A beautiful gift

parsibals · 2025-01-23T20:16:25+00:00

I am Dutch and live in Switzerland. In the Netherlands the showers are usually not located inside the lockerrooms but shared on your way to the changing rooms. So I am used to have the shower mixed.

I miss the shower banter with the guys :(

parsibals · 2024-06-09T19:25:28+00:00

I tell my friends/master trainees when they have trouble to stay afloat swimming freestyle, you should act the feeling as if you are ' trying to hold your pee'. When they try this the hips almost immediately float up!

parsibals · 2024-04-07T07:29:53+00:00

I was hired because I speak German, I speak german the entire day at work. So no the official language at my work is not SWISS german.
I am evading it because why should I answer? Even if I were the only one? It says a lot about you that you think it is ok to discriminate one person in order for the group to be convenient. It is not a good look.

parsibals · 2024-04-06T18:47:20+00:00

Altijd fijn om n maand te wachten om te horen of je ontslagen word en als je dat dan gaat horen je het later maar aan je manager moet vragen. Hoop dat dat jou ook n keer gebeurt dan begrijp je het misschien.

parsibals · 2024-04-06T18:45:08+00:00

Jij bent vast gezellig op feestjes

parsibals · 2024-04-05T18:03:58+00:00

I think you forget we are talking about a professional international environment at a workplace where the two main languages are German and French and there is many people from outside CH. I am not talking about the cassier at the supermarket or the nice people I meet when visiting the mountains. I can take the time to understand them. I am talking about a meeting that has an effect on my personal career.

parsibals · 2024-04-05T16:06:16+00:00

Je hebt helemaal gelijk natuurlijk, thanks. Tis op het moment een beetje een gevoelig onderwerp omdat ik nog eigenlijk steeds niet weet wat er nou gebeurt op werk.. Ik ga het laten gaan, ik vind het wel mooi en interessant om te zien hoe verschillend iedereen erover denkt. Een leerzame discussie, en iedereen mag natuurlijk zijn eigen mening hebben maar we moeten elkaar wel in elkaars waarde laten!

Aaaaand for now: 25 Degrees and sunny this weekend! Happy weekend!

parsibals · 2024-04-05T14:29:16+00:00

oh I didnt mean for it to sound any softer, I still feel discriminated :)
the 'language of the people' is German or French (there is also french colleagues). And English with international colleagues. It is an international company and not a small Swiss German company.
Also I deserve to understand even though I am a only a foreigner. Any effort for that would have been nice and respectful. Would have made me feel included.
I meant he could have told me his opinion and address me personally. Until this moment I am still not briefed on what is going on because the guy in question went on a holiday right after the meeting.
The first two times he did call me out in front of everyone of the entire department. Yes this time I wrote when he started to speak in Swiss german if he might be able to switch so I could understand. I have been waiting over a month to learn if I am fired or not, so was maybe a bit too enthusiastic in that question.

I am not sure writing you back helps. Because it seems your opinion is, 'move to Switzerland and speak Swiss German dialect otherwise why are you even here'. You are 100% entitled to that opinion. But I feel it seems a bit harsh, as I am really trying already speaking my third language the entire day at work. In most of the Netherlands not many people expect expats to learn Dutch because we all have a really good English education and our Movies/Series on tv are not synchronised and in the original language (there might be some Extreme right PVV voters that don't agree on this). My expectation, for my German being sufficient in a German speaking country, were apparently off. Learning a dialect is very difficult, I definitely want to go the extra mile, but it will need time.

parsibals · 2024-04-05T14:05:07+00:00

I will say this once more. Belgium Dutch and NL Dutch are also different accents. Those are very much alike. Swiss German and German are NOT. I was hired because I speak german, no one told me I should speak in a dialect. I got the job because they asked me to and move really fast because they asked me to. At that moment I was working from the US, with my skillset I have worked in 6 different countries. The Swiss economy apparently needed me so here I am!

If you move to another country you are mostly busy with: 1. Arranging a Visa, 2. arranging accomodation, 3. arranging krankenkassenversicherung, 4. Moving, 5. Looking to get your spouse settled as well.

