Luxembourgish - A Dialect of German? Or Separate Language?

This video is all about Luxembourgish and its features, in comparison with Standard German. I also talk about Luxembourg as a rich multilingual environment and try to give a bit of an idea of what life must be like there. Luxembourg is officially trilingual, having Luxembourgish, French, and German as its official languages. Most people speak more than one language and switch between them depending on the setting and the person they are interacting with. The historical native language of Luxembourg is a Moselle Franconian High German dialect, which became Luxembourgish as it was standardized and made the national language of the country.
Special thanks to Tom Weber for his Luxembourgish audio samples and helpful advice, and to Markus Doehr for his Standard German samples and helpful advice.
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[@Langfocus]

Hi, everyone! I hope you like the video. If you're learning a new language, try the world-famous *Pimsleur method* in its new-and-improved subscription format: ► imp.i271380.net/langfocus ► *Free trial - Use my link to gain access* (Disclosure: The above link is an affiliate link, so Langfocus gets a small referral fee - at no extra cost to you)

[@GEOfocusChannel]

►►► Yes, I agree! Check me out: kzbin.info

[@bourbon2242]

Hello Paul. I really like your videos. Keep making them.

[@just1frosty516]

this just made my day❤️

[@apexgoblin]

Hey mate! Nice video

[@modmaker7617]

Got an idea; Monégasque 🇲🇨 vs Indonesian 🇮🇩 vs Polish 🇵🇱 vs Greenlandic 🇬🇱

[@arnehessenbruch]

I use all the languages pretty much every day. One issue not mentioned in the video is that different domains are dominated by different languages: government (Luxembourgish), retail (French), newspapers (German), finance and academia (English), building sites (Portuguese).

[@ricardj02]

Estou-te muito obrigado por mostrar as línguas mais faladas em Luxemburgo! Saudações desde a beira mediterrânea, Valência.

[@sinsemilia70]

🙂he mentioned it at 1:15 min - “depending on context” he says

[@cister4708]

@@ricardj02 Xe, un valencià per ací

[@diosnoexiste898]

Derauch in diesem Jahre wieder von den Toten auferstandene Osterhase wünscht allen Menschen(und ebenso natürlich auch den aus der Rippe des Menschen erschaffenen Wesen)ein fröhliches Hasenfest und viele bunte Eier.

[@norajohnson2841]

Very interesting! Thank you for that information.

[@desanipt]

5:08 Well, fun fact, the German word "tschüss" also comes from French "adieu" through Dutch "adjuus".

[@ccg8803]

Nobody would have said that

[@Frahamen]

Yeah a couple of things do strike me as "Dutchy", or even more "Limburgishy"

[@ElysiaBrenner]

@@Frahamen I speak Dutch, and when I was in Luxembourg I kept feeling like I could allllmost understand the conversations around me. Like I forgot for a moment that I was in another country, and then had the disorientating sensation of not being able to understand something my brain wanted to fit into the "Dutch" box.

[@Shadowkainine]

@@ElysiaBrenner As a nowegian I experienced the same thing with feroese! It's really strange to listen to languages which are so similar, yet so different.

[@nolongerlistless]

Glad you made this comment. It is what I was taught at uni.

[@clarencewildes1747]

My wife and I went to Luxembourg once. She sent me out to get her a drink, so I went a short way from the hotel to a kiosk attended by one woman. Several men were ahead of me. To the first she spoke French. The second spoke German. The third spoke something else, I assume it was Dutch. My turn. I hadn’t said a word, but she looked me right in the eye and said, “What’ll you have, Hon?”

[@granzert1711]

Luxembourgish is my mother tongue, the language I speak the most, especially with my family, but also with people I meet in daily life, if they speak it. Most local friends speak it and at the places I used to work it was the most common language. I don't watch much TV anymore, but if I do, I mostly watch programmes in Luxembourgish. Although French is also very important in my daily life: First, because most of the workers from Luxembourg's neighbouring areas are French, many of them work in retail. Unfortunately those of them who still speak their local Moselle Franconian dialect have become extremely rare. Also most of the foreigners living in the country come from Romance language countries (mainly Portuguese, French, Italian and Cape Verdian people). It's usually the kids of immigrants who learn Luxembourgish, not the parents, the latter with whom I usually end up speaking French. Second, because it's the lingua franca here when it comes to written language. As an example: Although laws are discussed in Luxembourgish in Parliament, they are recorded on paper in French. Most street signs are also in French. (On a diplomatic level Luxembourg speaks French officially, like when engaging with the European Union or the United Nations.) Third, my favourite Discord channel is a French one. Then I use also quite a lot of standard German. I have German friends, some of them living in Germany some here in Luxembourg and I'm registered in several German speaking internet forums. And yes, there's also a good chunk of workers coming from neighbouring German areas. Since many of them still know their local dialects, they often understand me if I just speak Luxembourgish with them. It's usually Germans from further away who have difficulties to understand my mother tongue. Even though those still mastering a dialect have more ease understanding my idiom, especially those who speak a central German dialect. But speaking of internet, in that area English is definitely the most important language to me. Add to this friends I have from parts of the world not belonging to the French and German language bubble. Finally I also speak a bit of Italian. I learned it in school, unfortunately with time I forgot a lot of it. My girlfriend is an Italian immigrants' kid, but she speaks a southern Italian language, not the standard version, and she speaks perfect Luxembourgish anyway. (She even has a stronger Luxembourgish accent when speaking German, French and English than I.) Thank you Paul, I was waiting for this video. 👍

[@helilebon2383]

Danke für den Insider-Blick. Sehr interessant.

[@campolindo18]

@@helilebon2383 Ja geht mir genauso. Merci!

[@muhammadisaac07]

Thanks for sharing... Multilingual community is really interesting!!! 😊🤘

[@stillgotyourmom]

,,Granzert" 😂😂

[@jacksons8446]

im a bit jelous luxembourgish ppl learn so many languages ''by default'' :D

[@robertmcdonnell3117]

Oh wow this is perfect timing as I'm on the train from Brussels to Luxembourg right now! Great video as always Paul. :)

[@Langfocus]

Thanks, Robert! Enjoy your time in Luxembourg!

[@chadbailey7038]

What languages do you speak Robert? Are you prepared enough?

