Good evening, i´m going to talk about switzerland

FIRST SLIDE
The official name of the country is the Swiss Confederation; Switzerland is a federated
republic of 26 states, called cantons. Where Bern is the capital of the country and the seat of
federal authorities, while the country's financial centers are located in the cities of Zurich,
Basel, Geneva and Lugano.
Switzerland is a multilingual confederation and has four official languages: German, French,
Italian and Romansh. The date of its creation as a State was set on August 1, 1291 so, every year
the national holiday is celebrated on August 1.
The government of the country is a Federal semi-direct democracy under a multi-party
parliamentary directorial republic
There are three main governing bodies at the federal level: the bicameral parliament (legislative
power), the Federal Council (executive power) and the Federal Court of Switzerland (judiciary).
The currency of the country is the Swiss Franc, and it is equivalent to 3,100.00 COP

SECOND SLIDE
Switzerland is a landlocked country located in central Europe. It limits to the north with Germany,
to the west with France, to the south with Italy and to the east with Austria and Liechtenstein.
It has a size of 41,290 squared km, where the 95% is land.

THIRD SLIDE
Switzerland is currently perceived as one of the most developed countries in the world. It
has a population of approximately 8,5 million people. And Their nationality is Swiss. The
country has a Gross Domestic Product per Capita of 80,000 which make Switzerland the
fourth richest country in the world. As for the Human Development Index or HDI, developed by
the United Nations to measure the progress of a country and that ultimately shows the standard
of living of its inhabitants, it indicates that the Swiss are among those with the best
quality of life.
The main ethnic groups are: German with 65%, French with 18%, Italian 10%, others like
Turks and Africans with 6%, and the Romanian with 1%, which is why it is considered
one of the European countries with the greatest cultural diversity. The Swiss population is
descendant of alpine, Nordic, Slavic or Dinaric descents. The life expectancy is 81 for
men and 83 for women. The average number of children per woman is only 1.44. And the
99.0% of the population is literate.

FOURTH SLIDE
Switzerland has been influenced by several of the greatest European cultures, from its
cultural practices to its languages. The Swiss love outdoor activities, which is why almost the
entire population is a nature lover. The Swiss culture is also linked to sports, the most practiced
are those of winter (skiing, snowboarding, etc.), although other sports are also practiced by a
large part of the population. Little-expanded sports in Hispanic countries such as hockey, golf,
handball or badminton, among others, are very common in Switzerland. Walking in the
mountains is one of the favorite activities for those who prefer to stay during the summer holidays.
They also have a great respect for traditions, and although they are not well known for
their parties, they have a diversity of celebrations. From one area to another, a cultural
variety is evident, where each region has its own traditions that are characterized by being
associated with the seasons of the year.
The biggest festivities take place in the winter and spring months. It is a logical
consequence that in the past, in the summer months the peasants had more work, and in the
colder seasons people had more free time.
Whether it's an opportunity to dance or not, Swiss folk music is played mostly for dancing.
Usually the accordions (Schwyzerörgeli) as well as violins, cellos, clarinets and in
certain regions also the dulcimer or the trumpets (guimbardas) are heard. The folk music
of the Alps was developed by the undocumented transmission of skills and compositions: for
generations, decades and centuries. The oldest melody comes from Appenzell and was recorded
in the year 1545.
A typical Swiss musical instrument is the alpine horn, once an instrument of music and
signaling of the shepherds as well as the numerous choirs of singing to the zip line that were
forming from the nineteenth century.
Tyrolean singing or "Jodeln" is defined as a song with change from the chest record
to the head record in syllables without a word meaning. Tyrolean singing has spread
throughout the world. Especially in the mountainous and impassable regions other natural forms
of this type of song have been developed, to communicate from one mountain to another or to
collect the cows. Presumably the first songs date back to the Stone Age, while the first chorus
songs emerged in the 19th century.
In Switzerland - During the first hours of December 31, men and boys wearing traditional masks
move from house to house waking the inhabitants, and wishing them in traditional yodels or
Tyrolean-style chants, a happy new year. The occupants of the houses must go out and thank
the good wishes of the characters representing the beautiful, the ugly, the forest
and nature or Klausen. Schöno, Wüeschti and Chläuse make the Silvesterchlausen one of the
most popular traditions of the Canton of Appenzell and Appenzell-Ausserrhodischen
Hinterland in particular.
The aim common to Shrovetide celebrations in all parts of Switzerland is to indulge in
all possible excesses one last time before Lent, to enjoy a time of merrymaking and revelry,
and to take on a different identity momentarily by wearing masks and fancy dress costumes.
The Shrovetide customs are a mixture of various pagan spring rites, Christian rituals
and secular folk traditions.

