Although my grandparents on my mother’s side were both foreigners and had quite a few difficulties adapting at first, they still chose to learn Luxembourgish because they believed it was important to integrate and show respect for the native people of this country. They already spoke French, English, Italian, Portuguese and our native tongue which is cape verdean creole, but they still made the effort. My mother was born here.

Being born and growing up here was one of the best things ever. I never faced discrimination, or perhaps I did but was too young to notice. Either way, I have always thought Luxembourg was a beautiful place, and I’m incredibly grateful to have had such a good upbringing here.

This is why I’m quite disappointed to say that things have changed a little, and NOT because of native Luxembourgish people.

For example, the last time I was out with a friend in the city, some european guy approached us and told us in French that there were too many foreigners in this country. We responded by telling him that we were born here, speak Lëtzebuergesch and practise the local culture.

He just shrugged and asked where our parents were from. I had to explain that my mother was born here, just like my friend’s mother. He pointed at our skin and said, “Yeah, looks like they were born here.”
I then asked him in Luxembourgish whether he spoke it. He frowned and brushed the question off with, “Oh no, no, I don’t speak Luxembourgish.” When I asked him why, his response was, “It’s not important to speak it.”
We decided to leave because, at that point, there was no point in continuing the conversation anyway.

Mind you, this was the first time I had ever experienced something like this, and I’m 25 years old. It was shocking and completely unexpected. It was also quite ironic to see how his facial expression changed when we started speaking Luxembourgish to him.

I’ve noticed that this seems to happen quite a lot with people of European descent who aren’t originally from Luxembourg. Sometimes I get strange looks or hear stupid remarks. Personally, I’ve only started noticing this over the past few years, as Luxembourg has become increasingly populated.

Decades ago, when foreigners came here, many made an effort to learn the native tongue of this country to show respect for its people and culture. And, to be honest, I imagine that for some, it was also a way to avoid being judged because of the colour of their skin.
Nowadays, you can experience discrimination from people who weren’t born here and don’t speak Luxembourgish, sometimes not even French or German, yet seem to feel entitled to judge others simply because they are of European descent. How does that make sense?

I also find it a little sad when anyone who moves here has no interest in learning or speaking Luxembourgish, especially considering its beautiful history and how much effort has gone into preserving it.

I’ve never personally experienced discrimination from a native Luxembourgish person, but now I find myself facing it from other Europeans who have moved here more recently.

I’m not posting this to look for sympathy, especially because my grandparents experienced much worse difficulties in their time. I simply want to hear other people’s opinions and experiences.

ALSO NOT POSTING THIS TO START A FIGHT. JUST TALKING ABOUT RECENT EXPERIENCES. It is only a small percentage of rude people.

My boyfriend is fully Luxembourgish. When I told him about what happened in the city, I asked him what he thought about it. His opinion was that any European (or foreigner) who lives here but doesn’t care about speaking Luxembourgish shouldn’t be here, and that he doesn’t consider such people his “Luxembourgish brothers”, even if they were born here.

Personally, I thought his opinion was a little too extreme, which is why I wanted to ask people here.
Have any of you noticed something similar happening more often, or am I overthinking things?

Thank you for reading! ❤️🤍🩵

(Can't respond to comments unfortunately because the automated mod doesn't let me. Already contacted the moderators)

(+ If you choose to call my story "unlikely" or do not believe me, I think you're either not a POC OR I REPEAT: *NEVER experienced rude weirdos in your life and are very lucky\ ( yes also as a non-poc !)* 🥲 it only started recently. Thought I'd share and read other opinions)

(+not blaming anyone, just telling you what I noticed in the past few years and what I went through. Every experience is different and so happens to be mine. Just because your experience was different, it doesn't take away what i've been seeing. I don't think i would take a man, who discriminated me, out for café or buy him some daisies though🤔. So yes i don't wish to even be around nasty people like that, hope you understand. Thanks for all the responses and suggestion guys. Thank you for sharing your stories. Reading all of them xx)

I am noticing that I am no longer able to meet the end of the month, while i had cut down on my expenses and always have my budget ready.

My salar.y is roughly 65k, with the 13th month obv taxed at half too (i know, I work at one of the stingiest banks here :’) ). Ive been looking for other jobs but the market is acting weird.