[@robertmcdonnell3117]

@@chadbailey7038 English, Irish, French and some German, you? :)

[@danielcowan87]

@@robertmcdonnell3117 a fellow Gaeilgeoir

[@robertmcdonnell3117]

@@danielcowan87 ☘️

[@shivambakhshi4859]

Wow, looks like Luxembourg is the real polyglot’s paradise! Kids growing up there are exposed to 5 languages and my understanding is that they are fluent in at least 4. What an amazing country!

[@ArwedMett]

Man, I moved here and feel bad by only being able to speak 3 languages. I know so many people who speak more than 4.

[@klaudiam8735]

Well I mean I don't think the kids enjoy it that much. I certainly didn't enjoy being forced to study french. And learning all those languages does have its disadvantages. Studying 3 languages takes away time from other subjects like Geography, history or even sciences. Especially in science classes, it felt like until you could finally choose your own specialisation you didn't see anything in detail. Up until 10th grade you learn everything mostly in German (Geography, History, Biology). However in the 10th grade, all those subjects suddenly are in french. So it is kinda hard to just transition to french. Most of my friends had also a strong dislike for french. I don't think the kids particularly feel blessed knowing all of those languages.

[@pitreichert]

for me it was the opposite, i was so happy when i didn't have to study german anymore. And i am a native luxembourgish speaker

[@klaudiam8735]

@@pitreichert I was happy when in 2B I could finally drop french. Never really liked the language.

[@fiehdorb5460]

It´s crazy when you think about it. The kids of immigrants often speak the 4 common languages and their mothertongue, sometimes switching to luxembourgish to keep secrets from their parents🤫. But most people have have a tendency to either speak german or french. Which one it is depends on your mothertongue, romance language more towards french an germanic and balkan languages more towards german, at least in my experience. And often people donˋt get the possibility to learn or experience luxembourgish, because luxembourgish people tend to switch to the more comfortable language of their speaking partner.

[@luxcrafters]

Hi there, As a Luxemburger I can tell you this video is probably the most accurate you can find on KZbin and I am really thankful that someone took the time to analyze our language. As for the question asked at the end of the video, I speak Luxembourgish every day but not at home as my wife only speaks English. At work I'm lucky to have lots of Luxembourgish colleagues but French nearly comes second, if there wasn't English which grew so much in the past years. Since Luxembourg opened up to the technology sector as well as startups, English became quite a normal language to speak between colleagues and in bars. It also makes things easier for German and French people to communicate, but the French are sometimes to proud to speak anything else than English 😉 Villmools Merci fir de flotten Video. Léif Gréiss aus Lëtzebuerg 😀

[@actual_garbage]

so glad to meet a Luxem**burger**

[@luxcrafters]

@@actual_garbage the pleasure is mine good sir :)

[@mgpich]

Letzebuergesch ist eine sehr faszinierende Sprache (für mich als Österreicher). Seid stolz darauf, dass ihr damit die moselfränkischen Dialekte rettet, die in Deutschland ja leider aussterben :)

[@Shj4223]

Charly, so you guys usually preffer to hear luxembourgish than the other languages? You said you're lucky to have colleagues that speak it, etc.

[@UnshavenStatue]

french gonna french, even when they're not in france lol

[@timvlaar]

One small historical inaccuracy, while it's true that Luxembourg lost territory, after gaining independence from France, Luxembourg's biggest loss of territory came much later, in 1839, to Belgium. Belgium wasn't a country yet when Luxembourg gained independence from France.

[@kenster8270]

Another minor inaccuracy is the description of languages traditionally spoken in the region across Luxembourg's modern borders. Various German dialects were historically spoken in nearly all the bordering areas, and today modern standard German is still spoken in the part of Belgium that lies immediately to the north of Luxembourg.

[@jayxi5021]

I'm from Luxembourg and I'd like to note a few things that people may not be aware of. Luxembourgish is *not* taught in school. Not the spelling, not the grammar, or anything really. It is something you pick up in kindergarten by playing with other kids, or that you know as mother language. Every person that grew up in Luxembourg and attended Luxembourgish schools, speak French, German, English and Luxembourgish, more or less fluently. When two Luxembourgish people speak together, it is more than normal to use the other languages we know to communicate. Switching to french, german and english and back to Luxembourgish in the same sentence is very, very common.This is why we like to use words of other language if the word we think of comes faster in our mind in that specific language. If you ever want to visit Luxembourg, don't worry a single bit about language barriers :D

[@alexiosblake9804]

Sorry but in my school it was taught.

[@Enpointe4]

So which language(s) are used in school? :)

[@alexiosblake9804]

@@Enpointe4 depends in the school, but french, german, luxemburgish are the usual.

[@dewei4279]

It is taught now in school and mandatory. A lot has changed in the last few years ;)

[@Blubking1]

Luxembourgish is taught nowadays. Didn’t used to be like that back in the days

[@BrunoAlexLUX]

I was born in Portugal, went to Luxembourg in 2008 and came back to Portugal in 2020. I'm so thankful that I could learn such a rare and unique language! 🇵🇹🇱🇺

[@tonijelecevic9238]

Rare and unique? It is one several western Germanic languages

[@BrunoAlexLUX]

@@tonijelecevic9238 and how many do speak the language? Yeah right

[@danielsanabria6770]

I'm interested in knowing why many people from Portugal (and not from Spain for example) go to Luxembourg exactly?

[@DarthGriphin]

@@danielsanabria6770 The reason is that the portuguese are looking for a better quality of life, and in spain they don't have it as bad as we do in Portugal, and luxemburg has a much higher salary than Portugal and i think it has the highest average salary out of any european country.

[@dschaydschee]

Not very useful though

[@Catbb250]

I’m Belgian. My native language is Dutch, but I also speak French, English and German. A couple of weeks ago I traveled to Luxembourg and I fell in love with Luxembourgish. It’s so weird to understand certain words and expressions, but never understand it to the full extent. The overlap of European languages, especially at the borders, will also never cease to amaze me.

[@TheLanngillap]

Beeing a native luxemburgish speaker, I have the same feelings the other way around. We travel to De Haan quit a lot (it's a three hour drive if the gods of the Brussles Ring have mercy). I do understand about 70% of flemish if it's not spoken to fast. When it's written, and i have time, i can get up to 80% of comprehension - but there are a lot of "false friends" - words that look and sound familiar but have a different meaning. But with every trip i do learn a bit more.