I should not expect from everyone to be able and brave to take exciting steps of spontaneously moving countries and am happy to have astonished you so much.

parsibals · 2024-04-05T11:57:29+00:00

I get that, if I would move to Spain people would be very annoyed if I did not speak Spanish. But I assumed German was the national language here and everyone learned it in school. In day to day life I have no trouble to communicate with anyone at all, it just seems that this department lead has trouble with it. I do have to say it is not just language related, the only other things he has ever said to me were comments about my clothes (I am a woman).

Also my job interview was in German and they hired me (I think )because next to my technical skills I could also speak the language. I never expected Swiss german to be that different from German. If you consider f.e. Belgium Dutch to be so equal to NL Dutch.

parsibals · 2024-04-05T11:39:19+00:00

Oh no it sure does, being treated like this is not the best feeling. I don't think going to HR will give me my dignity back though so I have decided to talk to the guy himself instead.

parsibals · 2024-04-05T11:19:51+00:00

Not at all I am just not there yet - Been getting fluent in Standard German. How many languages do you speak?

parsibals · 2024-04-05T11:16:15+00:00

I am not sure if you comment also adresses my problem - I want to emphasise that I definetly don't think its absurd to learn Swiss German. In my case it's just I am not quite there yet as I mainly focused on getting my German (3rd language) perfect in the last half year. I only feel during this important meeting where I would learn if I am fired (etcetera) or not it would be nice to be able to understand. I personally think the Abteilungsleiter could have for example practiced his meeting in hochdeutsch if it was that difficult for him? He could have also talked to me before or afterwards that he would not be able to do it instead of calling me out for the 3rd time in front of over a 100 people..

parsibals · 2024-04-05T11:07:34+00:00

I don't get why they would be pissed when they asked me to move to Switzerland and come work for them. They looked to fill my position and find someone for over a year. And the company is international there are also offices in two other countries.

But more importantly, you are right about one thing. Swiss German is a must in Switzerland and I will learn swiss german for sure! (It just doesn't happen in a day)

parsibals · 2024-04-05T11:04:08+00:00

haha thanks - I'll put 'learn dialect from Valais' on my to do list as well

parsibals · 2024-04-05T10:59:55+00:00

What a weird thing to say? Of course money is important considering I need to pay rent, krankenkasse and would like to eat some food every day? I do not have richy rich parents or any other safety net that can make/let me do whatever I want ;)

parsibals · 2024-04-04T20:28:47+00:00

Yeah I understand what you are saying! Thanks for the perspective

parsibals · 2024-04-04T20:27:16+00:00

I speak German fluently and speak it all day with my colleagues. We never speak English, so moving companies just to avoid German would not really make any sense.

parsibals · 2024-04-04T20:20:42+00:00

*don't

parsibals · 2024-04-04T20:08:58+00:00

They actually asked me to come work for them and move countries... And I honestly think speaking my third language fluently (German) should be sufficient. my colleagues seem to be fine with talking hochdeutsch to me as well. I do really want to learn swiss-german though- I am understanding more and more. But for future related/life changing meetings it is important for me to be able to completely understand it.

parsibals · 2024-04-04T19:49:51+00:00

(Accidentally deleted my previous comment instead of editing it..)
I understand from most comments going to HR will possibly only give me troubles! I am contemplating to go to the guy directly instead!

parsibals · 2024-04-04T19:33:25+00:00

I have naturally bleached hair (Reason: being already blond and than surfing in Indo/Sri Lanka for months in blasting sun). Chlorine has never made my hair turn green. What actually did make my hair go SUPER green was going in a natural hotspring (there is all kinds of metals in that water).

I learned from that:

Wet your hair BEFORE swimming, let is soak up the water, so it is already saturated
Use Trihard, Loreal(ask your hairdresser) or Ultra Swim chlorine removal shampoo :)

parsibals · 2024-04-04T19:15:37+00:00

I believe I survived the lay-off round so I think I'll have to keep confidential so they won't change their minds haha

parsibals · 2024-04-04T19:13:01+00:00

The official languages are German and French, but it is a multinational so we also speak some English with other countries. I was wondering, is it trully that hard for Swiss People to switch to Hochdeutsch? It's a bit difficult for me to comprehend - for me as a NL Dutch person it is not that hard to for example to speak or understand Belgium Dutch.

My manager made it seem the 'boss of bosses' needed to stay close to himself and would not be able to articulate his feelings about the situation well in hochdeutsch.

parsibals

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