Luxembourg

Abstract

The ability to learn languages at school marks the strength and weakness of a school system for a nation that has always felt it has been straddling the Roman and Germanic cultural and linguistic divide. The territory of Luxembourg has grown on both sides of the linguistic border that has run through Europe since the end of the Roman Empire. Only in 1839 when neighboring Belgium gained independence and the French-speaking part of the territory of Luxembourg was absorbed into the new state did the Luxembourgish-speaking population find themselves once again within a closed territory.