Luxembourgish language must be 'more visible,' argues ADR MP

The ADR wants Luxembourgish to be more "visible", Keup told RTL Radio on Friday morning. The Alternative Democratic Reform Party president said a recent Statec study published earlier this month showed the language's decline in everyday life, which he linked to the country's ever-growing population.

However, Keup said he did not want to blame people immigrating to the Grand Duchy for the Luxembourgish language's slumping popularity, instead calling it a political failure.

Keup and the ADR feel vindicated by Statec's findings. The party has always sought to champion Luxembourgish and Keup highlighted that the situation is of concern, calling out politicians and researchers who claim the language is doing well.

In terms of actual figures, a Statec graph shows that the number of people with Luxembourgish as a first language grew by 10,000 between 2011 and 2021.

Keup highlighted a different graph which shows that the number of people using Luxembourgish as their everyday language has droped from 323,000 in 2011, or 70% of the population, to 292,000, or 61%, in 2021. However, the same graph also points to a decline in the use of French as an everyday language - a fact Keup described as "surprising", explaining he was convinced that French remains the main language "in most places."

The ADR is not advocating for the closure of international schools or the French secondary school Lycée Vauban, Keup said, but the party is calling for measures to promote Luxembourgish and encourage its visibility. He added that the language level required to obtain Luxembourgish citizenship should also be re-evaluated, saying that at present, it is the equivalent of being able to order a beer in Spanish. ("It's sort of like saying, una cerveza por favor," he argued.)

Luxembourg's ever-increasing population is a strong factor in the growing number of languages spoken across the country. The ADR is advocating for slower growth.

However, if immigration were to diminish, it is unlikely to increase the number of people speaking Luxembourgish at home. When asked if Keup thought that Luxembourgers should work on their birth rate, Keup laughed, but admitted that the system would not manage if the population were to decline.

The ADR president believes that people would simply like Luxembourgish to be spoken in the majority of places across the country, as was the case in the past. He said the issue is that, although there are many people who can speak Luxembourgish, there are now fewer situations in which the language was required.

Interview in Luxembourgish: