Previously, I wrote about how Luxembourg combines opposites, how well they coexist, and make the place unique. However, I haven’t mentioned a very interesting thing which makes the country like no other – at least in Europe: the number of languages that are spoken. The difference between Luxembourg and Switzerland is that all Luxembourgish know all the official languages on a native level; whereas, Swiss people speak mainly the language of their canton.
As a linguistics fan (yes, there are a few such weirdos in the world 🙂 ), I think I found the only country where all my foreign languages are spoken, and whichever I wanted to practice, I could without any problems. First, there are three official languages: Luxembourgish, French and German (I don’t speak Luxembourgish). Second, everybody is able to speak English without any problem. Third, 16% of the population is Portuguese, hence, Portuguese is also relatively widely spoken.
Although it seems ideal that I could just talk English, French or German anywhere, it was actually a bit confusing. Hearing so many languages around me that I understand just made my mind go crazy when it came to uttering the actual words .
The most obvious would have been to speak simply in English, but the first greetings you hear in a restaurant, shop or museum is French. So I decided to go for the more difficult option, and try to converse in French. What can go wrong? Either your French doesn’t come out fast enough, so the local immediately switches to German and/or to English, purely to help you out, or next to you, you hear people chatting in German and/or in English. In the first scenario, your mind also wants to switch to German/English in the same rhythm as the local switches, even though it’s already halfway through in pronouncing the French sentences. In the second scenario, you’re distracted by understanding other people’s speech in the other languages, and that messes your mind up. What comes then out? God knows, maybe you can squeeze your French out, or you opt for the comfy English, or you start in French but mixing some other languages in it, in whichever the words come faster. The mind is truly fascinating, isn’t it?
So it happened that I asked in German where to get off the bus from the airport to reach the city centre, I used English to ask for guidance in the tourist office and to check in the hostel, I bought the ticket in the museum in French, in the restaurant, I greeted the waiter in French but ordered food in English, spoke in French-English mixture with the museum guard after he started in Luxembourgush but I just stared back at him with surprise, and I chatted with some local people in French at the market in the main square. It was an intensive training for the mind for sure!
My advise is to determine in advance which language you want to go for, and set your mind on it, whatever happens. But don’t worry, whichever language you end up with, even if mixed up, Luxembourgish people will still understand you, and respond without pulling faces or making any negative comments.
And the punchline: Hungarian is everywhere! 🙂