[@LitoLevenbach]

Always a joy to hear Luxembourgish radio while driving through the area!

[@mpforeverunlimited]

Do you speak it though?

[@LitoLevenbach]

@@mpforeverunlimited No, but it's fun trying to figure it out knowing a bit of German and French

[@ArwedMett]

The best is when they play luxembourgish rap. It just sounds like torturing the german language :)

[@LitoLevenbach]

@@ArwedMett Oh I have to check that out now!

[@idraote]

A few weeks ago I was watching a video with a famous journalist, Philip Crowther, reporting on the war in Ukraine (without knowing he was from Luxembourg) and I was telling to myself: "Dear me, I barely understand him, his German is quite bad!" Then I realised someone had actually edited together his reporting in six different languages, Luxembourgish included. His German was quite flawless, just like his French, of course.

[@hechendorfvideo]

…and his Spanish 👍🏻

[@arioso1525]

Yeah, I watched the vid too and was quite amazed by his fluency. Would like to speak at the same level, I suppose being a journalist isn't a must for that 😁

[@ingriddurden3929]

I was in Luxemburg a few times and always got frustrated, speaking both German and French and not being able to follow the conversation. In the film I notice that some structures are even more like my native Dutch than either of the other ones. Good memories! Thanks!

[@roderic3261]

That's because of the influence of Dutch during the 19th century, when there was a personal union with the Netherlands' Crown. The word for "please" is wann ech gelift (abbreviated w.e.g) which comes from the formula ‘als u gelieft' (now, alstublieft)

[@weetikissa]

@@roderic3261 That's French in origin, though. S'il vous plaît = if it pleases you.

[@stillgotyourmom]

@@weetikissa where is "wann ech gelift" French origin when yoou spell it completely otherwise? He just explained they way it evolved.

[@douchebagdave3813]

@@roderic3261 In German there is also "Wenn's euch beliebt", which is a little bit more ancient, but probably the more likely root.

[@Ultrajuiced]

Yes, it is weird as a German to understand much of it but it is still pretty hard and when people talk really fast, you get lost while it is actually a German dialect.

[@jinengi]

Having Moselle Franconian / Luxembourgish being considered a language in Luxembourg but considered a dialect as soon as you cross the border with Germany truly shows how politics aftect linguistics

[@keithkannenberg7414]

You know the old adage: a language is a dialect with an army and navy. Though the 1000 people in the Luxembourg military service barely constitute an "army". :-)

[@HotelPapa100]

@@keithkannenberg7414 Switzerland, being landlocked, does not have a navy. So you're saying that our language is not considered a language because of that? The real reason is that we never bothered to standardize it and get a written form; Standard German is used in writing, and there's a plethora of differing dialects. By the touchstone of mutual intelligibility it's clearly a different language from Standard German, though.

[@mateozanone7216]

@@HotelPapa100 bro, the "army and navy" is symbolic...

[@HotelPapa100]

@@mateozanone7216 I get that. What I mean to say is that statehood is not sufficient for a dialect to be considered a language.

[@keithkannenberg7414]

@@HotelPapa100 And I was just agreeing that politics and military power have often influenced the language/dialect distinction.

[@nolongerlistless]

Shout out to Sheffield University for being among the first to teach Luxembourgish to undergraduates.

[@FuckingMushroom93]

I'm from Saarland, about 20 Minutes away from the border. I have some luxembourgish friends and when we meet I can speak my local dialect and they can speak luxembourgish. Even though we technically speak different languages we can understand each other with relative ease.

[@leftaroundabout]

This has to be the only language I find more difficult to understand when reading it than hearing. The written form looks outright bizarre to me as a German, but it _sounds_ quite similar to some German dialects.

[@atlantisia]

maybe it's written different on purpose, to look distinct from german

[@leftaroundabout]

@@atlantisia I think it just tries to give a consistent and accurate representation of the actual phonetics, and frankly it does a rather better job at it than how written standard German represents spoken Hochdeutsch. Only, we Germans are used to the discrepancies in a way that makes in jarring when what you read is actually what you'd hear. (In English it's of course even more extreme, _how it's written_ and _how it's pronounced_ are almost completely separate.)

[@pitreichert]

after WW2, luxembourgish was written in a way to make it look much more german than previously, for obvious reasons. it didn't work though, ot became too hard and unnatural to read and write

[@christianullrich2923]

Honestly, whenever I read Luxembourgish (happens quite a lot; I‘m one of those commuters), I have the irresistible urge to giggle while I make sense of it. Understanding the spoken language is easier, but I cannot speak it at all.

[@Carbonideus]

@@atlantisia It is written that way because there are sound that don't exist in german, e.g. 'éi' pronounced like 'ey' in english and not 'i', like 'ei' in german. Also the ë doesn't exist as a sound in the german language. 'Jh' is another example (pronounced like a soft g). So it all makes sense, and your explanation, unfounded by any knowledge, is absurd.

[@Marius-mn8jv]

5:12 In south-western Germany we also use "Ade" for goodbye, it probably also derived from French, but the Luxembourgish "Äddi" reminded me of this

[@poznaniak8349]

Also "mir" instead of "wir". Mir gehn dann hoim, ade!

[@akumayoxiruma]

16:00 As a French and Standard German speaker without exposure to Luxembourgish nor living in the Western area, I could understand virtually everything in this video. The only words that sounded distinctly different from German and its dialects which I wouldn't understand are 'géif' [would] and 'hatt' [she, clq.]. Other than that, it just sounds like a South Western German dialect with French words randomly added - which out of all German dialects isn't even the hardest to understand. (Saxonian and Bavarian are quaking.)

[@brucemcpherlain1903]

As a German, might I add, that the German word "Tschüss" (the phrase came originally from Hamburg) also comes from "Adieu". Sailors from Hamburg picked the French word up and changed it to "Atschüss", which then later became "Tschüss" and found its way to the whole of Germany.

[@alfonsmelenhorst9672]

Like in some Dutch dialects the same word is used in the form: "Ajuus" [ayüs].

[@patolt1628]

Wow! As a Frenchman I have learnt something here.

[@jean6872]

I thought the German for goodbye was auf Wiedersehen not Tschüss.

[@Shexe.r]

@@jean6872 "Tschüss" is unformal whereas "auf Wiedersehen" is formal

[@jean6872]

@@Shexe.r OK Thanks, Sho.