I feel that the cost of living has increased tremendously since last year! Am I the only one feeling this way? How are you guys coping?

P.S. I’m single, not Pacs’ed

I don't mean this to sound rude but people also speak Luxembourgish and German yet when I visited I noticed everything is exclusively written in French. What do locals think of that? Has it always been like that? Like even when I visited Israel many years ago, a lot of stuff was written in both Hebrew and Arabic.

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Doesn't this make you lose some of your identity in a way? Strangely the only place I saw stuff written in German was at the Mc Donalds in the city center 😅

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Also as a German I was kind of confused how I should approach people. Sometimes German worked, like at a book store or a bar but most of the time it didn't.

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This has been going around a lot in almost every subreddit here on this platform. The reason for this movement is Elon Musk's two 'accidental' Hitler salutes.

What do we think here on r/Luxembourg?

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/us/politics/elon-musk-hand-gesture-speech.html

What’s something you feel Luxembourg is missing? It can be anything—apps, businesses, food, entertainment, transport, or services literally EVERYTHING. I’m curious to hear what people think. Feel free to complain a little too 😂🤣

What's the problem?

What's wrong with you people?
On the 5:09 p.m. tram, there was an elderly couple (the lady was disabled and using a walker), and no one stood up to give up their seat. Everyone was clinging to their seats with cold stares—you people in your 20s and 30s who’ve already been sitting at your desks all day, or those teenagers just getting out of school,I had to kick out some people who were sighing in frustration

Is it just me, or have people lost touch with reality and what it means to be human?

No matter your nationality, gender, or religion, when you see someone in need, help them instead of looking away! It could be you someday!

3rd June 0226, 1pm local time Luxembourg. 1st day of holiday.

My girlfriend (Asian, idk if it matters whether this shopowner hates everyone generally or was racist) visited this shop across the Archeological Museum thinking of buying souvenirs.

She was holding a postcard that costs about 50 cents in her hand. As she was reading a sign that explained “items under 10 euros must be purchased with cash only”,

the shopwoman came over and told her “yes, only cash, if not you can get more postcards. and if you don’t have the money, (snatches the postcard out of hand) you can give me this and i’ll put it back” before my girlfriend could even say anything

are there any like local traditions or something when doing visiting shops here? or is this lady a specific case of sour?

I speak English, French, Italian at C1, Spanish at B1. I passed the Luxembourgish state exam. I have a bachelor's degree. I've been applying for two years, landed some interviews, and it always ends the same way.

Seven months at ADEM. Zero job offers. I went to every job day they pushed me toward. Every single one felt less like a career opportunity and more like being paraded around for nothing.

The public sector is a joke. You can feel the discomfort in the room the moment you speak French. I have watched them choose someone with less than half my skills just because they were born here. Not because that person was more capable. Not because they were a better fit. Meanwhile I'm actively learning luxembourgish, showing up, putting in the work, and it doesn't matter.

The private market isn't much better. Junior positions are being outsourced or filled at minimum wage. The competition is brutal and the salaries don't reflect that.

I tailored my CV for every single application. I made it ATS friendly. I spent years in a premium brand building what I thought was a real network. Turns out when you're a man in that industry, those contacts don't open doors the way you'd hope.

The one thing keeping me going right now is a master's I got accepted into at the Uni of Luxembourg. I genuinely think the only way in anymore is through internships during the program, building relationships from scratch.

But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't exhausted. We were told to study, learn languages, put in the effort. Nobody mentioned it still might not be enough.

Hi, I’m wondering if any of you here will play this game?

For context, I used to play it around 11 years ago, and seriously, it’s one of my best video game memories.
I was really introverted, and this game helped me so much in different ways.

Discovering the whole World of Warcraft universe was incredible at the time it came into my life.

Today I’m 37, with 2 kids, and I decided to play the beta, so let’s see if the promise of not rushing and just playing the way I want is actually possible.

Thanks to everyone who will read this, and if you’ll play, let me know and tell me if it’s your first try or, like me, a comeback.

Edit : my gamertag is Lorwo#2323 in case some of you guys want to join one day or just to say hello :)

I just got back from a flight and had one of the weirdest/scariest taxi rides I’ve ever had.This was not really an uber so normal taxi waiting outside the airport in findel. It was a tesla.

I’m still annoyed about it hours later.

Basically I land, grab the first taxi, everything seems normal.

