What does it mean to live together in Switzerland?

Why are rubbish bags in Switzerland different colours? Where can you play sports, and what do you need to know when looking for a job or going to school? These are some of the questions newcomers to Switzerland are confronted with. A new app from swissinfo.ch and the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation provides the answers through an interactive quiz game and online resources.

“Together”, as the app is called, is available for free in seven languages: English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic. It allows users to test their knowledge, learn new information and challenge other players in 10 quiz categories ranging from jobs to Swiss landmarks.

The app contains more than 300 questions with more questions and categories to be released in the coming weeks and months. Users who have more questions of their own about daily life in Switzerland can submit those to the team behind the appexternal link to have them researched, answered and included in the quiz. How cool is that?!?

Swissinfo.ch and the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation decided to produce the “together” app to address newcomers’ desire to integrate into Swiss society and learn more about daily life in the country. Its content is largely based on swissinfo.ch’s “Switzerland How To” external link offering, which provides information about daily life in Switzerland in 10 languages. So, if you haven't checked it out yet hop over and go browsing!

Together is a playful way to test your knowledge, learn new things and find useful information. Together, we are Switzerland.

Meet Swiss Miss

Swiss Miss is my absolute favourite Swiss blogger despite the fact that she lives and works in New York.

Tina Roth Eisenberg, a Swiss born and raised graphic designer, runs four side-projects-gone- businesses out of DUMBO, Brooklyn; a collaborative co-working space called Studiomates, a global, monthly lecture series called CreativeMornings, TeuxDeux the simple to-do app and Tattly, a design-y temporary tattoo shop.

She is one busy and creative women. Come meet Tina and read her story how she turned several side projects into full time labors of love: Click here

Tina is often referred to as Swissmiss after her popular design blog which is also the name of her Twitter handle. Check out her Friday Link packs, they are full of eclectic tips and creative information.

Get involved with GoEco App

Current mobility patterns are dominated by car use, even though a number of alternative and energy-efficient mobility options are already available. So why don’t you go to work by bike more often? Why don’t you use public transport, find yourself some car pooling partners or apply for a car sharing program? You don’t know how to best do it? The GoEco! app created by SUPSI & ETH can help you make this transformation happen. Become more sustainable: GoEco!

GoEco! seeks to overcome traditional awareness-raising approaches and, by taking advantage of the wide acceptance of smartphones and tablets, proposes an innovative, community-based approach, directly addressing citizens and their everyday mobility choices.

GoEco! will conduct a study with 800 users from Canton Ticino and the City of Zurich. By taking part in their study, you will have the opportunity to test the GoEco! smartphone app which helps you to make your mobility lifestyle more sustainable. The GoEco! app tracks your trips and uses game elements to challenge you to modify your mobility behavior. You will learn how to become more sustainable and you can even compete with your friends to find out who is the best.

If you wish to get the GoEco! app click here: http://goeco-project.ch/index.php/en/get-the-app/

The GoEco! app experience nudges you to:
- understand how you travel,
- define your personal goals for change and get personalized suggestions;
- see your progress week after week;
- share your experience with friends and other users and compare your performances with them.

If you are interested in joining the GoEco! experience, please fill in the "Get involved" form.
Click here for more info: http://goeco-project.ch/index.php/en/ and become a GoEco! citizen!

Memorize with Memrise

Always wanted to learn a language without leaving home? Feel like catching up on your kids' technology? Need to know Harry Potter's spells (all 89 of them!?) Wish you could take your current course with you wherever you go... to the office, on holidays, to the mountains or to your in-laws?

I have stumbled across an app called Memrise where apart from learning new languages, you can learn how to pattern in programming, pursue the study of the galaxies, become an expert in the animal world, acquire skills in electronics or gain a better understanding in anatomy.

