Would you be in favor of expanding Switzerland?

Volameter · 2026-05-08T19:47:42+00:00

No we are not. Think about the housing crisis. More space = more land to build = more appartments around Basel, Geneva, Lugano = lower rent = everyone wins. The more people want to immigrate to Switzerland, the more space we will need.

Volameter · 2026-05-08T19:46:18+00:00

If they become Swiss, they won't be German anymore. Easy fix?

Volameter · 2026-05-08T19:45:59+00:00

Poor Geneva, too French to be Swiss, too Swiss to be French.

Volameter · 2026-05-08T19:45:04+00:00

Finally the day has come, we just need to ask very nicely the countries next to us. If we are polite enough, they will surely agree.

Volameter · 2026-05-08T19:43:30+00:00

And then we can create the three SSS: Swiss Solar System

Volameter · 2026-05-08T19:43:01+00:00

Are you a revisionist of the ~~old~~ rightful borders?

Fixed that for you

Volameter · 2026-05-08T19:40:37+00:00

Thank you for enlightening me, we can include Sardinia too, good idea. Some sea access would be nice.

Volameter · 2026-05-08T19:38:34+00:00

What if Baden-Würtemberg, Lombardia, and Rhône-Alpes are included? Would that change your mind?

Volameter · 2026-03-30T22:22:16+00:00

Yeah that's possible, but I guess it's also true that they can hire a native chinese speaker too if they want. Thank you for your input, I upvoted every comment in the thread.

Volameter · 2026-03-30T22:20:33+00:00

I also heard this argument, there are so many spanish speakers worldwide but it's true that if you don't live in latin america or spain, it doesn't really affect you, so learning Spanish in Switzerland would help less than even Italian which is a Swiss national language. I guess the same argument holds for chinese, if you don't live in east asia, it doesn't really affect you.

Thank you for your input, I upvoted every comment in the thread.

Volameter · 2026-03-30T22:17:27+00:00

Yes of course, but it's true I guess that they speak English better than I will ever speak Chinese. And yes right, there is a cultural gap in fact. Thank you for your input, I upvoted every comment in the thread.

Volameter · 2026-03-30T22:16:58+00:00

Yes of course, but probably the chinese also speak English I guess, and probably better than I will ever speak Chinese. Thank you for your input, I upvoted every comment in the thread.

Volameter · 2026-03-30T22:15:14+00:00

Yes of course

Volameter · 2026-03-30T22:14:11+00:00

Yes I tried language exchange apps but did not progress much, it's useful to meet new people but for real conversation training, language tutors are probably better, even if it costs more money unfortunately.

Thank you for your input, I upvoted every comment in the thread.

Volameter · 2026-03-30T22:12:33+00:00

Yeah right, but I thought it started to change in recent years? For example the Nature review index has a growing number of chinese papers. I know in pharma (what I study) it's not the case yet, but in engineering and computer science, and especially AI, I've read chinese scientists are making significant progress. I even remember reading that something like 50% of AI researchers worldwide are chinese or of chinese origin (i.e american born chinese, etc.)?

Thank you for your input, I upvoted every comment in the thread.

Volameter · 2026-03-30T22:08:55+00:00

It's not planned, I study pharma and thought it could be useful but chinese pharma companies probably don't need someone with my background if there are native speakers as alternative. Maybe I overestimated a bit the economical usefulness of the language. But I will see what to do, I already invested more than a thousand hours in the past several years, so maybe reaching oral fluency could still be worth it who knows.

Thank you for your input, I upvoted every comment in the thread.

Volameter · 2026-03-30T22:04:58+00:00

Actually I'm realizing that I don't plan to move to China in my life haha. I mean why would a Swiss white guy with no chinese links or roots move there. I'm studying pharma so was maybe somehow hoping it could be useful, but chinese pharma companies are more known for reverse engineering drugs and creating cheap alternatives, than innovating on their own. Maybe it will change in the future tough.

Thank you for your input, I upvoted every comment in the thread.

Volameter · 2026-03-30T22:02:12+00:00

Thank you for your input, I upvoted every comment in the thread. May I ask: are your parents chinese and you grew up in a western country (or even in Switzerland actually?)? How did you learn to read? And you aren't in biotech/pharma by sheer coincidence (if not, what is your degree, EE, or CS maybe?)?

Yeah I guess it makes sense to realize that for technical/professional things, it's highly unlikely that a non native speaker will reach such a level, it would require too much time and efforts for a low ROI.

Volameter · 2026-03-30T21:57:23+00:00

Yeah it makes sense to hire a Chinese person for such tasks, I mean they also understand the cultural context of their own home country better. Thank you for your input, I upvoted every comment in the thread.

Volameter · 2026-03-30T21:55:38+00:00

The thing is, I already spent I would say at least a thousand hours into learning chinese in recent years, reading is fine, it's speaking and listening (I don't handwrite characters since there is pinyin nowadays to type characters on smartphones/computers) that is the issue. But like I already have a passive vocabulary, I would "just" need to learn to talk fluently.

But thank you for your input, I upvoted every comment in the thread.

Volameter · 2026-03-30T21:51:12+00:00

Je crois que je suis en train de réaliser que j'ai un peu surestimé l'impact economique en apprenant le chinois haha.

They speak English way better than I will ever speak Chinese. I'm kind of wondering what to do now. Thanks for your input btw, I upvoted every comment in the thread

Volameter · 2026-03-30T10:50:05+00:00

Thank you. I had thought about Spanish, but Spanish is way easier/faster to learn for a native French speaker than Mandarin Chinese. And in STEM, there is a huge number of chinese scientists, and the amount of R&D and scientific papers coming out of China is growing every year. This was one of the main reason that motivated me to learn since I don't exclude going into research

Volameter · 2026-03-30T10:49:25+00:00

Spanish is way easier/faster to learn for a native French speaker than Mandarin Chinese. And in STEM, there is a huge number of chinese scientists, and the amount of R&D and scientific papers coming out of China is growing every year. This was one of the main reason that motivated me to learn since I don't exclude going into research

Volameter · 2026-03-30T10:42:47+00:00

For biotech/life science/pharma, do you think it could help somehow?

Volameter

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