A survey of French teachers in the Grande Région has shown that contrary to popular belief, learning to communicate effectively in French is mostly a question of having the right attitude. “Students worry that you need to learn the tense system, passé composé, future simple and all that, but that’s not true,” said one teacher […]
Luxembourg urging residents to adopt new greeting
LUXEMBOURG-VILLE — Aware of the language uncertainty many residents face when greeting each other, the Grand Duchy’s Office of Applied Linguistic Integration is urging people to adopt a newly created word. “We spent nearly a year trying to solve this problem,” said Virginie Muller, the office’s chief language officer. “If we asked everyone in Luxembourg […]
French host going to quietly throw out wine you brought
A French friend and his Italian wife who have invited you to dinner are going to thank you for the great bottle of red wine you brought before placing it near the sink and pouring it out prior to the night’s end. The friend, who has a good nose for wine and who has learned […]
French colleagues held hostage by anglophone
Several French employees of a Luxembourg marketing firm were held hostage for more than 20 minutes on Thursday after an anglophone joined their conversation. “Attendez, just a second, wait, er, how do you say, wait, I got it, je suis d’accord,” the anglophone said in response to what she thought was a discussion about typical […]
Anglophone unable to pronounce ‘vin chaud’
LUXEMBOURG-VILLE — An expat’s valiant effort to order seasonal mulled wine ended in catastrophic failure on Sunday after vendors at Luxembourg’s Christmas market couldn’t understand what he was saying. During several tense minutes, the 39-year-old anglophone tried to express that he wanted “vin chaud,” trying variations that included van chowed, vine show, and even voucher. […]