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Kind of akin, when I worked in England for a while, to converse with an African, who spoke to me with a perfect British accent ! For an an American that is really strange ...
Why is that strange? Are you not aware that British English is the variant taught in Anglophone Africa? Makes sense, doesn't it? But you're right, "perfect" British accent is unusual unless someone was raised in England. Most English-speaking Africans have an accent from their Native language's influence.
I would tell you what the typical salary rates are for the work I do, but how much *I* make is none of anybodys business ...
I lived and worked there, and never encountered any Swiss person interested in what I earned in Switzerland. They DID want to know how much they could earn in the USA ... !
What I did find was that it was extremely frustrating to work with Swiss people, with me as an American telling them what they HAD to do and HOW ! They were working under American Contract conditions !!
Sorry people you sign on the bottom line, you do what I tell you !
Otherwise, outside the workplace, they were not half bad ...
Kind of run of mill attitude you find all over the world.
Maybe the fact that I do speak the languages spoken there (except Romansch) helped a bit ?
I have no problems with their local dialect at all.
They found it interesting that a *brownface* could converse with them in their local lingo !
Kind of akin, when I worked in England for a while, to converse with an African, who spoke to me with a perfect British accent ! For an an American that is really strange ...
It seems to me that the problem was you, not the Swiss. I have worked for American companies as well, and some people there, not all of course, had the odd notion that they knew better how to do things than locals. Well, they did not of course. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. If there is a country in Europe where people know how to run things, it is Switzerland, which is why their economy is rock solid, unlike the American one. American companies coming to Europe do so because they want something from Europe, not the other way round. Good companies come here because they want to benefit from the European differences and way of doing things. If an American company considers itself so great, it should just stay in the US and export its finished stuff or whatever.
Also, some Americans have a very hierarchical way of thinking, almost military, which is luckily not the way Europeans think.
I am really happy I am a freelancer, I totally disliked the American companies I used to work for, and I told them when I quit.
Nor does a contract with an American company mean that local laws and regulations do not apply. It is funny, American companies often give me terms and conditions to translate. I do it and take the money, but I don't tell them that those translations are mostly null and void because German law is not American law.
Another thing I noticed in your post, and not only in this post of yours, is the term brown face. At one of the companies I used to work, there was an Indian colleague, also a brown face if you will. He had that huge inferiority complex and tried to compensate for it by being particularly ambitious, the know-it-all type, always trying to be the center of attention and steal other people's moments. Judging from your way of writing you seem to be similar...
Of course black people outside the US speak British Engish, ever listened to a Sade interview? When she sings she uses neutral English, but when she talks, she can't hide her British and Nigerian roots.
Since boredom seems to be the problem parts of Detroit are pretty exciting. Give it a shot.
No for real the thread was launched out of curiosity. But for sure there are more relaxing places (people, community etc.) than the one Zurich is. What comes in mind is for example San Diego, CA. Pretty awesome place......
If he is Swiss he can probably not simply move to the US or other countries outside the EU.
Maybe...maybe not <:-)
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