Despite its tiny size even by European standards, the Duchy of Luxembourg has not only the prefix "Great" in its name, but also three state languages. In Luxembourg, in addition to the Luxembourg itself, German and French also have official status.
Some statistics and facts
- Of the half-million inhabitants of the duchy, only 400 thousand speak Luxembourgish.
- One fifth of Luxembourgers prefer to communicate in Arabic, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish. These are foreigners who have received citizenship or a residence permit.
- Luxembourgish is one of the Rhine-Rhine dialects of German with borrowed words from French.
- German and French became the official languages of the duchy much earlier than Luxembourgish, which was approved in equal rights only in 1984.
- For a long time, the German language remained the main language on the territory of Luxembourg. It was taught in elementary school, while only middle-level students began to study French.
Luxembourgish is a bit similar to Dutch. It began to be taught in the elementary school 100 years ago in 1912. After conferring national status to the language, it began to be used in official office work, like German and French. But most of the printed editions are still published on the last two. They are also used by the police, firefighters and other public services.
Luxembourgish is the language of everyday communication between residents. It contains the names of settlements along with French. Personal letters are written in Luxembourgish, and legal notices are written in French. If you need to make a request to the administrative authority, you can use any of the three official languages of Luxembourg, and the administration is obliged to respond in the applicant's language.
Tourist notes
The first in popularity among the foreign languages studied at school as a second is English. That is why a tourist does not have to wander in search of an English-speaking Luxembourger, because almost any passer-by or a waiter can explain the way to a lost foreigner or take an order in a restaurant. Tourist information centers and hotels usually have public transport maps and maps of the area in English.