FIFTH SLIDE
Swiss cuisine combines the influences of German, French and northern Italian cuisine. However,
pronounced regional differences allow languages regions to perform an approximate subdivision.
Many dishes, however, have already crossed local borders, being very popular throughout
Switzerland. These include, for example:
 Cheese Fondue, which is melted cheese and pieces of bread. The pieces of bread are
spit into a fondue fork and dipped in the melted cheese, served in the so-called caquelon
(ceramic pot).
 Älplermagronen, a kind of gratin of potatoes, macaroni, cheese, cream and onions.
And with a garnish that should not be forgotten: sifted apples.
 Rösti, a kind of flat tortilla, fried in butter or hot fat in a pan, consisting of boiled
(Gschwellti) or raw potatoes, fixed to each other by means of the starch contained in the
potatoes.
 Swiss chocolate, Chocolate arrived in Europe in the course of the sixteenth century. At the
latest in the seventeenth century it was known and produced in Switzerland. From the
second half of the 19th century, Swiss chocolate began to acquire fame abroad.
 The Basel flour soup, which is served together with cheese and onion cakes, traditionally
during carnival time
 The tasty Berner Platte, is a rustic dish that is served with hearty varieties of meat and
sausage such as beef, smoked pork and beef tongue, smoked bacon, Rippli (smoked pork),
Schüfeli (pork shoulder), Gnagi (lacón), cold cuts of tongue and ears or pork tails, boiled
with choucroute flavored with juniper, sour carrots, green and / or dried beans as well as
salted potatoes on a large griddle.

SIXTH SLIDE
Switzerland has many stereotypes like:
 They are all rich
The world has an image of Switzerland as a land paved in gold, but while that may be the case
for many people in the country, there is still poverty. Living standards are high, but many
Swiss also pursue or depend on the state for well-being while inequality is high. In 2013, the top
50% of wage earners absorbed 80% of the wealth, and a strong government redistribution
system was needed to level the scales a bit.

 Everyone and their dogs are polyglots

Switzerland has four official languages, but that does not mean that they are all teachers of the
four and that you can speak French to Swiss-German, or vice versa, since many people are only
monolingual or bilingual. Feel better in your desire to practice your romanche skills until you
reach the Graubünden.
SWISS GERMAN.
It is the most widely spoken language in Switzerland, with 64.9% of the population being the
mother tongue. The German-Swiss is a mixture of Germanic dialects, which are the common
language in all areas and social strata.
FRENCH.
French is the first language for 22.6% of the Swiss; and it is in French-speaking Switzerland that
French is the official language. Although in each region they have their special accents, Swiss
French does not differ from standard French.
ITALIAN.
In the case of Italian, this is the first language for 8.3% of the Swiss; being the official language
in Ticino and in the southern valleys of Graubünden. The Lombard dialects are still quite
widespread.
ROMANCHE
Finally, the romanche is the first language for just 0.5% of the Swiss population; being practiced
in certain areas of the Grisons. There are five different dialects: the sursilvan, the sutsilvan, the
surmiran, the puter and the vallader.

 The dirty rags.

In terms of reputation, its prosperous financial sector is one of its greatest strengths and, at the
same time, one of its greatest weaknesses. Because Switzerland is a world leader in offshore asset
management with an estimated market share of between 20 and 25%. This means that the richest
people in the world - a sad 1% - choose Switzerland to manage their assets abroad. Among them
are respectable citizens who pay their taxes religiously and have not amassed their fortunes by
exploiting, corrupting, destroying the environment, maintaining connections with oppressive
regimes or being willing to crush their fellowmen. Then there is the rest, whose wealth is terribly
dirty. And always will be.
On the banking issue, for example, it should be mentioned that in Switzerland banks neither
define nor dominate the economy of the country. Banking contributes directly and indirectly to
13% of the total economy, including the demand for goods and services in other sectors. The sector
has 165,000 jobs, of which 28,000 are dedicated to asset management of clients abroad. It is very
surprising to know how few people are needed to deal with two trillion dollars of foreign capital.
Many more people work in the energy, sanitation and manufacturing sectors than those 165,000
in the banking sector.
Everyone knows how to milk a cow
This would be very useful since there is one cow for every ten people in Switzerland, but
unfortunately it is not part of the school's curriculum.