[@jesperrasmussen2633]

I love your language videos paul you are the best

[@Langfocus]

Thank you, Jesper.

[@Pikflowerdude]

I am in shock!!! I didn't expect you to speak about my home country, but after watching your video about Belgium it should be expected Well answering your question to Luxembourgish citizen: As a second gen immigrant I mostly speak Luxembourgish with my friends, family and colleges but especially around younger people Other languages I use very often are German, English (both my go-to languages for medias) and Cape Verdean Creole (due to my family)

[@christopherhollowell6926]

It's nice to hear that Luxembourgish is being kept alive and used by young people

[@eduardocajias5626]

Cape Verdean Creole? In Luxembourg? Wow! Sounds interesting to me. Is Cape Verdean Creole inteligible to portuguese? But to a Brazilian portuguese speaker like me?

[@Pikflowerdude]

Yes! The Cape Verdean Creole community is quite big here, believe it or not haha Well Portuguese friends told me that they find it quite odd, but they do understand a good bunch of the words CV Creole does take the vowel shortening to another extreme like chegar becomes tch'ga or dinheiro becomes d'nher and so on, plus combined with a couple different words and pronouns (em, bô, el, bzot, es for eu, tu, ele/ela, vocês, eles/elas respectively) it can be quite tricky epecially for BR PT speakers

[@eduardocajias5626]

@@Pikflowerdude 😊 Thank you for your answer and for being so gentle with me. Yes, if it is tricky for people from Portugal... I think it would be harder for most of Brazilians as we are not used to non BR portuguese sounds. Only when I was a kid I could listen a lot on streets to accents from Portugal. Anyway... Muitíssimo OBRIGADO, amigo cabo verdiano-luxemburgues!

[@Pikflowerdude]

@@eduardocajias5626 Com prazer, irmão brasileiro 😊

[@ronin667]

I can understand Luxembourgish quite well, though I don't speak it. My grandmother was originally from Trier, and though living in Bavaria for most of her life, she retained her Moselle Franconian dialect, which is quite similar to Luxembourgish.

[@zsomki]

Im only 12 , i live in Luxembourg and i already speak 5 languages

[@BlackHappyDragon]

I'm Dutch and it is interesting to notice how similar the words and sentence structures of Luxembourgish are to Dutch.

[@Kyle-ys8ot]

Luxembourgish Imo is a combination of nederlands, french and german

[@cvbattum]

Historically it makes some sense too, as the dutch kingdom once stretched all the way to Luxembourg. Didn't influence language much at all but I can hardly imagine it didn't at all.

[@timurermolenko2013]

I listened to LUX rap and it sounded to me like Dutch with an ugly Frenchy accent

[@berndfreudinger8754]

@@Kyle-ys8ot eben eine Art plattdeutsch

[@cubanoloquito]

I was just watching a video about Luxembourg today! As a German, I learned this language for a while and found it pretty easy :) I am so glad that you made a video about this beautiful language, I have this plan of visiting Luxembourg and I even used to have the plan to live there :D Thanks for what you are doing ^^

[@SphereBoxCube]

A Germanic language with a strong French substrate... It's like English if it developed much later.

[@Triumph263]

Wait till you hear about Dutch.

[@troelspeterroland6998]

To be quite precise, it's a superstrate. I'm sorry to get technical but it's the Langfocus channel after all. 🙂

[@the-human-being]

@@troelspeterroland6998 might even be considered an adstratum…

[@troelspeterroland6998]

@@the-human-being Yes, indeed.

[@galier2]

Wrong way around, the substrate is Germanic, the vocabulary is full of French word.

[@sunblade704]

As someone who grew up near the Mosel/in the Eifel that's so interesting hearing spoken Luxembourgish, a blast from the past so to speak (I moved to Hessen over 10 years ago and get terribly homesick about the dialect).

[@danr1852]

@Langfocus, Hi. I grew up in Transylvania as part of a German minority. While visiting Luxembourg, we noticed that we could understand locals speaking Luxembourgish. On several occasions we just spoke our dialect (for example when asking for directions) and not only were we understood but we could understand very well what was being said. Since my dialect is mostly a spoken language with no standard written form (I am aware of), it was am interesting experience to read Luxembourgish and discover that many words sound similar in my dialect. To take an example from your video, in my dialect you would say: 'Ech hun geschlofen.' or 'Host tea gead geschlofen?' for 'Have you slept well?' or 'Denj videos gefollen mer gead.' :)

[@claudepetit4645]

The ancestors of the modern Transylvanian Saxons originally came from the contemporary Low Countries (more specifically the regions of Flanders, Hainaut, Brabant, Liège, or Zeeland) as well as the Moselle and Lorraine river valleys, and, very importantly, LUXEMNOURG as well, then situated in the north-western territories of the Holy Roman Empire around the 1140

[@Szaam]

I like how the first example of English being used in Luxembourg is the word "sorry"

[@detektiveconanfreak]

As a dialect speaker living half an hour away from the border to luxemburg, luxemburgish just sounds like a very extreme form of my own dialect to me. Very easy to understand, even though vowel pronounciation is pretty different. It was very cool to see some of the grammatical differences also present in my dialect being explained in proper linguistic terms, since it really is not a dialect prominently featured in media.

[@pseudomino3]

I believe that Luxembourgish is mutually intelligible with Hunsrückisch, which is the most spoken German dialect in Brazil, which is also a Moselle Franconian dialect, but heavily influenced by Brazilian Portuguese instead of French.

[@ericcarlson3746]

i love all the info in the comments!

[@JS-tb9sn]

I can't wait to finish this video! Luxembourg is an interesting country at the crossroads of many competing cultures.

[@hrenes]

As a speaker of Dutch (and German) and a frequent visitor of Luxemburg, at first, I found communicating difficult, as I tried to use French and they would change to German and even Dutch. Nowadays I start in Dutch and answer them in the language they speak, much more relaxing. On Luxemburgish, I bought "de klenge Prënz" and read it. I had some little problems at first but could understand at least 80% of it.