A few minutes into the ride the driver starts talking about how terrible taxi drivers are in Luxembourg and how he’s trying to change laws because there are too many “idiot drivers”.

I do take the taxi quite often as i travel a lot for work and always spend time talking to the drivers and share life, so I told him that I have had good experiences in luxembourg and I personally think the taxi drivers here are kind and pleasant.

That’s when the conversation went completely off the rails.

He tells me the only reason I think that is because I’m a woman and especially a young foreign woman.

Then he starts talking about foreigners not integrating and speaking French & using English.

So I tell him I’m learning Luxembourgish and can speak Luxembourgish to him if he prefers.

And somehow that made things worse?

He starts telling me that I should be learning French instead, because French is used by the government and Luxembourgish is useless and I am “very smart” for avoiding learning French (hello – I am in luxembourg – its not a bad idea for me to learn luxembourgish if i want to?).

Then he asked me how long I have been here and I tell him almost 4 years and he got even more mad, and started saying he picked up French in 3 months.

I think him picking up French in 3 months is great, and very possible in the context that he is conversing with people as he is driving a taxi.

I do understand French quite a bit, but my work is completely in English, so I have nowhere to practice French and neither are my colleagues working or talking in French. And in my in my role, there is already a lot of training,travelling, etc that takes up my space after work so I would only commit to learning one new thing at a time and I chose Luxembourgish as I thought it would be nice to learn it. But anyway, i dont think even if i didnt learn it , i should be treated this way.

And then he goes on to tell me - I am only here for money lol

Then he starts talking about how he’s an important political figure here and has been involved in politics for 36 years in luxembourg and I don’t know who am I talking to. Lol

I genuinely remember staring out the window thinking “how did we get here?”

Like bro, I got in the car 5 minutes ago. I just wanted to go home.

The thing that really irritated me was that I wasn’t even arguing with him. I wasn’t criticizing Luxembourg. I wasn’t talking about politics. I literally just said I’ve had mostly positive experiences with drivers here.

Then suddenly I’m getting a lecture about integration and respect.

At one point he tells me I don’t respect him and i should get off.

I was like sure. But he wouldn’t open the door and locked it as he wanted me to pay.

I told him no chance and he keps getting louder and aggressive and I avoid eye contact and started dialing the cops.

He noticed and opened the doors

I ordered another Uber which arrived in 2 mins and got home.

Honestly it’s not even the inconvenience that’s bothering me.

It’s just the absurdity of the whole thing.

I got into a car expecting a normal ride home and somehow ended up being told that learning Luxembourgish isn’t integrating properly by a guy who kept reminding me how important he is.

I called the police afterwards and they told me I can file a complaint if I want.I also went to the airport again as i had to deal with some other things and spoke to the drivers outside showing his number plate and they all told me that this guy acts like this all the time and i should report to ministry of transport & the cops . Would you report it ? In my experiance the lux police doesnt even do anything or share any update, so i am wondering. Thanks

I’m a female in my 30s trying to date in Luxembourg and find it extremely difficult and confusing. While not sure about the dating apps, I try to put myself out there, go to the social events and so on and so forth basically trying to create connection organically. What I noticed already a few times - I speak with someone I could potentially like and interested to get to know better, he seems to give off positive vibes and the same amount of interest. We exchange numbers and I am aware of how cautious men nowadays with initiatives so I decide to initiate a 1x1 coffee date. I send something like - it was nice meeting you, let’s have a coffee some time. Then he says - yes, sure, but then there is no precise plan coming from his end and the coffee date never happens. A bit of the context - I’m coming from the very traditional background where all the initiative comes from a man so I even struggle to text first and after the first message I would expect him to propose precise timing etc. What do you guys think about it? Is it just - he is not that much into you situation? I’m really concerned as I got these mixed signals several times and I don’t want to be pushy either to create the dynamic of me being a leader and creating plans after I already showed very clearly I was into him potentially. So, gentlemen, please share your thoughts on how you read that and what you do in such cases?? You just say yes if you didn’t like her enough?

Appreciate your input ❤️

Hello everyone, I hope you are all doing well.

I'm currently questioning my career path because I'm having a hard time positioning myself relative to the market. Would some of you be okay with sharing some information among us?

