| Luxembourgish or Luxembourgian (in French,
Luxembourgeois; in German, Luxemburgisch; in
Luxembourgish Lëtzebuergesch) is a West Germanic
language spoken in Luxembourg. It
was adopted as an official language in 1984. It is also spoken in small parts of Belgium, France and Germany, as well as by a few of the descendants of Luxembourgian immigrants in the United States and emigrants to Transylvania,
Romania (Siebenbürgen). There are about 300,000 people who speak Luxembourgish
worldwide.
Luxembourgish belongs to the Middle German group of High German languages, like
standard German. It is, however, more than just a German dialect.
Luxembourgish borrows many French words. For example, the name for a bus driver is Buschauffeur which would be
Busfahrer in German and Chauffeur de bus in French. It is relatively easy for German speakers to understand
Luxembourgish, but more complicated to speak it properly because of the French influence.
Some words are different from High German but have equivalents in German dialects. An example would be the word potato,
which is Gromper in Luxembourgish, but pomme de terre in French and Kartoffel in High German.
Other words are exclusive to Luxembourgish, for example the word for "Match", which is
"Fixfeier".
Standard German is called "Däitsch", or sometimes "Preisësch" (Prussian,
which has slightly xenophobic undertones) in Luxembourg. Its most common uses
are in Luxembourg's newspapers, and in primary school. The main administrative language in Luxembourg is French.
Some phrases
- Jo. Yes.
- Neen. No.
- Villäicht. Maybe.
- Moien. Hello.
- Äddi. Goodbye.
- Merci. Thank you.
- Watgelift? or Ëntschëllegt? Excuse me?
- Metzleschjong. Butcher's son.
- Schwätzt dier Däitsch/Franséisch/Englesch? Do you speak German/French/English?
External links
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