Discover five unexpected facts about the small but endearing European country of Luxembourg.
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A fun way to learn additional vocabulary, animal expressions also allow you to learn a little bit about the culture of Luxembourg. There are hundreds of animal expressions in Luxembourgish, some clearly vestiges of old farming wisdom, others colourful caricatures of animals to describe aspects of human nature. Here's my top 10.
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Finally, after two years of work, the book "Learn Luxembourgish: an English Beginner's Guide to Teach Yourself Luxembourgish" is out!
I spent the month of March in Luxembourg to launch it and was pleased to see that there was so much interest from the English speaking community to learn Luxembourgish. Thank you to everyone who came to a book signing event, it was a pleasure meeting you!
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Autumn has officially arrived, the kids are back in school and the adults are back at work. Hopefully, you have had a chance to recharge your batteries and are feeling a renewed sense of energy as life and work are speeding up again after the summer break. Maybe you have vowed to finish some important projects before the end of the year or simply taken on some new challenges. Maybe you have even decided to start learning Luxembourgish.
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Starting to learn a new language can feel overwhelming. There seems to be so little you know and so much you don’t know. Your head is filled with ideas to communicate and it seems like you can’t get any across. How do you improve when you feel like you have everything to learn?
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Every one of us can find an excuse not to learn and speak a foreign language. And it’s only natural to do so. After all, communicating in a different language takes us out of our comfort zone completely and puts us at the mercy of our native conversation partners. Yes, it can be awkward to make a mistake but we are grownups and should know how to laugh it off at this point in our lives. I have learned five foreign languages in my life and never once offended a native speaker to the point where they marched off in anger or pointed their finger at me laughing out loud.
So, what can you do to overcome your fear and start speaking today?
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On June 24, 2014, on the occasion of the Luxembourg National Day, Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie gave her first TV interview in Luxembourgish. Stéphanie, born in Belgium, only started learning Luxembourgish about two years ago and her TV interview caused quite the stir in the comments sections across the web.
Just how good is her Luxembourgish?
Read MoreWhat is Luxembourgish?
Luxembourgish, or Lëtzebuergesch, is the native language of Luxembourgers. Foreigners often tell me it sounds like Dutch but softer. It has kept much of the German grammar and syntax and a lot of its words can be traced back to either German or French.
Isn’t it just a dialect?
Technically no. In 1984, Lëtzebuergesch was established as the national language of Luxembourg and adopted as one of three official languages, alongside German and French. However, the question of when and how a dialect becomes a language is not a simple one to answer.
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