Why is it so hard to make friends in Switzerland?

• I have been living for 4 months now in Switzerland - and all my friends are foreigners!!! Why is it so hard to make German friends? Sometimes I get the impression that they prefer to stay amongst themselves. This is not really what I expected when I came here.
  

  07 Jun 2007, 05:22 Ben

Replies

• Make new friends in Geneva

  Hello,
  
  My name is David Martins, I'm 28, I'm Portuguese and I arrived to Geneva in last December.
  I'm looking for a group of friends to hang out, ride bicycle, do some weekend trips/travels, ...
  If someone is interested please email me at: david.martins (at) gmail.com

  David Martins 07 Jun 2009, 04:02 - Report

• Germany is just the same

  Lived and worked in Bad Kreuznach for 2 years and its just the same. I think in general most German speaking countries are a bit cold and do not want to be friends. Its not their culture.

  Johnny Norfolk 27 Jun 2009, 12:31 - Report

• Explanation

  I moved to Zurich "to see about a girl" that I met in South America on a trip 2 years ago. We have always had a good time together and like each other but broke up 2 weeks ago because of "me not being able to be who I am". We both know that this is due to me not having the life I had in Canada. After 2 years of trying every single possible way of meeting friends, I have some acquaintances as best. This is coming from someone who moved more than 20 times in his life between various countries and never had this issue.
  Talking to my ex's friends and locals quite often made me realize what it is... It's the language. Swiss germans don-t like speaking german and often tell me they wish I could speak swiss because that is their mother tongue. The only way to truly integrate is to learn the language! Simple as that. Otherwise you are bound to hang out only with ex-pats.

  Quidam 27 Jun 2009, 09:50 - Report

• you must know something

  it is fobidden to criticize switzerland. No matter neither if what you say it's true not if you say it politely. Any criticim constructive or not will be deleted.

  thank you for being pilitically correct. 11 Jul 2009, 11:46 - Report

• meeting people in Swiss

  Hi..
  
  I am new to geneva...i am from Singapore, i knew some nice swiss people and made some turkish friends too. Unfortunately, its too tough for me, being non-EU passport holder, to find any employment here...
  
  My email is [email removed]....i would like to know if anyone can recommend me a job...
  
  Rach

  Rachel 22 Jul 2009, 04:27 - Report

• A country is only as nice and beautiful as its people :-)

  This went through my head yesterday - after another 2.5 years re-patriating in Switzerland -the country I was born and raised in and lived in for over 35 years by now! Why the h... does your forum come up first in my google search???? I wanted to see if there is s.b. out there who thinks the same - just to find that there are many of your - and the country is Switzerland!!
  Is this maybe because this is most true for Switzerland and the Swiss????
  I also lived in and visited other countries like USA, Canada, Australia, Italy, Georgia and even Germany ... and as I read in most of your comments me too experienced that the people were on average much nicer, friendlier, happier, genuinely better spirited, than here in the land of milk, honey, chocolate & money (a new rhime .
  Is this maybe proof that money alone does not make a happy person?
  I was googleing for "A country is only as nice as its people" ...
  Well, I read some of your opinions and comments and let me maybe provide some insight on the depressive fact:
  It is a problem that Swiss people do not learn to socialize with new people at a young age since they go to Kindergarten and school with the same set of kids their age from age 5 to maybe 17 and more! ... hence their friends from Kindergarten and school - never learnt to make new ones! The expression "to make a friend" does not even exist in Swiss German, there exists only "to have - or not to have - a friend" this is here the question .
  The fear of all foreign is maybe instilled at a little age and over generations by our elders, since somehow Switzerland survived a few wars outside the armed conflict by staying neutral and within its borders? I think the entire WWI and WWII Swiss generations are war-traumatised to say the least - even though they survived relatively good compared to the rest of Europe's population. Maybe there should have long been offered a mass therapy for everyone here??
  Last but not least, even when you are Swiss it is difficult to make new friends for some of the same reasons as you quoted - they don't know you, you speak a different dialect .., you might be better or worse off than them which could cause them attacs of superiority feelings or inferiority complexes, they have already a full schedule and don't see the benefit of meeting new people .. and at the same time risking to change some of their set views or habits over it. Myself I am married to an non-Swiss, a so called Ausländer (s.b. from out of the country), which some Swiss find very disturbing, and trust me, they find ways to let you know that.
  Last but not least, once you have gained a Swiss friend, s/he is with you (not there for you) as long as you play in the same league, but the minute you need their support small or little most disappear from your life instantly like birds that see a hungry cat.
  So I have come to the conclusion that a country is only as nice and beautiful as its people, and in that statistic, do not look up Switzerland in the top rankings.
  To all the Swiss, treat yourself and your friends and maybe even a neighbour to icecream with Swiss chocolate if you do not fit into my stereotyping . To all the non-Swiss, do the same if you happened to think its just you - because its not .

  Barb N. 28 Jul 2009, 02:49 - Report

• Hi!

  I like to live in switzerland & my favourite country is it ,I visited switzerland once and i got many friends there.actually i think it's really easy to make friends with them,cause there so good . i am 19 years old and i study in england ,but my home country is italy.my ambition is to become an actress and a manager in switzerland.

  Nethma nishadi 03 Aug 2009, 03:24 - Report