Luxembourgish

The area where Luxembourgish is spoken

Luxembourgish or Luxembourgian (Lëtzebuergesch) is a West Germanic language spoken by 390,000 people. Luxembourgish is mostly spoken in Luxembourg, where it is one of the official languages. Luxembourgish is also spoken in surrounding areas in Belgium, France and Germany. In Belgium, Luxembourgish is a minority language. Luxembourgish isn't an official language in the European Union, because nearly all Luxembourgish people are able to speak another official language (mostly German and French).

Luxembourgish is closely related to German, and also influenced by French. Some scholars believe Luxembourgish is a German dialect, while the Luxembourgish people themselves think it's a real language. German is an official language in Luxembourg too.

Some important words in Luxembourgish

• Moien : hello
• Äddi : goodbye
• Merci/Villmools Merci : thanks. “Villmools Merci” is more polite than “Merci” and is used to express a bigger gratitude.
• Lëtzebuerg : Luxembourg (can be used to refer to the country and the city, however the Luxembourgish people use mostly “Stadt” to talk about the city). The Luxembourgish language is called “Lëtzebuergesch”.

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Luxembourg Portal — Go to the Luxembourg portal!