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The culture in Luxembourg, Luxembourg

John Watter
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The linguistic situation in Luxembourg is characterized by the practice and the recognition of three official languages: French, German and Luxemburgish.

The plurilingualism of Luxembourg results from the coexistence of two ethnic groups, a Romance and a Germanic one.

In the beginnings of the country French enjoyed the greatest prestige, therefor the privileged use of French as official and administrative language. German was used in the political field to comment on the laws and the ordinances in order to make them comprehensible to everyone. At primary school, teaching was limited to German, while French was taught in secondary education.

The law of July 26, 1843 reinforced bilingualism by introducing the teaching of French in primary school.

Luxemburgish ("Lëtzebuergesch"), a francique dialect, native of the Moselle region, was introduced in primary school in 1912.

Until 1984, the official use of the languages was based on the grand-ducal decrees of 1830, 1832 and 1834, which allowed the free choice between German and French. French was preferred in the administration. Luxemburgish had no official status at all.

The constitutional revision of 1948 gave the legislator the possibility of regulating the language by law. On February 24, 1984 a law, passed by the constitutional chamber, made Luxemburgish the national language. Furthermore this law recognized the three languages of Luxembourg (Luxemburgish, French and German) as official languages. French remains the language of the legislation, which is due to the fact that the Napoleonean civil code is applied in Luxembourg.

Luxemburgish is taught at school after teaching French and German. Moreover, Luxemburgish is taught only one hour per week at secondary school and only in the first years. In secondary school besides German, French and Luxembourgish, English and a choice out of Latin, Spanish or Italian is taught. At university level, bilingualism makes it possible to luxembourgish students to continue their higher education in French-speaking, German-speaking or anglophone countries.

At the political level, Luxembourg contributed to the creation of Europe linked with Robert Schuman. The good control of two major languages in Europe made it possible for Luxembourg to be easily integrated into the creating process of the European Community and to become a unifying and progressive factor of it.