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LIVING IN SWITZERLAND

Six services that will make your life in Switzerland easier

If you have just arrived in Switzerland — or even if you've been here for a while — you may not know that there are associations and services which could be useful in your everyday life. We've compiled them for you.

Six services that will make your life in Switzerland easier
Jining a motoring organisation will ensure 24/7 roadside service. Image by Ulrike Mai from Pixabay

Whether you are a foreigner or a Swiss citizen, sometimes you are faced with problems and are not sure who can help you handle them.

Joining a group that will offer practical or legal advice specific to your situation, protect your rights, and generally simplify your life, can be invaluable.

Here are some that are worth the (usually reasonable) membership fee:

Tenants association

If you are a tenant, as most people in Switzerland are, you could benefit from joining your local tenants’ group.

Not only will it be a good source of information relating to your rights and obligations, and answer any questions about your tenancy, but it will also advocate for you if you ever have a disagreement or conflict with your landlord (provided, of course, that you have a defendable case).

These groups are divided according to linguistic regions, which means you can easily find one in your area:

Swiss German
Swiss French
Swiss Italian

The annual membership fee is about 100 francs. You can find out what it entitles you to (and what additional fees there are for specific services) on your section’s website.

Consumer rights group

As is the case with the tenants’ association, consumer protection organisations also provide guidance and legal advice to its members on all kinds of problems they could be facing.

They have experts on all aspects of consumer law handling a variety of complaints — whether relating to questionable ingredients found in certain foods, or unfair/abusive business practices.

Here too, the association has branches in the three linguistics regions — German, French, and Italian — and the annual fee varies according to the branch and membership level.

Automobile club

In Switzerland, the Touring Club Schweiz / Touring Club Suisse / Touring Club Svizzera — TCS — offers benefits that extend far beyond those relating to driving. 

Aside from the very useful 24/7 emergency roadside service, which includes (but is not limited to) changing flat tyres, re-starting batteries, and towing disabled vehicles to a service station — the TCS also provides services that are not strictly associated with motoring.

For instance, once you join the organisation — basic fees range from 55 francs to 111 francs a year, depending on age and whether they are individual or family memberships — TCS will also provide (for an additional fee) services such as medical evacuation and global health insurance that covers the medical costs incurred abroad and not refunded by the Swiss policies.

Rega

While primarily intended to rescue injured skiers from mountain areas and other places that are not accessible to land ambulances — its crew consisting of a pilot, emergency doctor and paramedic — this air service is also operating far beyond Switzerland’s borders.

According to Rega website, it can “organise and execute medical evacuations and medically escorted repatriations from virtually any country in the world” back to Switzerland thanks to its three long-range Challenger 650 ambulance-jets, which are fitted out as intensive-care units. 

You can become a ‘patron’ (REGA doesn’t use the word ‘member’) for a mere 40 francs a month.

A REGA helicopter flies above mountains in the Swiss resort of St Moritz. Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP
 

READ ALSO: What you need to know about Switzerland’s air rescue service

Reka

Not to be confused with Rega, Reka is not so much a service or an organisation but rather a money-saving voucher system.

It can, for instance, be used for holidays, leisure activities, transport, and meals.

Its main benefit is that you will receive a discount every time you shop with the Reka card or vouchers, and can save up to 20 percent on purchases.

The article below explains this consumer-friendly system.

READ ALSO: What is Switzerland’s Reka payment system and how do I use it?

And don’t forget the apps!

A good way to find your way around Switzerland is to download some very useful apps — they will not only provide important information, but also make your everyday life easier:

READ ALSO: Seven apps to make your life in Switzerland easier

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For members

SWITZERLAND EXPLAINED

‘Il fait bon chaud’: Geneva reveals how different French is in Switzerland

It is a well-known fact that the Swiss German language is totally different from ‘regular’ German. But what about the French spoken in Switzerland?

'Il fait bon chaud': Geneva reveals how different French is in Switzerland

Overall , the language of the Suisse Romande (the French part of Switzerland) is pretty similar to the one spoken in France.

In any case, it is not so different that the Swiss and the French don’t understand each other (so this can’t be the reason why the two sometimes look down on one other.)

READ ALSO: How the Swiss see their French neighbours — and vice versa

Here are some examples.

During the Francophone Week, which was held in French-speaking nations and regions of the world from March 14th to 23rd, the city of Geneva took to social media to highlight six typically Swiss-French expressions.

They are:

Ca va, le chalet?

This literally means, ‘how is your chalet?’ but in the Suisse Romande  it means ‘are you crazy?’

The same  expression in France is ‘tu es fou?’

Il n’y a pas le feu au lac 

No, this is not someone telling you the lake is on fire (which makes no sense whatsoever).

Instead, it expresses that something is not urgent — a message a French person would convey as ‘il n’y a pas d’urgence.’

Il fait bon chaud

Instead of saying simply ‘il fait chaud’, as any French person would, the Swiss prefer to interject the work ‘bon’ into this sentence — just because.

READ ALSO: Seven hacks you’ll need for life in French-speaking Switzerland

Remettre l’église au milieu du village 

You may think this means the intention to re-build a village church but, here too, you shouldn’t take this sentence literally.

In Switzerland, this means to put something in order or, as a French person would say, “remettre les choses en ordre.

Ça joue ou bien?

This means ‘is everything ok?’, or, if you only speak French-French, it’s simply ‘ça va?

Deçu en bien

For a Swiss person this phrase conveys that someone is pleasantly surprised — or ‘être agréablement surpris’ if you come from across the border.

But wait, there is more

The Swiss are not necessarily known for their penchant for simplicity, but when it comes to double-digit numbers, they opted for the less complex and tongue-twisting way than their French counterparts.

In France, for instance, 93 is quite a mouthful: quatre-vingt-treize (four twenties and 13), but the Swiss cut to the chase with nonante-trois (ninety-three).

Ditto for the number 70 (soixante-dix), 80 (quatre-vingt), and 90 (quatre-vingt-dix).

The Swiss-French equivalents, on the other hand, are the breezy septante, huitante, and nonante.

Other notable differences are, for example, collège or gymnase (high school) in French-speaking cantons, and ‘lycée’ in France.

Then there is la panosse (mop) in Switzerland, while the same thing is called la serpillière in France.

And another one is ‘Nom de bleu’, it is basically ‘dammit’ (pardon our French) — which is ‘nom de dieu’ in France.

READ ALSO: The Swiss French words which help you sound like a local

This is by no means is an exhaustive list, though many people may find it exhausting nevertheless.

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