Luxembourg is a small landlocked country in the Benelux bordered by Belgium, France and Germany, lying at the crossroad of Germanic and Latin cultures. It is the only Grand Duchy in the world and is the second-smallest of the European Union member states.
With a successful steel, finance and high technology industry, a strategic location at the heart of Western Europe, more natural beauty than you might expect given its size, and as one of the top 3 richest countries in the world, Luxembourg enjoys a very high standard of living.
Languages Spoken in Luxembourg
Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch) is the national language, while French is the administrative language. German is also widely used. That means outside of large cities where French is spoken, the national language of Luxembourgish is spoken at home.
Luxembourgish is a language, having evolved from a German dialect (Moselfränkisch). Standard German (Hochdeutsch) enjoys official status but is not used for administrative purposes, i.e. road signs and stores will use signs that appear in French. French therefore is the most useful of the three languages to know.
Over one third of Luxembourg’s overall population is made up of foreigners, and this figure rises to 50% in the city. Hence, again knowing French is your best bet if you want to converse with most people, especially as people working in shops and bars usually come from France or Belgium and don’t bother to learn the local native language.
English is widely understood by such personnel as bus drivers, but many shop assistants will only respond if addressed in French. Educated Luxembourgers are fluent in all four of the above languages; it is the frontaliers (workers who live across one of the borders) who may not speak English. Apart from the more elderly inhabitants, virtually every Luxembourgish person understands and speaks fluent standard German and French.
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