So many languages in one tiny country!

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]Luxembourg is a tiny country measuring just 82 km from north to south and 52 km from west to east. And its resident population is only around 643,000.

[00:00:12]For a country this small, one official language is probably enough, right?

[00:00:16]Well, Luxembourg actually has three official languages: German, French, and Luxembburggish, the national language which has historically been spoken here.

[00:00:25]53% of residents regularly speak Luxembburggish at home. 32% speak French, around 11% speak German, and 19% speak Portuguese, a language spoken by many immigrants, about 7.6% speak English at home. Hold on a minute, those numbers don't add up to 100%. That's right, because lots of people speak more than one language at home. Are you starting to get a picture of the rich linguistic situation in Luxembourg? 47% of the population of Luxembourg are foreign residents. And if we include people who don't live in Luxembourg but commute there for work from the surrounding countries, over 70% of the people in Luxembourg on a daily basis are foreigners. Many people are bilingual and code switch between various languages throughout the day.

[00:01:10]Which language they use depends on the individual and who they're talking to, but also depends on the context. 74% of people work in a multilingual workplace with French being the most widely used followed by English, Luxembburggish, German, and Portuguese.