SEVENTH SLIDE
And the fun facts are:
 The Swiss are obsessed with punctuality. The Swiss are very punctual and expect the
same from everyone. The concept of "only 5 minutes" is not worth it. Public transport always
arrives at the exact time and a delay of two minutes on a train will be announced by public
address with the corresponding apologies. The Swiss know that this works, so they will arrive
at the stop 30 seconds before the departure of the train. If a train is delayed, the company will
inform you of what to do in case you have a connection, because they know that many
passengers will have bought tickets with a transfer time of less than 5 minutes.

 In Switzerland they eat more chocolate than any other country in the world, the Swiss eat a
record of around 11 kg per year.

 In Geneva is the world's largest laboratory, CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche
Nucléaire), or the European Organization for Nuclear Research, dedicated to the investigation
of particle physics.

 The Broken Chair (Silla Rota in Spanish) is a monumental wooden sculpture made by the
Swiss artist Daniel Berset and made by carpenter Louis Genève. It represents a giant chair
with a broken leg. The Broken Chair is made of 5.5 tons of wood and has a height of 12
meters. It symbolizes the rejection of anti-personnel mines and cluster bombs, and the call
of civil society to heads of state visiting Geneva.

EIGTHTH SLIDE
 The Hotel Arbez, also called the Hotel Arbez Franco-Suisse, is a hotel that straddles the
international border between France and Switzerland in the tiny village of La Cure, which is
itself divided by the boundary. Built by a private landowner and businessman specially to
take advantage of an impending border adjustment between the two countries, the structure
was originally used as a grocery store (its Swiss portion) and a pub (the French half). Today,
the entire building houses a hotel, whose dining room, kitchen and several rooms are
bisected by the boundary.
 Coffee in Zurich is the most expensive in the world? The average cost of a coffee in the
largest city in Switzerland is 3.65CHF (about € 3.20). Undoubtedly, one of the curiosities of
Switzerland that surprised us the most. Also, coffee in Zurich is the most expensive in the
world.

 Switzerland has 45.7 weapons per 100 residents, one of the highest rates in the world. This
was one of the curiosities of Switzerland that surprised us the most. For nothing, we
imagined that Switzerland would be the third country in the world with more weapons per
100 residents. Only the United States (88.8) and Yemen (54.8) are above the Swiss country.
Despite the liberal laws on firearms, Switzerland is an example given the low crime rates.
For example, in 2015 there were only 0.5 murders per 100,000 people in Switzerland. That
is, about 40 a year. If we compare it with the United States, there are 5 murders per 100,000
people, about 30-40 per day).

 There are annual taxes determined by the size and weight of the dog that vary between 40
and 150 Swiss francs per year. The owners must register their pet in their municipality, pay
the tax and, in addition, make a compulsory certification of aptitude courses to learn how to
properly care for the pet. They are of 4 theoretical hours and 4 practices for each new dog,
independently of the origin of this one (of refuge, servant, exported, etc.). The tax is used to
finance the waste containers and plastic bags ("robidog system") with which the owner of the
dog collects the excrement of his animal, instead of charging it to the entire population in
general, which can be seen pretty logical

It is characterized diplomatically by its neutral foreign relations policy, without having actively
participated in any international conflict since 1815. Switzerland is the headquarters of several
international organizations, such as the World Organization of the Scout Movement, the Red
Cross, the World Trade Organization, the Universal Postal Union, as well as one of the two UN
offices in Europe, as well as being the headquarters of FIFA, the highest football organization in
the world, and of UEFA, the largest body of European football; It is also the headquarters of the
IOC, the highest body in charge of the Olympic Games and of FIDE, the world's leading chess
body