[@OpaSpielt]

Thank you for this very informative video. 2 stories about my own experience mutual intelligibility: I was born in northern Germany. I later got a job at the banks of the Moselle river about 70 km distance from the border to Luxembourg. Those days we had cable TV. One of the TV stations we could watch was the national Luxembourgish TV. I did not understand 100% of the Luxembourgish news and sports programs, but a lot. The other story is: once we visited Bitburg, a German town not far from the border to Luxembourg. On the parking lot of a supermarket, a local wanted to tell me something in his dialect. Because he was speaking in a fast way, i really had problems understanding him. But I noticed, that he was talking in a dialect very close to Luxemburgish. I understood the Luxembourgish TV programs better than this guy, to be honest. Have a nice day Norbert | OpaSpielt

[@linkedius2532]

Thank you Langfocus for consistently bringing interesting videos🙏🏼

[@samibouraoui4449]

As a native luxembourgish speaker with a tunisian speaking dad I can tell you that my growing up environment was very multilingual! We are constantly code switching between lux/french/tun and it's very nice when I think about it! Growing up multilingual gave me a lot of benefits when studying abroad in Germany! I'm now doing my masters in secondary education in german here at university of luxembourg 🙌🏻 great video btw. and perfect timing!

[@LLsunflower]

Great video! If possible, I'd like to see some videos about the Japonic languages of the Ryukyu islands, I think that would be super interesting

[@Ben-vu2fy]

As a native Dutch speaker, I understand quite a lot of Luxembourgish! To me it sounds similar to the Limburg regional language in NL and BE.

[@monicabennett6620]

I just watched a TV show that was in Luxembourgish on Netflix and fell in love with the sound of this language. I had to look up the information you are giving because I found it so beautiful.

[@lucaarmillei1682]

Was it "Capitani"? :-)

[@weepingscorpion8739]

I speak German, but Luxembourgish requires a lot of concentration for me to understand but granted I haven't been exposed to it much. Luxembourgish is pretty cool. As a speaker of another small Germanic language (Faroese), it's nice to see small languages like this. Also, if people want to see Luxembourgish in action, there's always the Netflix show Capitani, which is all in Luxembourgish.

[@Ultrajuiced]

Are you native speaker of Faroese?

[@weepingscorpion8739]

@@Ultrajuiced I am, yes.

[@maatheizzda3751]

I live at Luxembourg's border in Germany (Eifel), the dialects that are spoken here in Eifel, Hunsrick and Saarland are the same as Luxembourgish, just formal words are French in Luxembourgish, and here they're German. But especially the Eifel dialect is very close to Luxembourgish (pronounciation etc), Saarlandish and Husrickish have a tendency to use i or e instead of a and ö/ë, e.g.: English: That's a beautiful house. German: Das ist ein schönes Haus. Eifelish: Dat as e schei Haus. Hunsrickish: Dat is e schee Hous. Although in western areas of Hunsrick (called Hochwald) people use ö more often than e, e.g. western: Gedööns, Köscha, bödäppat eastern: Gedeens, Kescha, bedäppat Side note to the video: Sorry, I'm late is in German "Entschuldigt die Verspätung" not "Entschuldigung für die Verspätung" although casually the second one is used (it's wrong though). I cannot translate it into english, but here is the latin equivallent: 1st: Excusate me ut tarde veniam. 2nd: Excusatio pro tarditate mea.

[@raidcrhonos]

I'm always excited for new Geofocus videos, thanks for reviving it

[@shitrider4987]

Thank's Paul, great video! It's fascinating how a dialect can become a "different language" while the original is still around and it's right there across the river! This always brings the question back around what a language actually is - a dialect with an army and a navy.😄😄😄

[@humdrumyokel9890]

Then ... Luxembourgish would not be a language yet ... it seems to me that thy still do not have any navy.

[@shitrider4987]

@@humdrumyokel9890 Yeah well... I personally think the language-dialect question shoud only be important for the linguistic science community. For us normal people it's OK to call it either way.😄

[@morganrickards3811]

This is hilarious because when I worked in a restaurant some customers were speaking and I stopped and listened and said 'the language you're speaking sounds like french and german' and they were surprised that I picked up on it and we're proud to tell me it's Luxembourgish Made their day when I told them I speak some French

[@luxair1997andTAP]

Finally, I was waiting for this episode for a long time!! 👏🏻

[@katherinemaas6712]

Excellent video, as always! Fascinating how so many dialects persist in Europe.

[@freakyfishy1]

My family is from Mayen area, near Koblenz (around 120km away from Luxemburg) in the German Eifel. My grandmother's countryside dialect is literally Luxembourgish, but without all the French loanwords. (Hope I don't trigger some Lëtzeburgers here)

[@Thinkingman69]

Jo hues Recht. Un der Grentz op der Däitscher Säit get quasi dat selwecht geschwaat.

[@reuterromain1054]

@@Thinkingman69 Jo zu 75% vläicht.

[@yanjulio]

In Flemish there's something similar to the Eifeler rule. They also say "Den hond" but they ommit pronouncing the "h" at all.

[@hugohosman2219]

That is quite common in Noord-Brabant(South of the Netherlands) as well in very informal settings

[@alexis7845]

I am one of those non-native residents that Paul mentioned in the beginning of the video. At work I speak mostly English and French (I am a lawyer and all laws here are written in French) and at home my native first language. Whenever I hear Luxembourgish spoken by people around me I always have this odd feeling of my brain trying to tell me that it hears German, and that it should understand at least SOME portion of what has been said. Without success! 😅 I definitely will learn Luxembourgish though!

[@OHHnoYOUdidntMAN]

this is interesting, what kind of lawyer work do you do? 🤔

[@abbs2444]

I'm a foreigner living in Luxembourg. Mostly I speak English and French here. The only Luxembourgish word I use on a daily basis is "moien" (to greet neighbors). But I will learn the language sometime for sure!

[@marcstein2510]

Obviously you are not french then. They would never even say moien or eddi. They do it on purpose.

[@abbs2444]

@@marcstein2510 No I'm not. But it kinda makes sense that the French people here only want to speak French beucause French is the most widely used language here. I think Luxembourgers should make an effort to change the situation of their mother tongue and make it the no. 1 language in their own country.

[@marcstein2510]

@@abbs2444 absolutely. I m all with you, but nobody asks the french to learn luxembourgish, just 2 words: moien and eddi, they still don‘t want to. They want the world to believe we are frenchspeaking nation. We are only forced to speak french through colonization.

