About… Languages in Luxembourg

SOCIETY About… Languages in Luxembourg The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is one of those rare countries in the world where several languages are spoken and written throughout its territory and in different spheres of life – private, professional, social, cultural and political. This multilingualism has been legally defined since 1984 with Lëtzebuergesch (Luxembourg language) as the national language and French as the language used for legislative Grand Duchy matters, while French, German and Lëtzebuergesch all share the status of Luxembourg of administrative and judiciary languages. This trilingualism Capital: is a reality lived by 277,900 native Luxembourg people. In recent Luxembourg decades, as a side effect of the country’s strong economic growth and a policy of social promotion, the mother tongues of the 205,900 Form of government: foreign nationals residing in Luxembourg have also joined constitutional the linguistic landscape of the Grand Duchy. monarchy Neighbouring countries: Germany, Languages intimately Belgium, France associated with Area: the country’s history 2,586 km2 The origins of Luxembourg’s character- Population: istic linguistic situation can be traced back 483,800 to the Middle Ages. To fully understand the inhabitants, current situation, it is essential to evoke of which 205,900 some of the key stages of the country’s are foreigners history, marked by several centuries of foreign sovereignties. Population density: 184 inhab./km2 (2007) © Noriko Cooper 963 1684 The name Lützelburg (“Luxembourg” from the 19th Under the first French occupation by King Louis XIV, century onwards) stems from a small fortress built the use of German was virtually banned. A century by Count Siegfried, the ruins of which can still be seen later, under the impact of the French Revolution, on the rocky outcrop known as the Bock. The name French continued to gain lasting ground, infiltrat- Lucilinburhuc means “small castle” in Old German. ing the local administration of the German-speaking The territory at that time was part of the Holy Roman zone. The Napoleonic Code was introduced in 1804. Empire and the language spoken was High German. Lëtzebuergesch remained the everyday language spoken by all the inhabitants. 1364 1839 The expansion policy pursued by the counts of Lux- embourg as well as a series of conquests to the north The London Treaty saw the great powers declare and west entailed that the territory was divided into Luxembourg’s independence and organise the division two major areas, in which different dialects were of the country. Luxembourg was reduced to its present spoken: Walloon in the French-speaking part and the size (2,586 km2), with its new territory situated en- Luxembourg dialect in the German-speaking part. The tirely in the German-speaking zone. The German lan- written and administrative languages were French and guage could have toppled the superiority of French German, respectively, used in their ancient forms. This once and for all. But the lack of support shown by period marked a time of juxtaposed bilingualism (a William II, king of the Netherlands and grand duke of term coined by the historian Gilbert Trausch), with the Luxembourg, to German officials allowed the influ- two languages not spoken by one and the same person. ential Luxembourg notables to enforce French as the Nevertheless, the city of Luxembourg, while situated administrative, legislative and political language. in the German-speaking part, escaped this unyielding logic of a juxtaposed distribution of languages, since French was chosen as the administrative language. 1843 The industrialisation of the country brought about profound changes in population: while Germans and Italians immigrated to Luxembourg in great numbers, many Luxembourg citizens left the country, emigrating to France or the United States. Linguistic positioning became a political issue. In fact, in order to set the country apart from the rest of the German Confeder- ation and to shield it from nationalist “germanisation” attempts, a crucial law was passed: French was hence- forth to be a compulsory school subject, in the same capacity as German. French lessons were introduced from primary school onwards and the linguistic syl- labus was implemented once and for all by the school reform of 1912. Manuscript of a folk tale entitled Dem Grow Siegfried seï Gold, written in 1872 by Luxembourg author Michel Rodange © Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg About… Languages in Luxembourg / Information and Press Service of the Luxembourg Government / www.gouvernement.lu 1984 The law regulating the use of languages elevated Lët- zebuergesch to the rank of national language of the Grand Duchy. For the first time, this law stipulated that an application submitted to a public authority in Lëtzebuergesch, French or German be met, insofar as possible, with a response by the administration in the language chosen by the applicant. The restrictive dis- tinction is obviously aimed at Lëtzebuergesch: none- theless, the fact remains that the law of 1984 saw the Stamp illustrating Luxembourg’s international development Luxembourg language enter administration. Its recog- © P&TLuxembourg nition at European level by the “Lingua” programme in 1989 represented a further endorsement, a confir- 1941 mation of the sociocultural revival of Lëtzebuergesch in relation to French and German, as observed since The Luxembourg people once again asserted their the 1970s. language as a symbol of national identity when they – courageously and unequivocally – transformed a Foreign residents and cross-border commuters cur- census held by the German occupants into a referen- rently represent more than 70 % of the working pop- dum, in which they, among other things, proclaimed ulation: as a result, several language schools for adults Lëtzebuergesch as their only mother tongue. After the as well as numerous other different initiatives are en- war, fortified by its status as the language of the Resist- deavouring to respond to a growing demand for Lët- ance, Lëtzebuergesch was no longer under threat. Its zebuergesch classes. A government bill has been sub- vocabulary gradually grew with the inclusion of French mitted to Parliament establishing an Institut national words, in reaction to the identity crisis and linguistic des langues (National Language Institute) and aiming, trauma caused by the German military occupations among others, to create the “Diplom Lëtzebuerger during the First and Second World Wars. Finally, the Sprooch a Kultur” (diploma of Luxembourg language revised Constitution of 1948, more explicit than that and culture). This qualification will allowLëtzebuergesch of 1848, stated that the law regulate the use of lan- teachers to improve their professional knowledge of guages in administrative and legal matters. all aspects of the language (spelling, linguistics, litera- ture). This government bill also confers a status upon teachers of Lëtzebuergesch through legally defining the 1960 teaching profession of the Luxembourg language. From the 1960s onwards, after the opening of the bor- In addition, the government bill on double nationality ders laid down by the Treaties of Rome in 1957, new will in future create new certification requirements in immigration waves to Luxembourg started changing Lëtzebuergesch. The new National Language Institute the linguistic landscape. Three quarters of these com- will thus be entrusted with holding the tests required munities hailed from countries speaking Romance lan- with a view to acquiring double nationality. guages and used French to communicate with the Lux- embourg people. The use of French, a symbol of the old bourgeoisie and perpetuated as such, became more accessible, whilst Lëtzebuergesch underwent a process of emancipation through the integration of younger generations in the national education system. About… Languages in Luxembourg / Information and Press Service of the Luxembourg Government / www.gouvernement.lu In contrast, spoken French has gradually disappeared Official uses with from Parliament (Chamber of Deputies), despite the no official language fact that occasionally members of government still prefer it to Lëtzebuergesch when making important The state, school and the church – three declarations. In this very official context, no language institutions that call for an interesting of expression has been officially laid down and to a analysis of linguistic practices. In fact, since certain degree this gives politicians the freedom to no language can lay claim to the status express themselves in their preferred language. of official language in the Grand Duchy, French, German and Lëtzebuergesch are The fact is that these days the regular debates in Parlia- omnipresent to varying degrees, and be- ment are held in Lëtzebuergesch. Hence, the accounts of tween them share the roles of language in the public parliamentary sessions enclosed as an insert the workplace and that used for publica- in the daily newspapers illustrate a skilful mix of lan- tion and communication purposes, on both guages: the debates are transcribed in Lëtzebuergesch a formal and informal level. (representing the largest regularly written volume in this language), while questions to the government are Which languages for the state? mostly articulated in French. Legal texts, for their part, are always in French. Legislative acts are written in French and an important consequence of this on a judicial level is that only the It is important to note that the law of February

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