Luxembourg call for English... and more multilingualism!

If there is one place in Europe where multilingualism can be taken as a model, it's the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. During the latest Christmas holiday break, I travelled to tourist hidden gems Vianden, Echternach or Larochette, three towns in Northeastern Luxembourg, and could bear witness to the fact that multilingualism is a reality in that small landlocked country located in Western Europe.

The flag of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

With an area of 2,586 square kilometers (around 998 square miles), Luxembourg is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south. Luxembourg City is the capital of the grand duchy and also one of the four official capitals of the European Union (EU) together with Brussels, Frankfurt and Strasbourg. Luxembourg City is the seat of the Court of Justice of the EU, the highest judicial authority in the political and economic union of 27 European member states. The culture, people and languages of Luxembourg are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it a mixture of French and German cultures. 

Luxembourgish is the only national language of the Luxembourgish people, as defined by law. In addition to Luxembourgish, French and German are two other languages used in administrative and judicial matters. All three of them are jointly considered official administrative languages of Luxembourg. In 2019, Luxembourg (called Lëtzebuerg in Luxembourgish) had a population of around 635,000. It is one of the least-populous countries in Europe although it has the highest population growth rate on the continent. Foreigners account for nearly half of Luxembourg's population. As a representative democracy with a constitutional monarch, it is the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy. Luxembourg can count on an advanced economy and one of the world's highest gross domestic product --GDP-- (adjusted by purchasing power parity --PPP--) per capita.

On the official website of the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, it is mentioned that "multilingualism opens the door wide to life in Luxembourg". Through that website, it is also highlighted that "apart from the commonly used languages in Luxembourg, other languages are also spoken, especially English, Italian and Portuguese, but also Slavic or Nordic languages, a symbol of the rather substantial expat communities of Luxembourg. But just to reassure you: it is a rare occurrence not to find a common language in Luxembourg." See official web page about languages in Luxembourg at https://luxembourg.public.lu/en/society-and-culture/languages/languages-spoken-luxembourg.html.

When walking through the small medieval streets of Vianden, I could hear several people greeting each other in Portuguese. They also entered a local shop where a few words in Portuguese were also courteously exchanged. When they came out of the shop, the owner thanked the clients of Portuguese origin with a typical Villmools merci a bis geschwënn (Thank you very much and see you later!). Later on, the lady who welcomed us at the Restaurant An Haal in Echternach, could present the menu in several languages. During the whole lunchtime, I had the pleasure to have a kind and polite talk with her in a mix of French, German and Dutch.

The impressive Basilica Saint Willibrord in Echternach can be visited either in French, German, English or Luxembourgish

As a matter of fact, I raise here the issue of the successful story of multiligualism in Luxembourg because I was hooked by a puzzling article in the press a few weeks ago. English is actually the lingua franca of the large international community working at the European institutions and of people employed in the banking and industrial sectors in Luxembourg. Believe it or not, the press relayed the news that a petition urged Luxembourg government in late September 2021 to make English an official language. Adopting English as an official language would attract more international talent to Luxembourg, the petition argued. Here is the hyperlink pointing to the interesting article by John Monaghan published on the Luxembourg Times website on 2021-09-28: https://www.luxtimes.lu/en/luxembourg/make-english-an-official-language-in-luxembourg-petition-urges-6152f5e7de135b9236691c34.

According to a short article in The Linguist, Vol. 60, No 6, December/January 2021, "the petition to make English the fourth official language of Luxembourg has failed to get enough support to be discussed in parliament. The ongoing campaign is calling for official recognition of English with the aim of attracting people from outside the country, but a similar petition in 2019 also failed to meet the required 4,500 signatures." According to the Education Ministry of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the official languages French, German and Luxembourgish are spoken by 98%, 78% and 77% of the population respectively, while 80% of the people living in Luxembourg speak English. Foreign-born persons and guest workers make up 47% of the population of Luxembourg. The most common languages spoken by them, other than German and French, are Portuguese, English and Italian.

Amazing situation for such a small but rich country! After all, this can simply be summarized by Luxembourg's national motto: Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sinn (Luxembourgish), Nous voulons rester ce que nous sommes (French), Wir wollen bleiben, was wir sind (German) which could be translated in English by We want to remain what we are... 

As the Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein has put it: "The limits of my language are the limits of my world." It has never been so true in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the example of its multilingual people should be followed in some bigger countries too.

Sources: Wikipedia, https://luxembourg.public.lu/, The Linguist, Vol. 60, No 6, December/January 2021, p. 5 and "Make English an official language in Luxembourg, petition urges" by John Monaghan, Luxembourg Times, 2021-09-28.