Living in a country whose language you don't speak

This post is an interview with my awesome friend Petr Filippov who lives in Zurich, Switzerland, where he works for Google. He is fluent in English, but doesn't speak a word of German. In this interview he talks about living in a country whose language he doesn't speak.

This is my second interview with Petr. Follow this link to read our first interview in which he talks about his experience of living in Ireland and gives advice on learning English.

1 Tell my readers a bit about yourself.

I am software engineer from Russia. I moved to Ireland about 3 years ago, when got a job in Microsoft. Ireland is nice place to live, but when I decided to change my job, it turned out that Google doesn't have SWE vacancies in Dublin, so I had to move. Finally I moved to Zurich at the beginning of December 2018.

2 Were you nervous about moving to a German-speaking country?

Not so much, but I considered it as a disadvantage when had thoughts about the step. I am not extrovert, and living abroad, without old friends, I don't have too much interactions beside work. Google is an international company and totally English-speaking from the inside. Job takes the most time of my life, so it is the most important point here.

3 What kind of things have you had to do in Switzerland without being able to speak German?

I do small everyday things, like talk in cafes and shops. Many of us had trips to different countries, it is well known that you don't need to know language to explain basic things. At least, it is so in Europe. It is very close culture and it is hard to do something unpredictable being a customer.

As for some important documents, people who work at authorities related places, like Kreisburo or immigration office, they speak English. Probably, in Switzerland it is a part of education that they must have to get such sort of job. But even here, it is bureaucracy, so you are just following the algorithm dictated by the document workflow of your case. Again, it is hard to step out of expected, predictable way.

Of course, you are missing a lot of opportunities when you look for apartment or do purchases, which are hidden from you by the language barrier, but you can do it.

4 Was it hard? What difficulties did you run into?

It is not hard, but takes a lot of energy and time at the beginning, when you are settling. Especially, it is annoying since you have to work at the same time. I didn't have real problems related to language here, but I had several confusing situations. For instance, once I had to explain tailor that I want to shorten my curtains. He didn't understand a word in English, it was hard.

5 Since you can get by with English, is learning German even worth it? Are you going to learn it?

I believe it worth to start learning German. Any language, even if you don't use it on the streets or workplace, it is a tool that opens a lot of other opportunities and knowledge.

6 In your previous interview you described learning English in Russia as "... when I studied language in school or university the approach to teaching was like as you learn a science subject, rather than a language. It was an attempt to formalize live language and learn it by rules achieved from that formalization. As result, in best case you received robotic language which is then hard to adapt for life." How do you think learning German will be different when you are living in a German-speaking environment?

I'll try to think about the learning process from the inside. I hope to avoid format that I had in school and university. Also, my attitude is totally different, I am not looking at it as "must do" and which will be evaluated by others. Of course, I could set a goal to pass some certification exam in the future. But it is so far, for now.

7 How much German have you already picked up?

I didn't have enough time to start. It is only third month for me here and I am still spending a lot of effort and time on settling. I can say hello or thank you, which I do in shops or cafes. Interesting thing is that Swiss and even Zurich German has some deviations. For instance, instead of "Hallo", which I'd expect in German, people say "Grüezi!"

8 What advice would you give to someone who is going to move to a country whose language they don't speak?

Nothing special. Just follow the rules. A lot of information is in the internet. As in any travel, useful tools will be Maps and Google translate.

9 Do you like Zurich?

Yes, it is very nice city. Pretty different to Dublin or US cities. Public transport is very developed here, and there is a lot of space for people, not only for cars. Being very highly developed (for instance, there is an airport and a huge railway node with about 50 platforms), it is still quiet and small city. You may enjoy real villages and farms just stepping out 5 km from the center.

Thank you for an insightful and inspiring interview.

My pleasure.

Follow Petr on Instagram to see his amazing photos of Switzerland.
Photo: Me in front of the Google office in Zurich, courtesy of Petr Filippov.