[@dafo1648]

I'm a German native, and I speak the swabian dialect. If I hear luxembourgish a few minutes it's not at all a problem to understand. There are a lot of German dialects, which differ much more from standard German and are subsequently much harder to understand. But it always depends on which region you're from. E.g. the Swiss German dialects which are considered to be hard to understand are to me quit understandable, but I'm a native speaker of an Allemanic dialect. The same goes for people from North Germany, speakers of Low German are having less of a problem understanding Dutch speakers than people from Bavaria or Austria would. Swabian e.g. also posseses a lot of French loanwords like 'trottwar' for sidewalk. It even has a lot of nasal vowels (which makes learning French much easier). The fact that Luxembourg is there in the middle makes it quite easy to understand for every German speaker. Like I said above, there are other dialects which are much harder to comprehend.

[@jandeolive6007]

Truly fascinating! The stretch of territory which is presently Portugal was ruled by the Swabians, from roughly 400 AD to 700 AD. This ruling class would eventually miscegenate with the indigenous Iberian-Celtic romanised peoples of Gallecia and Lusitania and with Brittonic refugees (fleeing from the Anglo-Saxon invaders). As result of this and possibly other additional influences (from the Occitan and Norman languages), modern Portuguese is a heavily nasalized language. One of the notable "trademarks" of Portuguese is the extensive use of the diphthong "ão" as in "nação" (nation) or "compressão" (compression). This represents a very distinctive sound that is also present in the Swabian dialect or so I have been told. Would it be possible by any chance for you to show an example of that kind of nasalityt? TIA.

[@keigezellig]

It's also similar to Limburgish dialects spoken in the south of the Netherlands. As a Limburgish speaker myself i can quite easily understand Luxemburgish (although it has a German 'flavour' to my ears)

[@melina9551]

you did such an amzing research! Thank you for doing research about this !

[@chadbailey7038]

I’ve been waiting for this video! Such great information 👏🏾

[@aswnl4428]

Being Dutch I can understand Luxemburgish quite well, also because it sounds more like Dutch than standard German. Luxemburg is a nice little country and it's citizens are generally very polite and welcoming.

[@yagi3925]

"Polite and welcoming"?! That's really the very last thing I'd say about them!

[@ArwedMett]

I was actually surprised that he did not mention that it is very close to lower german which is very close to dutch and kept on saying high german. On the german side they speak Moselplatt which is basically the same.

[@dernettenachbar951]

@@yagi3925 Why though? Please explain.

[@gentuxable]

I find dutch people more polite and welcoming than most other nations.

[@ericcarlson3746]

The Netherlands is a nice country and its citizens are generally very polite and welcoming. cheers!

[@SoWhat89]

I live across the border in Germany and speak it on a daily the only difference being it's not an official here, as mentioned in the video. Yet my dialect has been slightly more influenced by Standard German over the years due to it trampled on since it's "only a dialect". We should have the same respect for it as our Luxemburgish neighbors do.

[@_Username__]

Hey man, remembered you and just thought to come back to see if you are still uploading Thanks, you are helping humanity

[@jimihough6332]

The production of this video is next level Paul. Amazing video.

[@Langfocus]

Thank you, Jimi.

[@gyara7329]

Good on Luxembourg for making its dialect standard. I like seeing stuff like that.

[@terrybaker8156]

3:30 This was excellent timing because RTL hosted the Eurovision Song Contest that year, on May 5th, and the host Desirée Nosbusch did some of her presentation in Luxembourgish.

[@ericcarlson3746]

what could be more Luxembourgish than a fine french first name like Desirée and a last name like Nosbusch

[@terrybaker8156]

@@ericcarlson3746 My name is Terry Baker and I’m from the Netherlands, so?

[@amiirezashojaee5291]

Love you Paul, been following your content for almost 5 years now, keep it up friend.

[@louisz4912]

Beautiful video! It was so interesting to see you compare German and Luxembourgish and I will definitely use this video in the future to explain to my international friends what Luxembourgish is about. I am one of the Luxembourgish people who grew up in a bilingual household, speaking Luxembourgish and French at home as my mother immigrated from France. Luxembourgish was the language I used when meeting up with friends, at school (between people, classes themselves were mostly taught in French or German depending on the class), doing sports, going to club activities and scouting. My sibling and I would rapidly switch between French and Luxembourgish at home depending on our mood, and what language felt easier to express what we were thinking. My parents enforced a "Luxembourgish family speaks Luxembourgish with the kids" rule for the Luxembourgish side of the family to ensure that we would establish a clear distinction between the two languages. It worked well for my older sibling, but not so well for me. For the first 2-3 years of my life, I spoke a weird mix of French and Luxembourgish. Starting public school quickly led to this mix-up being solved. It is quite natural for Luxembourgish people to rapidly switch between the languages, even slotting in words from French or German when we forget a word in Luxembourgish. I often catch myself assuming that everybody who speaks Luxembourgish automatically also is fully fluent in French and in German (which is often, but not always the case). A funny fact about Luxembourg is that even Luxembourgish people end up speaking other languages to each other without meaning to. This mostly happens in situations with customer service involved (restaurants, shops, etc). Due to the high international population and a large number of border workers, it is quite common for us to use French or German in these environments. Often, we end up defaulting to these languages during these types of interactions, until the "Oh wait, you speak Luxembourgish?" moment happens and then we switch to Luxembourgish.

[@buck6365]

Years ago, while on the train back from the Netherlands I had a woman sitting next to me talking on the phone. I was really confused what language she was talking in, sounded like a thick German accent sometimes, but sometimes also like French. So eventually I asked and it turned out she was from Luxembourg. The sentences in the video were easy to understand and sounded very familiar to me, coming from southwestern Germany. In daily speech it's probably a bit harder to understand. Really well researched video, btw, especially regarding the differences between casual and standard German.

[@the_linguist_ll]

One of my favorite Germanic languages, Frisian and Wymysorys being the first two

[@ypey1]

Wymysorys?!

[@the_linguist_ll]

@@ypey1 Germanic language spoken in Poland with a lot of Polish influence (and a cursed phonology). It's probably the most threatened Germanic language, top two if not.

[@robthetraveler1099]

What in the world is Wymysorys???

[@rocctheconlanger5239]

those are also my favourite two 😂

[@rocctheconlanger5239]

@@robthetraveler1099 a germanic language spoken in Poland, it is considered the most endangered Germanic language

[@rustypadhraigdiarmuidseano3192]

Fascinating as always Paul. Love ya

[@AgieSebie]

Best language channel on KZbin! Love your content man, been following for years now!

