Free Luxembourgish lessons are now available online via a new website launched on Friday, to respond to growing demand for the country’s national language both in the Grand Duchy and abroad.
The website, LLO.LU, was built by five staff over a two-year period at a cost of €3.4 million, the Education Ministry said. The launch, unveiled at a press conference on Friday and announced earlier this year, is part of a joint scheme between the ministry and the National Institute of Languages (INL).
“Everyone knows Duolinguo, it’s a bit the same principle with this platform which allows you to learn Luxembourgish all over the world and 24 hours a day,” Education Minister Claude Meisch told the Luxemburger Wort.
“We know that the demand for the Luxembourgish language is very great. It will not replace a course, but there may also be people who are not in Luxembourg and who wish to learn the language and who do not have much time,” he said.
Learners can choose from four languages of instruction on the interface – English, German, Portuguese and French – in addition to a Luxembourgish version for those who have some knowledge of the language and want to practice further. The website offers free language teaching, first for beginners and will later be expanded to include advanced level students.
The programme will include modules for formal learning revolving around vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, as well as informal topics such as news and culture, and academic and professional subjects.
The INL already offers Luxembourgish courses for adults at three locations inside the country, with a fourth to open soon. The number of enrolments for Luxembourgish lessons at the INL has more than doubled in the past decade, with 5,700 registrations last year, making the language more popular than French for new learners at the institute in 2021.
The Luxembourgish language was written into the country’s constitution as the national language this year as part of wider reforms. It is one of three official languages, alongside French and German.
The interest in the language is partly explained by the amount of people pursuing Luxembourgish citizenship in a country where close to half of residents have foreign nationality. The government already offers free language courses for those in the process of obtaining citizenship.
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