Why, you can even create your own course. Although there are thousands of public courses to choose from, there are many reasons why people create their own courses, for example:
- Memorizing new colleagues' titles or teachers' names
- Naming bike parts
- A simple list of vocabulary for a test

You can keep your courses private, share them with friends, or open them up to the world to let others learn from you. Creating a course is easy, Do you have a good idea for a course? Ready to make one now? Just check it out here: http://www.memrise.com

This app is free and you can take your learning on the go, with an offline mode also available for learning in those hard-to-reach places.

Just for the record I am in no way being sponsored for any of the products or apps I post on my blog. They are all creations that my kids and I use in our daily lives and like to share with others. We used memrise when Expat girl needed to choose a new foreign language for school and wanted to learn a wee bit before she made a choice. For those who are wondering: she chose Mandarin Chinese.

Comparis: Switzerland's favourite comparison service

June is the season of departures and arrivals for Expats. If you are arriving in Ticino, I have just the app for you: Comparis Property Switzerland. You'll find the all listings of the largest property portals at a glance, it searches all listings on comparis.ch, Homegate, Immoscout24, Newhome and other Swiss portals simultaneously.

Comparis is the leading Swiss Internet comparison service. On www.comparis.ch, consumers can easily and quickly compare rates and services. The site had almost 60 million visitors last year and thus counts among the most widely used Swiss websites.

The Property App allows you to quickly and easily check out the current offers on the real estate market throughout Switzerland. There is also a Car App, an health Insurance App and a Mortgage App.

The Car Market App allows you to quickly and easily check out the current offers on the car market wherever you are.

With the Health Insurance App you can compare the premiums for 2015 from all Swiss health insurance providers and save plenty of money.

The Mortgage App always keeps you up to date on the daily interest rates. With the help of push notifications you can additionally create a personal interest alarm.

For more info click here to enter Comparis site: https://en.comparis.ch

Want to 'share' a picture? PostCard Creator app is free.

If you live in Switzerland, you know and experience the efficiency of the Swiss postal service every day.

Did you know Die Post have an app that allows you to take a photo, upload and send it as a postcard to any recipient in Switzerland. Best of all you get to send one per day for free.

Whatever the time, wherever you are: with the PostCard Creator app, you can take or choose a photo, add text, specify the recipient and send the order, and Swiss Post will take care of printing and mailing the postcard in A6 format. Free of charge and postage paid by A Mail.

To use the app, users must be resident in Switzerland or Liechtenstein, own a smartphone, download the free app from the App Store or Google Play and register free of charge. If you already have a PostCard Creator account online, you can log in to the app with your existing login data and vice versa.

Now there's a deal you cannot resist. Who will you send your first postcard to?

Free online multilingual support

Reading is so important for language learning and there are several fantastic websites that offer free books and activites in several languages.

Maria has collated and excellent list of websites where you can find a suitable children’s book in your language:
http://www.trilingualmama.com/online-stories-for-children/

Michele has found Spotify to be useful for finding audios of nursery rhymes and stories – note that the stories will be interspersed with adverts if you go for the free option:
http://intentionalmama.com/home/family-friendly-french-spanish-music-for-children-recent-finds

Frances uses audio books to teach her children to read Spanish:
http://discoveringtheworldthroughmysonseyes.blogspot.fr/2014/05/using-spanish-audio-books-to-teach-my.html

In Amanda‘s post you can find information about her five top favourite Chinese learning apps:
http://www.misspandachinese.com/5-best-kids-apps-family/

Annabelle writes about her family’s favourite iPad apps to support her childrens language development:
http://www.thepiripirilexicon.com/2013/04/our-favourite-multilingual-ipad-apps.html

The day after...

So the burning of the Sächsilüüte Böögg in Zürich yesterday took only 7 minutes and 23 seconds, the third fastest time since 1980. Does this mean we'll have a wonderful summer? Unfortunately, it was thanks to a lot accelerant of the wet Böögg, that it survived only a short time at the stake, but who's checking? Also, experience has shown that the prophecy - the faster the head of the giant fake snowman explodes the longer the summer - is mostly wrong.

Zürich's Böögg before and after!

