France and Switzerland (with the latter not necessarily being the better choice).
Thanks Odile and Samaire. Very helpful!
Others: please feel free to write your opinion and tips here.
Thanks!
German is taught as the first foreign language in the schools in the French speaking part and is mandatory. English is then started a couple of years later as a second foreign language.
From what I've heard English is taught first followed by French in the majority of the German speaking cantons.
Delemont would be a very easy commute to Basel if you didn't want to live in France ( and there advantages and disadvantages to that).
My husband has several colleagues who commute daily from Basel to Neuchatel which seems a bit long to me but Biel/Bienne which is bilingual French/German may be an option.
Ah that is good to know Yeah it might have changed in the meantime, I don't have kids so don't know first-hand how it is these days, but when I went to school in the German-speaking part it was French first as of the 6th grade (I think) and English as of the 9th (I went to the Gymnasium, Sek/Biz/Real probably started earlier). So I studied French for a much longer time than English, but you might be right and they switched this by now with English being the first foreign language.
I think the ideal case would really be a combination of both languages, which then probably speaks for living in Switzerland rather than France.
Would you consider living in France?
Plenty of ex pats live in Basel & don't speak more than a few words of German, you could walk over the border to France if you want to practice your French.
I know an American in Geneva, who after living there for 20 years, married to a Swiss French girl with 2 children still can't order a coffee in French.
Here I am! Been out for the day (in France )
Yes it is a very easy commute from Delémont to Basel - indeed closer than from many of the "greater Basel" towns in terms of time spent - 30 mins to SBB. Wouldn't dream of taking the car in though, but that's because I don't like driving! There is quite a big group of Jurassien commuters on the station daily, so its not just us.
We used to live in Baselland but for reasons linked principally to language (we are billingual French/English) decided to sell up in BL and move to Delémont. In comparison to BL, housing is cheaper (although not hugely cheaper to rent in comparison to the suburbs and outlying towns - 125 m2 in a dated 1980s building in central Delémont with garage space was 2100chf per month. Seemed pricey to me considering it was not at all uptodate and the kitchen basically merited only being ripped out). But there is a lot of building going on and there are now a lot of modern apartment blocks (of the likes you find easily in neighbouring BL) on the market. Buying land is hugely cheaper if you want to consider eventually building something.
Big drawback is that taxes are very high. We pay over 10 000 chf per year more here than we paid in Baselland. Yes, you read that right. Closer to 12,000 if I'm honest, but I don't like scaring myself by saying that.
Come visit. We love it here but it's not everyone's cup of tea. By the way, OH is French and we have both been educated in France. It is mainly this reason which made us decide that France wasn't for us - but that's a very personal decision and I am sure that it absolutely does not mean that there aren't some excellent schools and good things being done in the French education system. It just didn't at the time particularly impress us.
PS German as a foreign language starts at primary 3 (5H) and English starts at primary 5 (7H) and there is even a bilingual French/German option. For the main the Suisse Romande Cantons seem further ahead with the Harmos initiative than Baselland or Baselstadt - Jura certainly had been teaching German to 8 yr olds for some years now - BL are only just starting with the converse.
Quite a few people live over the French border and commute to Basel. Maybe that is worth looking at.
Cheers,
Nick
Thanks everyone for your advise and tips. This is extremely helpful!
Leaving In France could be an option but I have read some posts here with quite a few people complaining about France when comparing it to Switzerland.
If there are schools in Basel that are 50/50 German/French that could be a good option for our child. Is that schooling model common in Basel? Are there many schools that offer that type of bilingual model?
What concerns me more is my wife and I having to learn yet another language (German) when we are just getting to be OKish with our French. Our wife and I speak our 2 different native languages with our son plus English at work and between us and French in Belgium where we live now. To thrown in yet another language (German) seems like a bit too much for us at this stage and I would rather continue improving our French. That's mainly why a French speaking area is much more appealing to us.
Have your read the many people complaining about Switzerland?
My husband and I both live in France and work in BSL.
For us its fine. Best of both worlds really but each to their own!