An introduction to "Lëtzebuergesch" (Luxembourgish)

Your (first?) words in Luxembourgish:

What is Luxembourgish?

Luxembourgish is a Moselle-Franconian dialect of the West Middle German group, and a language in its own right. Until the 19th century, it was primarily a spoken language, but literature in Luxembourgish then slowly began to emerge.

Over time, a sense of national identity developed around the Luxembourgish language: key historical moments, such as the German occupation during the Second World War, along with socio-demographic changes like the increasing diversity of society in the 1960s and 1970s, played an important role in this process. In 1984, a law was passed to officially recognise Luxembourgish as the national language (see box). In the parliamentary debates on this subject, Luxembourgish was used for the first time in the plenary meeting; today it is the most common language there.

According to the most recent census from 2021, Luxembourgish is the first language of most residents, ahead of Portuguese and French, and is spoken by around 49% of the country's inhabitants. German ranks sixth. As the population becomes more diverse, the number of residents who consider Luxembourgish their first language is decreasing in relation to the total population. However, in absolute terms, it is growing.

Luxembourgish has a wide range of regional and local dialects.

Learning Luxembourgish

You can learn Luxembourgish easily at your own pace on the llo.lu platform. The National Institute for Languages also offers Luxembourgish courses and is officially recognised as the national certification body for diplomas and language proficiency certificates in Luxembourgish. A wide range of courses are also offered by both private and public bodies.

Anyone applying for Luxembourgish citizenship who needs proof of language proficiency can only obtain it through the National Institute for Languages (INLL).

Where and when is Luxembourgish spoken and written?

In the UNESCO World Atlas of Languages, Luxembourgish is still classified as a vulnerable or potentially endangered language. Due to Luxembourg's multilingual environment, Luxembourgish is not used as much in the workplace, and proficiency in it tends to be less sought after than for the working languages French and English, for example. But this also depends on the specific sector of the economy.

Luxembourgish is widely used in everyday life. In the 2021 census, both Luxembourgers and foreign residents were asked about their language use. According to the study, 61.2% of the population use Luxembourgish in their daily lives, whether at work, at school or at home. Furthermore, the number of residents who learn Luxembourgish or have a command of it as a foreign or second language is increasing. 

Written use of Luxembourgish is also on the rise, particularly due to its role as a common language on social media and messaging apps. Luxembourgish received a further boost in 2008 with the new law for obtaining citizenship, which requires applicants to pass a proficiency test in the language. Interest in learning Luxembourgish has reached record levels in recent years. Thus, the number of Luxembourgish classes at the National Institute for Languages tripled from 2008 to 2022.

The growth and development of the Luxembourgish language and its status have been supported by various measures. For example, the Law of 2018 on the promotion of the Luxembourgish language led to the creation of the Commissioner for the Luxembourgish Language and the Zenter fir d'Lëtzebuerger Sprooch (ZLS, Centre for the Luxembourgish language). In addition, a legal reform was implemented for the National Institute for Languages (Institut national des langues Luxembourg, INLL) in 2022. That same year, the government also approved a comprehensive 50-point action plan to promote the Luxembourgish language.

Since then, some existing projects have been given a boost and others have been launched, including:

• the Lëtzebuerger Online Dictionnaire (Luxembourgish Online Dictionary, lod.lu), available in six languages, including sign language; it features example sentences, audio recordings, idioms, proverbs, synonyms and a wide range of learning support tools;
• the llo.lu self-learning platform, which allows users to learn Luxembourgish on their computer or smartphone at their own pace;
• (...)

Luxembourgish in other countries

Luxembourgish is not only spoken in the Grand Duchy but also – albeit to a much lesser extent – in the east of Belgium's Province of Luxembourg, in the far northwest of France's Moselle department, and along the German-Luxembourgish border.

Due to large-scale emigration from Luxembourg to Romania (9th and 14th centuries) and the United States (19th century), Luxembourgish also spread to America's Midwest and Transylvania, where variants of the language have survived to this day.