In these environs, Luxembourgish--the language--is cultural ground zero. Sometimes newcomers mistake the grand duchy for a francophone land because (1) virtually every Luxembourger can speak French, (2) many residents and cross-border commuters do speak French natively and (3) administrative papers are always offered in French as well as German. Knowledge of Luxembourgish is therefore not strictly necessary to communicate as, in terms of raw ability, French takes the crown.

However, Luxembourgers prefer speaking Luxembourgish; they live their lives in Luxembourgish; and they dominate the government and the highly developed public sector. If you want to fully integrate, Luxembourgish is really the language you need. Almost half of the population have declared it as their main language, versus just 15% for French.

French is also increasingly in conflict with English as the common denominator language. English is obviously the worldwide heavy hitter, and many sectors (research, finance, startups) default to it. More people are arriving to the country who prefer it to French, and the public school system has started to cater accordingly with more English stream offerings.

So where does German fit in? You’re less likely overall to need it. But to Germans, Luxembourgish sounds like a wonky German (whereas to the French and English it’s nearly gibberish), giving it sort of a cousin status. Arguably, this contributes to the language balance--and possibly Luxembourgers’ national identity--by acting as a counterweight: Luxembourgers will never be French because they speak such good German; and will never be German because they speak such good French.

(More fundamentally, of course, they will never be either simply because they are Luxembourgish, but pitting these giants--and now English, too--against each other helps guarantee that they won’t be swallowed by any one of them.)

Anyway, language barriers are the enemy of casual goodwill, so the evergreen advice is: break out the books, get yourself a start in whichever language you don’t know and use it--all of it!--immediately.

This article first appeared in the .