Luxembourgish language

From Free net encyclopedia

{{Infobox Language |name=Luxembourg |nativename=Lëtzebuergesch |familycolor=Indo-European |states=Luxembourg, Belgium, France, Germany |region=Europe |speakers=300,000 |fam1=Indo-European |fam2=Germanic |fam3=West |fam4=High Germanic languages |fam5=West Central German |nation=Luxembourg |iso1=lb|iso2=ltz|iso3=ltz}} Luxembourgish or Luxembourgian (French: Luxembourgeois, German: Luxemburgisch, 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 Luxembourg 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 Central German group of High Germanic languages. Luxembourgish has borrowed many French words. For example, the name for a bus driver is Buschauffeur (also Dutch), which would be Busfahrer in German and Chauffeur de bus in French. It is relatively easy for German speakers to understand Luxembourgish, but more difficult to speak it properly because of the French influence.

On the other hand, written Luxembourgish often shows a marked influence from High German in syntax and idiom and often strikes the fluent reader of German as essentially pure German disguised as a foreign language. It seems that the idea of how to properly write in Luxembourgish is still heavily dependent on normative German grammar. In this respect, Luxembourgish does come nearer to being merely a German dialect than does Dutch, which is also obviously related to German but markedly more divergent from that language in syntax, word order and idiom.

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. Luxemburgish is used by all the Radio Stations in Luxembourg and is spoken by most of its citzens.

The alphabet of Luxembourgish consists of the 26 Latin letters plus three modified letters: é, ä, and ë.

The LaF (Lëtzebuergesch als Friemsprooch – Luxembourgish as a Foreign Language) is a set of four language proficiency certifications for Luxembourgish and follows the ALTE framework of language examination standards. The tests are administered by the Centre de Langues Luxembourg which is a member of the ALTE.

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Some phrases

Jo. Yes.
Neen. No.
Villäicht. Maybe.
Moien. Hello.
Äddi. Goodbye.
Merci. Thank you.
Firwat? Why
Ech weess nët. I don't know
Watgelift? or Ëntschëllegt? Excuse me?
Metzleschjong. Butcher's son. (a major suspect in the infamous 1985 bombings...)
Schwätzt dier Däitsch/Franséisch/Englesch? Do you speak German/French/English?
Politeschen Anstand. Political Decency
Sou. So.
Fräi. Free.
Heem. Home.
Ech. I.
A. and.
Mäin. my.
Iesel. donkey.
Mat. With.
Kand. Kid/Child.
Wee. Way.