Basic information on the spoken languages and the educational system:

Luxembourg is a country located at the intersection of two cultures: the Latin culture, as it is embodied in the French-speaking world and the French language, and the German-speaking culture embodied in the German language. These two languages, French and German, are the languages of the French, Belgian (French and German-speaking) and German neighbours. All Luxembourgers learn them at school, starting in primary school, and use them alongside their mother tongue and national language, Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch), which is a Moselle-Frankish dialect. It is fair to say that the Luxembourgers base their linguistic identity on these three languages.

Unlike European countries such as Switzerland and Belgium, Luxembourg thus has only one linguistic community, and this is multilingual. Trilingualism is enshrined in legislation and has the following overall characteristics as regards the use of the different languages.

Luxembourgish           

National language and mother tongue of the Luxembourgers, used in everyday communication in practically all contexts by all social classes, largely orally (even in the Chamber of Deputies). Since the end of the 19th century, Luxembourg has experienced immigration mainly from Mediterranean countries (expecially Italy and Portugal), and immigrants become integrated by learning Luxembourgish, usually in the second generation.

There has been a literature in Luxembourgish since the first quarter of the 19th century.

French

Historically and traditionally the language of the government, jurisprudence and, more generally, of a large proportion of the intellectual elite (this applies particularly to written French).

German

Traditionally the language used in written communication in everyday life (except in central government and jurisprudence), is increasingly being replaced by Luxembourgish, except in the print media, which are the main area in which German predominates.

Even in primary education, language teaching provides for the compulsory learning of two languages, German and French, by all pupils, alongside the national language, Luxembourgish (learnt from compulsory pre-school onward). It should be added that the learning of a fourth compulsory language, English, is included in the curricula of secondary education and secondary technical education.

The principle underlying the language learning system is that of a multilingualism which reflects geographical links with France, Belgium and Germany, and links arising out of immigration which, historically, has largely been from Italy and Portugal.

The principle of linguistic proximity is complemented by the learning of English, which is regarded as an international language, especially in the world of business. Eurostat surveys showed that 53% of the population can take part in a conversation in English.

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