[@Langfocus]

Thank you! This channel isn’t prefect, but I do my best to make it valuable.

[@OHHnoYOUdidntMAN]

Paul you've brought so much value that you changed my life in more ways than you know. For this, thank you@@Langfocus

[@ziizion4074]

As a Swiss German speaker I've noticed that Luxembourgish actually shares a lot of similarities and is quite easy to understand!

[@Ssarevok]

I speak fluent German and when I head Luxemburgisch, my brian goes "This is German, we can understand this" based on the tone of the language, but then when I listen, I can only understand a word here or there. :o

[@ziggystardust3060]

Great video! Many years ago I stayed with a family in Ansembourg, and almost ended up living there. The father of my friend was actually commissioned to compile the first official Luxembourgish dictionary. Needless to say, they were very interesting hosts, and I had a wonderful time there.

[@bytheway1031]

Another great video. Thanks Paul!

[@sdrtcacgnrjrc]

I'm a native English speaker living in the Pfalz (Germany). I only visited Luxembourg briefly but the Luxembourgish I heard was reminiscent of the Pfälzisch dialect

[@sdrtcacgnrjrc]

I have heard some locals (in Pfalz) say they learned their first foreign language when they go to kindergarten -- meaning the official hoch Deutsch...

[@nolongerlistless]

Re-watching Edgar Reitz’s Heimat film series is a great deal easier after learning a smattering of Lëtzebuergesch!

[@aquafieldrocks]

I’m 1/8 Luxembourgish and it’s really cool to learn about a relatively obscure language my ancestors (probably) spoke!

[@louclarcen5690]

Have you looked into applying for dual citizenship? Luxembourg is quite generous in offering citizenship for those with Luxembourgish ancestors? My mom’s whole side of the family is applying.

[@mikeleader5075]

@@louclarcen5690 Interesting. My grandparents on my father's side emmegrated from Luxembourg. If i got dual citizenship would I have to pay dual taxes?

[@dieterraber371]

@@mikeleader5075 I have dual citizenship German/Luxembourgish and pay my taxes in LU where I live. I'd be surprised if there was anywhere a relationship between citizenship and tax duty.

[@edipires15]

@@mikeleader5075 No, Luxembourg’s tax system are based by residency, not nationality (like the rest of the world except the US and Eritrea)

[@Nemevv]

@@louclarcen5690 I'm also 1/8 Luxembourgish and I thought of doing that but it seems complicated. You have to provide all birth/marriage/death certificates of all your ancestors from 1900 if I'm not mistaken.

[@BaluDerBaer933]

Impressive, so extensive and detailed! Thank you!

[@flaviosouza4449]

Greetings from Rio de Janeiro! I love your channel!

[@asterpolaris07]

Thank you for your video Paul! I was very surprised seeing this today! I speak Luxembourgish as my mother tongue at home and in most casual conversations with friends. In my professional life I speak and read/write mostly French, speak Luxembourgish or sometimes German/English. I studied in Germany for 5 years and was often asked if it’s possible as a speaker of German to work in Luxembourg and while it is doable, I always said to be careful not to rely on German or Luxembourgish even if you understand and speak the language. In reality, we use a lot more French in professional and daily conversations and I’ve seen and lived the struggle with French (especially after speaking mostly German for 5 years away from home 😅)

[@bongatumtum]

This is fascinating! When you were in Germany, did you have to adapt how you spoke German to speak Hochdeutsch or did you just speak in Luxembourgish and avoid French words? Also, for your French, do you think it would be noticeable that your French is different from, say a person who speaks native Metropolitan French?

[@asterpolaris07]

@@bongatumtum German is taught since the first year in primary school in Luxembourg, so I learned it quite early and never had any issues with it since it’s not much different from Luxembourgish. I always spoke Hochdeutsch in Germany. With some people you might have an accent in their Hochdeutsch, which I didn’t have luckily, but I did sometimes get stuck on finding words in German that are French loan words in Luxembourgish. For example in Luxemburgish for « drawer » I say « Tirang » which is a cognate to « tiroir » in French. So I could never ever remember the German word « Schublade » and would go « uh uh you know that thing… »😂

[@asterpolaris07]

@@bongatumtum As for the French I think it depends on your French speaking background and family situation, but I would say that the French I learned at school (2nd year of primary school) is the standard variant and I do have more of an Luxembourgish/German accent in French, since I wasn’t as exposed to French as a child outside of school. I hope I could answer some things?

[@berzerk3018]

@@asterpolaris07 Struggling for words I know as French loanwords is super relatable 😂

[@onurbschrednei4569]

That’s kinda sad that you can’t work in your mother tongue in your own country.. Sounds like Luxembourg is endangered

[@dd.mm.ll.]

Hello from Trier, Germany to my neighbours from Luxembourg 🇱🇺🇩🇪 -------------- Hallo aus Trier, Deutschland an meine Nachbar:innen aus Luxemburg 🇱🇺🇩🇪 -------------- Salut de Trèves, Allemagne à mes voisins de Luxembourg 🇱🇺🇩🇪 Sadly, I don't speak Luxembourgish, but when I'm there I do feel like in a language paradise 🤣

[@NebuchadnezzaR420]

It would be: "Moien aus Tréier, Däitschland un meng Nooperen aus Lëtzebuerg"

[@dd.mm.ll.]

@@NebuchadnezzaR420 Good to know. Thank you a lot!

[@NebuchadnezzaR420]

@@dd.mm.ll. and that would be "Gutt ze wëssen. Ech soën Ierch villmols merci!" I hope you come and visit us! Our country needs more friendly people like you!

[@MoneyAwake]

First time seeing Langfocus new video in 10 minutes after it's published. Yay

[@Langfocus]

The only difference is I’m sitting at the computer watching what’s happening. 👍🏻

[@MoneyAwake]

@@Langfocus Good for you 😀👍

[@JaredtheRabbit]

I was saying something earlier about the lack of uploads. Perfect timing!

[@arrowackskorsou8194]

Dutch "mijn hond" sounds exactly the same as in Luxembourgish! 😱

[@tkyf4064]

Quite easy to understand from a Dutch perspective, Luxembourgish sounds mixed between German and Dutch, very nice video!