In the meantime, you can check the weather in every corner of Switzerland with this handy and reliable app: MeteoSwiss

Back to the future in Lugano

Remember the movie "Back to the future"?  You can now go back in time without jumping aboard a DeLorean at 88 miles per hour.

LugaNow is the easiest way to take a look at the past of Lugano. This app was born in February 2012, when Loris Trotti and Ramon Montanes-Rossi sought a way to unite their individual talents in a new project that was both useful and capable of capturing the imagination of a large segment of the public.

The most logical solution was to pair Trotti’s background in history and literature with the expertise of Montanes in the areas of graphics and technology. They came up with the concept of a historical encyclopaedia contained in a smartphone: and thus the app LugaNow came into being, a time machine with which one can take a peek into the past or the future of Lugano.

The images displayed in augmented reality are not fictitious but authentic photographs and old postcards, for most kindly made ​​available by Jansonius Art Gallery.

Check it out for yourself right here: http://www.luganow.ch/

Do you speak Swiss German?

„Do you speak Swiss German?“

Just a few foreigners will answer this question with “yes”. Most of the people visiting Switzerland are impressed by the Swiss linguistic diversity. Switzerland combines four official languages in one small country: French, Italian, Romansh - and Swiss German. This special dialect which is spoken in the German areas of Switzerland, is a curiosity to many visitors. Even if you are able to understand German you will not necessarily be able to keep up when Swiss people talk to each other.

The app “Grüezi Switzerland” is the first mobile travel guide for Switzerland including a Swiss German language guide for the major Swiss German dialects. So the communication can work right from the beginning, or at least you can give it a try if you feel like it.

Shopping & Dining Guide: The app offers a lot more. You can find your favorite brand with a brand finder, with lists in shopping and dining.

Top attractions: The app also offers top attractions for the most popular destinations. A special feature is a list of webcams that provide a virtual insight in real time for every attraction.

My Postcard: an easy-to-use smartphone service for mailing to your friends and family. A postcard service that allows you to send personalized postcards through your smartphone. Your picture and greetings will be transmitted to a printer, which prints the cards and guarantees the shipment.

This app is an all-inclusive package for travellers, new residents, and all those who want to become Swiss. You can download the app here. So go ahead, find out more about typical Swiss events, Swiss kitchen and other curiosities of Switzerland... and give it your best shot when speaking Swiss German!

Should you already master the magical Swiss German, why not test yourself with the Dialäkt App?

Play, learn, and explore together

It's been a while since I've posted some app suggestions for kids, so here goes:

1.) THE HUMAN BODY
The Human Body is the first app in the Tinybop Explorer's Library. Everything, from the bones and brain to cells and veins, is animated by particle physics in this interactive playscape. Children can poke, probe, and examine the skeletal, muscular, nervous, circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems. Each app contains a recording tool so you and your child can ask questions, listen, and respond to each other.

2.) WORLD ATLAS
Barefoot World Atlas is a magical, interactive 3D globe that invites children to explore the regions and countries of the world, discovering 100s of fascinating features and immersing themselves in the rich wonders of our planet.

Geographer and BBC TV presenter Nick Crane is your guide as you fly at will around this beautiful globe, created by artist David Dean. Explore the world’s continents, great oceans and changing environments. Meet different people around the planet and find out about their way of life. Encounter amazing wildlife, and discover landmarks, natural features and famous buildings.

The pack comes in English, French, Spanish, Catalan, Japanese, German.

3.) Mini-U: ZOO ALPHABET

Inside the app you’ll find 29 game cards, each illustrated with an animal and a letter. Each screen contains its own unique animal game, with each animal representing a letter. ZOO Alphabet invites your child to play along with these animals as they run, jump, hide, play, hunt, and even change color. ZOO Alphabet features two modes of play. Children can practice and learn the letters in the study mode or take a quiz in the quiz mode. Quiz mode provides your child with immediate feedback – helping him or her correctly memorize the letters.
And the best part: it comes in 11 languages including Russian, Chinese and Japanese.

