“It’s not easy to learn the language in such a short time, with all the constraints of life,” says Julie Provost, who thinks that this may be holding back some foreigners from running for local office.
The 34-year-old architect and mother of two children is originally from Belgium and registered this year for the local elections in Bertrange for the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV): “We lived in Brussels, we were very happy, and then when we had our first daughter. On the one hand we wanted to be closer to our parents and on the other hand Luxembourg was actually very interesting professionally too.”
The young candidate immediately felt at ease in Bertrange, a commune in which, according to her, “many things work very well,” but certain aspects of daily life could be improved: “everything to do with the cycle route, which already seems very developed, but we still lack facilities, especially for leaving the village and connecting the communes.”
After considering getting involved in politics for some years, she was introduced to the local CSV team by some friends: “I was invited to participate in one of the meetings where I encountered a very close-knit team, very open-minded, especially towards other nationalities.” She stresses that “it’s not easy, as I don’t speak Luxembourgish, but I understand it.”
Provost considers it important to learn Luxembourgish, especially since her children are in a Luxembourgish stream at school.
While she enjoys learning a new language, her busy schedule makes it difficult: “On the one hand I like learning other languages, but nowadays with work, children, and family, you can’t quite do it as quickly as you could when you were younger.” Provost already speaks Dutch and English, understands German, and has a basic understanding of Japanese.
In addition, because Luxembourgish is not the primary language of communication at her home or workplace, she does not have many opportunities to use Luxembourgish in her daily life. This clearly does not make it any easier to learn, but she is nevertheless trying to make this new language her own – by speaking to her dog.
