Topic: Preservation of Endangered Languages
Country: Luxembourg
Delegate Name: Madison Van Natter
School: Kalamazoo Central High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Luxembourg position papers GLIMUN 2013 committees
"About 6,000 different languages are spoken around the world. But the Foundation for Endangered Languages estimates that between 500 and 1,000 of those are spoken by only a handful of people. And every year the world loses around 25 mother tongues. That equates to losing 250 languages over a decade, a sad prospect for some." Luxembourg is one of the many countries that contains endangered languages. Two of the endangered languages some of the people speak are Yiddish and Walloon. Walloon is a romance language and it is estimated that there are around 300,000 active speakers worldwide. It is spoke in only about two to three villages in Luxembourg and is said to soon die out. Yiddish is a mixture of the Jewish and German language and is spoke in moderation around the world. Before WW2, Yiddish was a very common language that many people spoke and wrote. Now it is slowly dying out.
The national language of Luxembourg is Luxembourgish. Luxembourgish is also spoken in the Arelerland of Belgium, in the Province of Luxembourg, France, and in small parts of Lorraine. Around 400,000 people worldwide speak the language. Luxembourgish is a mixture of French German, yet also contains entirely new words. Children grow up reading and speaking Luxembourgish at home as they grow older, however, they are taught French and German and will speak those languages daily. Although they change to full French and German to be a citizen, a person must know a basis of Luxembourgish to protect the language from dying out. This all goes to show that Luxembourg is very protective about its languages and that they are trying to protect the ones they have.