4.) NINE IN ONE childrens' games:

This free games package brings 9 of our cool children games for you to try at no cost!

You'll find:

Logic and Logic Advanced games

Peekaboo: Find Hidden Characters game

Tangrams game

Mosaic game

Memoria game

Juicy Math and Juicy Math: Multiplication and Division games

Mathlandia game

Have a good time and enjoy playing with your children!

A must try for all Swiss Germans - Dialäkt App

Ever heard of an app that recognizes which part of Switzerland you come from, all on the basis of your dialect? Well, here it is. Researchers at the University of Zurich have developed the "Dialäkt App" for the iPhone.

The application is simple: You answer 16 questions about your own use of language and depending on your answers the "Dialäkt App» will delineate the origin of the dialect. There are some questions about vocabulary. For example: "What do you call the remnant of an apple?" Bütschgi, of course, would be my answer! Many questions, however, boil down to the nuances in the pronunciation of a word.

The makers of this app are hoping to work with the users. "Does the app define a dialect of your own origin?" You will be asked to verify this. "Was the origin of the App's dialect defined accurately or inaccurately?" The user is encouraged to send the correct information to the creators and thus helping to improve the map of dialects.

For all you Swiss German speakers out there, join SRF-presenter Nick Hartmann as he tests the "Dialäkt App" with his colleagues. Beware this is very Swiss! It certainly made me smile....

Language Apps for Expat Kids

Although children pick up new languages more rapidly than adults, some can find learning how to speak in a foreign tongue a chore. There are dozens of apps aimed at making learning languages easier and more fun, but some are better suited to children than others. Here’s my pick of some of the best.

Lingolook:
This app is currently available in over seven languages, including German, French and Spanish. Through the use of visual flashcards your child can learn over 500 common words and phrases. Audio clips from native speakers also ensure that their pronunciation is word perfect.: http://www.lingolook.net/index-2.html

Duolingo:
A fantastic free app which uses engaging exercises (like word jumbles) to make learning foreign grammar and vocabulary enjoyable. As it’s mainly text based it’s more suitable for older children, but the quizzes included in the app offer a great way for parents and children to learn together: http://www.duolingo.com/

Smacktalk:
Okay, this app might not be the most sophisticated, and it isn’t a typical language app, but it sure is fun. Your child can use this app to record themselves saying foreign words and phrases and then have them repeated back in ‘high squeaky’ and ‘low freaky’ voices. A great way of learning words/basic phrases and making your child giggle at the same time: http://www.marcussatellite.com/SMACK_TALK/

Lugano City Guide App

This handy offline city guide by the Swiss Board of Tourism provides you with the most useful information about Lugano. Its integrated city map shows the most interesting places and events and the quickest way to the next hotel or ATM.

Exciting tours with texts and pictures let you discover the city individually. Public transport information make sure that you won't get lost. In addition, you can find all relevant information via the integrated full-text search. With an internet connection, this city guide will update automatically.

NOTE: The first time you start the app, all data for offline use will be downloaded. This may take several minutes and should be done using a Wi-Fi connection!

And the best part is ... it's free of charge! Happy exploring!

The Swiss City Guide is also available for these 7 cities: Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Luzern, Winterthur and Zürich.

The perfect Swiss adventure for your family

Find your ideal family adventures from more than 1,200 excursion ideas throughout Switzerland. The Swiss tourist board has come up with a brilliant App called "Family Trips" available for iPads, iPhones, Android smartphones and Windows 8. It suggests a wealth of fun days out for the whole family. You can narrow down your search by using a variety of criteria. The Family Trips can also suggest family-friendly accommodation suitable for your next journey of exploration.

So what are you waiting for? Download the app and have some fun choosing which adventure to go on with your kids.

A Swiss application for the summer

Wondering about the weather? What about the pools? How warm is the water? When do the "lidos" open?

