Ticking Along with the Swiss stories about living in

by Dianne Dicks

Bergli Books AG, Basel

ISBN 978-3-9520002-4-3

A very popular collection of personal experiences of writers, journalists, translators, teachers and business people of many different nationalities who live and work in Switzerland. They record their impressions, wonder, perplexity and assimilation in essays, anecdotes, poems and letters.
Note that the individual stories are separately available for republication.
Review:
Review Switzerland is a fascinating stage where people from many different cultures meet. English-speaking foreigners have a particularly interesting role to play as shown by a collection of stories published by Bergli Books entitled Ticking Along with the Swiss. Thirty personal experiences describe how the authors get along with the Swiss. These authors from many different countries try to understand and adapt to Swiss values. For example, three translators have written an amusing A to Z about some important and often amusing aspects of living in Switzerland. Others tell about communication difficulties, about odd incidents or situations that got them in or out of misunderstandings. An American reveals his discovery of what helps the Swiss live peacefully together in such close quarters. World-famous novelist Patricia Highsmith describes her neighbors in a remote valley in the Ticino. A Swiss who grew up in the States tells about how he experienced being in the Swiss Army without knowing a Swiss language. This book also contains anecdotes, poems and even a hymn.
But not everything is humorous. A psychiatrist writes about culture shock. A feminist complains about the different attitudes regarding solidarity among women in Switzerland. An Afro-American writes about his teenage years in Berne and how he coped with accepting himself as always looking like an outsider.
There is another successful collection on the same inexhaustible topic of crossing cultures: Ticking Along Too. This book can also be used as provocative material to get discussions going in intercultural workshops or in language classes.
One question is central to all publications of Bergli Books: How can we as individuals cope with cultural confrontations? The search continues for people with intercultural experiences who can write about their fascination of the many different ways of looking at the world.

Kartoniert, Paperback, 

New edition coming