Language courses and the integration offer

Read the PDF edition (2 pages)

The canton of Zug, the municipalities and private providers offer German courses at all levels. The cantonal integration programme subsidises courses for foreign residents with limited means. Many employers also pay for courses for their staff.¹ Some courses teach Swiss German, which many expatriates find more useful than standard German for daily life. The demand for courses rises with every wave of new arrivals, but the number of expatriates who reach a level at which they can participate in local life remains limited.

The obstacles are time and motivation. Executives in international companies work long hours and travel frequently. Their families are busy with the practical tasks of settling in a new country. The need for German is not pressing when everything important can be done in English. Those who invest in learning German usually do so because they plan to stay, because their children attend local schools or because they have a Swiss partner. For them, the investment opens the door to local society. For others, English remains sufficient for a stay of a few years.

Notes

Canton of Zug, Direktion des Innern, "Welcome to the canton of Zug – Information for new arrivals" (2019), cdn.zg.ch: state-funded German courses through the municipalities with fees scaled to income, private language schools, and state-funded and subsidised German courses of the Verein ProArbeit; Canton of Zug, "Language and Integration", zg.ch/en: many German courses for different needs, with information on funding, and the cantonal integration programme (KIP). Employer-funded courses are not covered by these sources. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of September 2025.

English

Contact

Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law

I am a Swiss attorney-at-law and also admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England & Wales, with almost 25 years of experience.

Together with my multilingual team, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian and French native speakers, I advise companies and their owners from around the world on the full range of banking, corporate, commercial and tax law matters in Switzerland, including international tax planning, fiduciary services, and legal family office services including immigration & relocation or real estate investments. My practice has a particular focus on clients from growth and frontier markets in Greater China, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and I equally advise clients from Europe and North America. Through an affiliated Swiss trust company, we also take care of the incorporation and ongoing administration of their companies and other structures, including accounting, tax returns and corporate secretarial services, and I serve as a professional director where required. With the support of a network of first-class cooperation partners, I also implement solutions worldwide.

My approach is to act as a trusted advisor who works directly with decision-makers, on an equal footing: I start from what you want to achieve and shape every structure, contract and tax decision around your commercial goals and how it improves your after-tax return. As “lawyers who make it happen”, my team and I stay involved until your company is set up, your structure is in place and your transaction has closed, and we remain available for any follow-on work that may be required. You benefit from bespoke solutions and personal attention, and sound, friendly and practical advice. We are not the lowest-cost provider in the market, nor do we intend to be; our aim is to deliver well-founded, proper solutions and excellent value for money.

Get in touch →

Language courses and the integration offer

Notes

Setting up or expanding in Switzerland?