Luxembourg

 

Dem Pharao seng zigaren -

Cigars of the pharaoh -

De sigaren van de farao

 

De bloe Lotus -

The blue Lotus -

De blauwe Lotus

 

d'Ouer mam krack -

Tintin and the broken ear -

Het gebroken oor

 

 

d'Schwaarz insel -

The black island -

De zwarte rotsen

 

Den onheemleche stär -

The shooting star -

De geheimzinnige ster

 

Affaire Ditchen -

The Calculus affair -

De zaak Zonnebloem

 

Der Castafiore's hir bijouen -

The Castafiore emerald -

De juwelen van Bianca Castafiore

 

Luxembourgian or 'Lëtzebuergesch' (Letzeburgers), Luxembourgeois, is spoken in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and in eastern parts of France (near Thionville) and Belgium (near Arlon and Bastogne), It is basically a dialect of German, but since Luxembourg is an independent country, its language is generally thought of as a separate language. There are about 350,000 speakers. In Luxembourg several languages are spoken and written at the same time in the same place. Names of streets, shops, travel tickets, hotel registries and menus are mostly in French. Newspapers printed in the Grand Duchy are mostly in German. On all levels of society, only one language is used in oral communication: "Lëtzebuergesch". This is the everyday spoken language of the people. Although of Germanic origin (around the 4th Century), 'Lëtzebuergesch' has sufficiently differentiated itself from its parent language, so as no longer to be readily understood by many a German.