[@agent_addi]

I speak German and you’re right, it feels so similar. I can understand about half of it

[@EG2910L]

Ah thanks for the video, passed Sproochentest last year- it was great revision 😊

[@MrMemo77full]

Having lived in Luxemborug for for years now, I only recently started learning it. I try to use it for small interactions (e.g. at the supermarket or bakery, especially in smaller towns). In general, at a restaurant or store for a 'serious' purchase (i.e. more than groceries), I would use French.

[@jinengi]

That's kinda sad...

[@sdrtcacgnrjrc]

Is that because your French is better?

[@igeljaeger]

@@jinengi luxembourg's existence is sad as it is

[@jinengi]

@@igeljaeger huh?

[@enos1648]

@@igeljaeger how so?

[@devenscience8894]

Great episode! Thanks to you and your channel, Paul.

[@danielg3369]

Great video as usual.

[@Eazyrun]

God I love germanic languages. I love how german, dutch, and flemish discuss who's the dialect of whom, while luxembourgish just minds their own business

[@simianto9957]

The only dialect you listed was Flemish

[@turencmpressor4152]

@@simianto9957 Flemish is a collection of dialects, actually lol

[@SeverityOne]

@@turencmpressor4152 That's probably the most accurate description. I'd say the Flemish dialects are part of the Dutch language continuum. Calling Flemish a language, or even a dialect (as opposed to a collection of dialects) is a political statement, not a linguistic one, to distinguish the Flemish people from their northern neighbours, the Dutch. And if there's one thing to stay clear from, it's language politics in Belgium.

[@turencmpressor4152]

@@SeverityOne Thing is though, Norwegian and Swedish are more alike than Dutch and some Flemish dialects.

[@SeverityOne]

@@turencmpressor4152 Some 15 years ago, my wife and I visited Ghent (Gent). There was a diner-style restaurant where we had lunch, with a huge mural of the Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag), which is significant in Flemish history. One of the waitresses spoke to me in dialect, and it took all my effort to understand her. That reminds me, what I forgot to mention elsewhere is that in the Zeeuws-Vlaanderen area of the Netherlands, they speak a dialect that is quite different from standard Dutch, probably enough to give it the same status as Limburgish or Lower Saxon. But neither in the Netherlands nor in Flanders it has this status. Perhaps you're referring to this?

[@arkady714]

Brilliant video and spot on! Just to add a little something, the Luxembourg dialect of English (in a sense) contains two words that aren't from the English language: gare and cave (kahv). An English speaker in Luxembourg never uses the word "train station." Instead, we use the French "gare" as in "Let's take the train to Trier. I'll meet you at the gare at 13:00." "Cave," as in cellar... Most every apartment one rents in the capital comes with cellar space in the building's basement. "My new flat is nice and spacious and it comes with a decent sized 'cave'." The Brits, Irish and Yanks who live in Luxembourg always use these words. We also greet each other with either "moien" or "bonjour." Besides "adii," there is also "avvah," a variation of "au revoir." We use this too!

[@arealhuman3677]

Love your channel man! Keep going

[@AA-wu2fk]

Love this channel,glad he's back..love the commentary on language history 👌

[@Langfocus]

It's weird to hear that because I never leave. If it takes me two months to release a video, that means it took me two months to make it. I think people imagine me spending 59 days on the beach, then 1 day making a new video. lol I do GEOfocus as well, but the time I use for that is the time I freed up by quitting my day job.

[@chauffeur7838]

I live right next to Luxembourg and my home dialect (Moselle Franconian) is actually pretty much like Luxembourgish, it's also heavily influenced by French, so it was rather easy for me when I started learning Luxembourgish at university.

[@wordofswords5386]

As an American European continent is fascinating. So many languages and culture.

[@sebastianorlander1326]

One should note that the prevalence of French words is partly a geographic indicator in Luxembourg. The use of 'gare' for 'train station' is standard most everywhere, but the closer you get to the river/German border, the more often you will hear and read 'Bahnhof' instead, and not just because more Germans commute to work crossborder there. I am a Luxembourger, but my family is Swedish and Polish. I became a national a few years ago, and I grew up here. The funniest thing one might encounter is Catholic Mass being held in 3 different languages also. This Palm Sunday the readings at the Cathedral were in alternating Geman-French-German, and our archbishop is a native Luxembourger (his accent while speaking is quite noticeable, and even comparable to that of Jean-Claude Juncker)

[@brunosipavicius7867]

Great video, thanks from São Paulo, Brazil.

[@mwissel]

9:45 I am genuinely impressed you mentioned that "wie" is used instead of "als" in many dialects. I'd say most people would consider "ich bin größer wie du" a grammatical error instead of a feature. Also today I learned that in my own dialect (a Rhine franconian variant) I am speaking with the Eifeler rule - now I know why we say "ich ho geschlofe" (compare to 11:30) instead of "ich hob geschlofe" :) interesting! Attention to detail like that sets this channel apart.

[@Mekudan]

just because people whose native dialect doesn't use "wie" as "als" think it's a grammatical error, doesn't mean that it's a grammatical error - or at the very least not in the grand scheme of things. It's just a feature that is common in some dialects, e.g. the austro-bavarian ones. I think it's weird to call dialectal features a mistake, even if people "accidentally" use them while speaking Standard German. Saying that these things are grammatical errors somewhat conveys the meaning of the speaker being stupid. It's just a dialectal feature that commonly slips into Standard German. Imagine someone whose native dialect uses "wie" instead of "als" constantly telling everyone that they should use "wie" instead of "als" because it's a "grammatical error and they are too dumb to speak their own language".

[@DutchMolenaar]

Funny we have the same issue in Dutch. A lot of people say "ik ben groter *als* jij" whereas it should be "ik ben groter *dan* jij"

[@19andy90x]

Great video😃 I'm from the German border to Luxembourg and grew up with local dialects. I can understand the language and recently it's used in more and more media (there's even a dub of "The Simpsons"😃). The main differences to my dialect would be a higher amount of French loanwords and a different accent. Overall I really enjoy the language☺️

[@Elaiyel]

@Paul, I didn't know about your GEO Focus channel. I've happily just subscribed. Thanks for letting me know!

[@Langfocus]

Thanks for checking it out!👍🏻

[@TheChicoRios]

Very interesting video! I'm currently learning German, so it was very nice to know more about a similar language. Congratulations for the great content!