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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5137 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 1 of 14 20 June 2010 at 8:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am curious as to how others feel about Luxembourgish. Although this tongue has official status in Luxembourg, does anyone feel that it is best viewed as a German dialect with French influences?
I've also been wondering if anyone here has ever seriously studied Luxembourgish. During my brief trip to Luxembourg, I remember seeing a dictionary for the Luxembourgish tongue, which I almost bought, but at the time I felt it was too expensive. If anyone has studied Luxembourgish, what good resources are available? I saw the EuroTalk CDs, but I would guess that there is not too many resources available. And for those who speak Luxembourgish, how is the literary world for this tongue? I cannot imagine that it would be very large, as I've heard that in today's world of technology, business, etc, that there is simply not enough updated/new vocabulary available for Luxembourgish, so that it probably would not so easily have many literary works. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Tally Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Israel Joined 5393 days ago 135 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English*, Modern Hebrew* Studies: French | Message 2 of 14 20 June 2010 at 8:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have never heard it
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| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5454 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 3 of 14 20 June 2010 at 9:27pm | IP Logged | ||
I lived in Luxembourg for a little over two years, and took classes and learned from locals. At the time there were only two course books available, and they were not particularly great. I would imagine it is very difficult to learn remotely, unless you have access to native speakers. The other thing I would say is that even though Luxembougish is one of the official languages of the country, in daily interactions you are much more likely to come across French. Finally, you are right that it is a Germanic language, but it would be hard to describe it as a dialect of German. I am sure that without a fair degree of exposure to the language a German native speaker would struggle with the many words that are of French origin or that seem to be neither French nor German. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| FuroraCeltica Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6650 days ago 1187 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 4 of 14 20 June 2010 at 11:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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At Luxembourg City train station you can hear some people speaking it. Sounds to me like German with sharper vowels.
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| tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5137 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 5 of 14 21 June 2010 at 2:13am | IP Logged | ||
On the first point, I totally agree. During my trip to Luxembourg, I had been told that I would have no trouble getting around, as the local people spoke primarily French, German, English and Luxembourgish. Many of the people I ran into, did not speak German or English, however, which caused me some difficulties as I don't speak French. Regarding the second point, I understand where you are coming from. My question would be, however, how different is Luxembourgish to German than, say, Swiss German and German or Plattdeutsch and Bayern. Of course the French influence and amount of French words would make it a little more difficult for a German speaker to understand than German, but with so many varying German dialects with a large distance between them (i.e. not so easily mutually intelligable), I would have to wonder if Luxembourgish would just be considered another German dialect, if it wasn't an official language of Luxembourg. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Iwwersetzerin Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member Luxembourg Joined 5454 days ago 259 posts - 513 votes Speaks: French*, Luxembourgish*, GermanC2, EnglishC2, SpanishC2, DutchC1, ItalianC1 Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 6 of 14 21 June 2010 at 4:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm a native Luxembourger and Luxembourgish speaker, so feel free to ask me any questions you'd like about Luxembourgish.
The answer to whether Luxembourgish is a German dialect is yes and no. It developed out of a German dialect and is definitely closely related to German, but it also has its own particularities and obviously a lot of French influence. Personally, I like to consider it a language in its own right as it also represents a distinct Luxembourgish culture and identity which is different from German culture and identity. As for resources for learning Luxembourgish, they are getting better. There has been a lot going on to promote Luxembourgish lately, there is now an official Luxembourgish exam for people who want to obtain the nationality, and there are now official programs at the national language institute and at the University of Luxembourg to specifically train teachers of Luxembourgish and even a Master in Luxembourgish studies, which I believe is an excellent initiative. I compiled a list of resources for Luxembourgish on my blog which you can find here As for Luxembourgish literature, well there is a not a lot, but there are some really talented people who write in Luxembourgish, such as Guy Rewenig and Claudine Muno and who are quite well known in the country. A characteristic of Luxembourgish writers is that a lot of them write in several languages. Claudine Muno for example has published books in 4 different languages (English, French, German and Luxembourgish).
I don't completely agree with that. In Luxembourg City, yes, because there are so many people from Belgium and France who work in Luxembourg City and many foreigners live there. Outside of Luxembourg City however, the situation is quite different and in the small towns and rural parts of the country, you will hear much more Luxembourgish than French or other languages. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Impiegato Triglot Senior Member Sweden bsntranslation. Joined 5218 days ago 100 posts - 145 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, Italian Studies: Spanish, French, Russian | Message 7 of 14 21 June 2010 at 8:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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What about the labour market in Luxembourg? Is it possible to get by knowing only English and French?
It would be nice to move there, but I have never studied German. As I understand it, the choice of language to use depends on the context, but not in the sense that blue-collar jobs require particular language skills and other types of jobs require other skills. What I mean is that it seems to be important to speak all the official languages of the country to be able to read newspapers, legislation, watch TV, make friends from Luxemburg (and not only foreigners) etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iwwersetzerin Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member Luxembourg Joined 5454 days ago 259 posts - 513 votes Speaks: French*, Luxembourgish*, GermanC2, EnglishC2, SpanishC2, DutchC1, ItalianC1 Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 8 of 14 21 June 2010 at 9:58pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, it is possible to work in Luxembourg knowing only English and French, a lot of people are in that case. Over half of the work force in Luxembourg is made up of commuters from France, Belgium and Germany and those who speak both French and German well are actually a minority (but it does give you an advantage if you do speak both). French is probably more useful than German in many cases, especially in banking, finance and the legal sector (laws and regulations are drafted in French and French is the main administrative language). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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