Check out Switzerland Tourism’s swimming weather forecast. It offers wide-ranging information in seconds on Switzerland’s swimming venues and water temperatures – over 250 open-air/indoor swimming pools and designated lakeside swimming areas are included. Where is the closest swimming venue? How warm are the pools? What facilities does the infrastructure provide? You can download all of these details directly to your iPhone or access them at Myswitzerland.com.

Download it now from i-tunes: Swimming weather

Sunday morning leisure

With hubby working, Expat boy busy watching football and Expat girl away at a sleepover, I have a Sunday morning all to myself... and my computer. I feel rather chuffed with myself since I have single-handedly doubled my Ram memory and updated my i-Mac from the ancient Leopard version of 2008 to Snow Leopard without a hitch. I have opted not to update Mountain Lion (yet) since I have read in many forums that it rather slows down your computer. I am no expert but with certain things I can be very Swiss, i.e. let's wait and see how the rest of the world fairs before we starts changing our ways.
So there you go, this moring I was playing around with the "new" Applications icon in my dock and here is a sample of an app called Collgelt:

Switzerland by Memento App

Feeling bored? Got two minutes to spare? Feel like playing a game? Tired of Solitare?

Try the Swiss i-tunes app "Switzerland by Memento", the Switzerland memory game.

Turn over two cards and if they are the same, you win!

From the Alpenhorn to the Combat des Reines through to the Swiss army knife, the whole originality of the game lies in a selection of symbols that celebrate the culture, the traditions, the particularities and the geography of Switzerland, all within a typically Swiss red and white design.

The perfect game for children from the age of 3 upwards, not to mention older people who want to keep their memory in trim. The whole trick is to memorise the cards so as to finish the game in as few goes as possible.

It's free! So, go ahead and download it now!

Swiss Hiking App

I thought I would share a little gadget for this month of August that might come in handy should you be looking for inspirational activities to do with your kids.

The Swiss Tourism board has launched an app called Swiss Hike. It enables you to call up 32 attractive hikes offline. Each hike comes with a general description, details of the climbs and descents, duration and difficulty together with the relevant swisstopo map extract on a scale of 1:25,000. The iPhone application also features practical information on restaurants and places to stay en route. Now how cool is that?

Click here to access Swiss Hike on i-tunes

Happy hiking!

A Swiss Air-Rescue called REGA

Yet another Swiss institution is the REGA. If you grew up in Switzerland, you know the red helicopters that save injured skiers off the slopes are the trusted REGA helpers.

Rega comes to the aid of people in distress, providing swift, professional medical assistance by air. In order to do this, it employs state-of-the-art operating resources, such as helicopters and air-ambulances. Rega’s workforce comprises qualified, experienced staff. Rega acts according to medical necessity and in the service of its patients. In 2011, Swiss Air-Rescue performed a total of 14,240 missions – never before has it been in such great demand by the Swiss population.

What today functions in Switzerland almost as a matter of course has gradually developed over a period of decades. The history of Rega is an eventful one. While in earlier times, the only way to rescue people in distress in the mountains was overland, already in 1946 aircraft started being used for this purpose. Just a few years later, the increasingly popular helicopter took over this task, and as from 1960, Swiss Air Rescue also began to transport seriously ill or injured persons back to Switzerland from countries abroad – by plane. The pioneers of the day shaped this age of development in the sphere of air rescue.

The ever growing magnitude and professionalism in the field of air rescue resulted in new organisational forms: what began as a section of the Schweizerische Lebensrettungsgesellschaft rescue association became an association, and finally assumed its present-day form as a privately-run, non-profit foundation.

It is a privately run, non-profit foundation, which operates independently of the State or of financial interests.

The Swiss Air Rescue was founded on 27 April 1952. 60 years later, the performance of Rega are more in demand than ever. Rega is on stand-by 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, ready to respond to emergency calls – both in Switzerland and abroad.

Download their app onto your mobile phone here or watch them for yourself. Rega invites you to join it in celebrating its 60th anniversary. In this jubilee year, you can look forward to their Open Days, during which you will be able to experience Rega at close quarters. Programme here.