Languages - Reviews of Universität Bern | Switzerland

Useful | 2

María E

Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
Philology, Graduate, Erasmus

Languages

Language of instruction: English

Local language was: Different than language of instruction

Was learning English a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my English

Was learning the local language a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my the local language

How much did you improve your English?

My level before: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)
My level after: No problems in any areas (including slang)

How much did you improve your the local language?

My level before: Basic phrases
My level after: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)

Language difficulties

Social

Educational

Administrative / Institutional

Overall

Personal comments

English was the most common language between international students. I also could improve my German, I took a German course at the University and also practiced the language in daily situations. However, people normally speak Swiss German, which is quite different from the Standard German that I studied and sometimes it was hard to communicate.

Useful | 0

Vania D

Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Business Studies, Graduate, Erasmus

Languages

Language of instruction: English

Local language was: Different than language of instruction

Was learning English a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my English

Was learning the local language a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my the local language

How much did you improve your English?

My level before: At ease in most situations
My level after: No problems in any areas (including slang)

How much did you improve your the local language?

My level before: Did not speak it
My level after: Basic phrases

Language difficulties

Social

Educational

Administrative / Institutional

Overall

Personal comments

In Bern the language commonly spoken is the german. however we have the opportunity to choose classes in english. Being the English the only way to communicate with the overall community I must say that it improved quite a lot. However, is a pity that the University didn'e provide an iniciation in german.

Useful | 0

Luc R

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Economics, Undergraduate, Erasmus

Languages

Language of instruction: German

Was learning German a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my German

How much did you improve your German?

My level before: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)
My level after: At ease in most situations

Language difficulties

Social

Educational

Administrative / Institutional

Overall

Personal comments

I did not face any problems at the university itself. However, in everyday life people from Bern speak a very difficult dialect (not understandable at all), so I had to ask them almost always to speak "Hochdeutsch".

Useful | 0

cheb

Université Paris V - René Descartes, Paris, France
Law, Graduate, Erasmus

Languages

Language of instruction: German

Local language was: Different than language of instruction

Was learning German a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my German

Was learning the local language a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my the local language

How much did you improve your German?

My level before: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)
My level after: At ease in most situations

How much did you improve your the local language?

My level before: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)
My level after: At ease in most situations

Language difficulties

Social

Educational

Administrative / Institutional

Overall

Personal comments

It was diddicult to use german because there is a dialect in Bern and the people prefer to speak it. In the University it was almost the same problem but i did speak unfortuntly more english than german.

Useful | 0

Hayel S

National Technical University of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine
Computer Science / IT, Graduate, IAESTE

Languages

Language of instruction: English

Local language was: Different than language of instruction

Was learning English a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my English

Was learning the local language a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my the local language

How much did you improve your English?

My level before: At ease in most situations
My level after: No problems in any areas (including slang)

How much did you improve your the local language?

My level before: Did not speak it
My level after: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)

Language difficulties

Social

Educational

Administrative / Institutional

Overall

Personal comments

it was great to lear basics in German and Italian with Local people, in the same time to improve my English with international students, also was cool to teach interested people basics in Arabic.

Useful | 0