Luxembourgish, the language nobody expects you to speak

Hardly anyone goes to Luxembourg to speak Luxembourgish, and that’s fine. You’ll be served in French in a café and in perfectly good English in any hotel. Still, the country’s own language is worth ten minutes before you go. It’s what you hear on local radio, what appears on village signs and what Luxembourgers speak among themselves. A couple of words of it from a visitor changes the mood of any exchange.

What kind of language is it?

The government’s official portal describes it as a West Central German language of the Moselle Franconian group. It’s closely related to the Rhenish dialects of German, the so-called «Rhenish fan», but over the centuries it has taken on a great deal of French. The result is a language where the two worlds sit side by side, sometimes in the same sentence.

The portal’s own example is the best way in. To say goodbye you can use «Äddi», from the old German «Ade», or the slightly more formal «Awuer», which echoes the French «au revoir». On the street you’ll also hear «Salut» and «Ciao». If you have school French, plenty of words will look familiar; if you have some German, the grammar will.

From kitchen table to constitution

Until the 19th century Luxembourgish was mainly the spoken language of ordinary people, while the middle classes, nobility and clergy used French or German. The first literary works appeared mid-century, «De Feierwon» in 1859 and «De Reenert» in 1872, and a law first mentioned the language in 1912.

The turning point was the German occupation. After the war came the work of standardising grammar and pronunciation, and the portal notes that French influences were deliberately favoured in reaction to the occupation. A law made Luxembourgish the national language in 1984, another in 2018 set up a language commissioner and a centre of its own, the Zenter fir d’Lëtzebuerger Sprooch, and since 1 July 2023 it has sat in article 4 of the constitution. How it shares the day with French and German has a page of its own, what language do they speak in Luxembourg, while its wartime role gets its due in Luxembourg in the Second World War.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Vianden before prices climb.

Moien, Merci and Äddi

The government publishes a short list of expressions for newcomers, and that’s what I’ve put in the phrase table on this page. If I had to pick three, they’d be «Moien» for hello at any hour, «Merci» for thank you and «Äddi» for goodbye. To go one better, add «Wannechgelift» (please) and «Villmools Merci» (thanks a lot).

Don’t expect the reply to come back in Luxembourgish. More likely you’ll get French or English, because in a country where nearly half the residents are foreign nationals, switching language mid-conversation is normal. The official portal describes exactly that, people changing language in the middle of a sentence.

Who speaks it today?

The portal gives two figures worth reading together. According to the 2021 census, nearly 49% of residents speak Luxembourgish, more than speak Portuguese or French. Another study puts those who use it in daily life, at home, school or work, at over 61%. These measure something different from the 2018 survey quoted on the languages page, which is why the numbers don’t line up. What they agree on is that the share falls as immigration grows while the absolute number of speakers keeps rising. Who makes up that population is in Luxembourg population.

Beyond the Grand Duchy it’s spoken around Arlon in Belgium, in the French Moselle and along the German border, and emigration in earlier centuries left pockets in Transylvania and the American Midwest. Even so, UNESCO’s atlas lists it as «potentially endangered», because French and English rule the workplace.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Vianden before prices climb.

Translating it and learning it

The official tool is the Lëtzebuerger Online Dictionnaire (LOD), which translates into English, German, French, Portuguese and Dutch, plus sign language, with pronunciation and verb tables. For a British visitor that’s genuinely handy. There’s also the Sproochmaschinn, which reads written Luxembourgish aloud and transcribes the spoken language.

If the bug bites, LLO.LU from the National Institute for Languages is free and open from anywhere. People who move there can take courses from A1 to C1, and since the 2008 nationality law anyone applying for a Luxembourg passport has to pass a language test. The national anthem is in Luxembourgish too, and I cover it with the Luxembourg flag.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Vianden and choose by the reviews.

A car frees you from timetables: search car hire in Luxembourg on DiscoverCars and compare companies.

So you do not pay over the odds, look at trains, coaches and flights to Luxembourg on Omio and pick the one that suits you.