I work in the healthcare sector (so yes, one of the 4 major hospitals) in an administrative position. I think we are extremely well taken care of with our collective agreement, but in discussing with friends, I notice huge disparities in terms of package, paid leave, stress, mobility...

• Annual package (EUR): €138K
• Paid leave: 38 + 10 days
• Personal satisfaction: 9/10
• Career progression: 4/10
• Mobility / Transport: 7/10
• Work atmosphere: 5/10
• Other benefits: None

We are not from Luxemburg but currently thinking about buying a house in the Echternach region. We are considering a new built house.

We checked different online platforms and found several objects in different new development areas in and around Echternach. Then we also visited those development areas. We were surprised to see that there are so many empty plots available. Different builders seem to still build a few on their own without having a buyer.

Prices still seem high: starting from 1 Million in Echternach for tiny houses with tiny plots or maybe 800k for similar houses in villages nearby.

I understand that plots used to be more expensive than in the border regions.

However when I see so many offers that for months noone buys plus so many empty plots everywhere I still start wondering if the prices actually reflect the real value. I am a bit worried that if we buy something for these prices we would likely never get the money back if we needed to sell at some point.

My questions:

- Do you agree with my assertion or what do I miss?

- How comes there are so many empty plots but seemingly they are not available on the market? Are builders (who might secured many of those plots?) trying to sit it out and hope for another boom cycle? What is going on?

The other day, I was waiting on the platform with about half a dozen other people. The tram arrived and opened its doors. Another half dozen or so passengers got off. As the last person was stepping out and we were about to board, the doors suddenly started closing on her. She barely made it out, and we immediately tried pressing the button while the doors were still closing. Nothing happened, and they locked. Someone even knocked desperately as the tram was already pulling away with nobody having boarded. What is this nonsense?

And this happens too often.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve sprinted towards a tram, made eye contact with the driver, reached the door next to him just as I arrived, only for him to deactivate the green button literally under my finger. Doors locked. Tram gone.

I’ve seen doors close on people’s shoulders, pushing them back out while the driver deliberately locks the mechanism rather than letting the doors reopen for a second.

I genuinely don’t understand it. We’re talking about public transport, not some personal fiefdom. What exactly do they gain from this unnecessary rudeness? I’ve never seen this phenomenon on such a widespread scale in other countries.

My guess is it would be Luxemburgish, German, French, English. Ie if you met someone in Luxemburg, you'd try in that order.

Is that correct? Would you prefer English over French even though you're better at French?

UPDATE:

I noticed most people put English before German and French, is that because you want to practise your English, or do you actually speak it better than French/German? I thought you grow up with French/German at school and are therefore much better at them than English?

The other post was locked and removed. The second one was locked immediately before any comments. Can we have a discussion about actual ways we can push politicians and law enforcement to do something (without talking about race so it doesn’t get locked by moderators)

Genuinely who to contact, any protests, what to tell local politicians and how to contact them etc

https://www.luxtimes.lu/luxembourg/attempted-murder-and-rape-investigation-opened-after-grand-rue-attack-in-luxembourg-city/160339074.html

I was born and raised in Luxembourg, but left the country for studies and a great career opportunity. I recently came back to Luxembourg with my girlfriend for a weekend trip and we went to a club in the Luxembourg Gare area, specifically the Rue du Fort Neipperg street. We went out of the club for a quick break and two individuals of Arabic origins who only spoke French surrounded me and told me that my girlfriend belonged to them. That is because my girlfriend is half Arabic. I was at a loss of words and told them to go away. While they were going away I noticed that my phone was gone. Turned out they stole it. I chased them down and held them until they gave me my phone back. Cherry on top: He said he only gave it back because my girlfriend is half Arabic. Never going back to Luxembourg Gare. It has gone downhill filled with strange people . I am not sure what Luxembourg is doing, it wasn’t like this in my childhood.

Hey all teachers and staff that work in schools! As we have all been feeling over the past several days, all hell has decided to descend upon us these past several days. Well, at least....for Luxembourgish standards given that we are only used to 5 days of sun at max. I digress though...Over these past several days, we all know that the country has been issuing red alerts for heat waves which is clearly something to be taken seriously and yet the ministry of education as well as many schools are in direct contrast to what should be done for the health of students, teachers and staff and thus I wanted to know what your experiences have been lately.

To give some context, our particular school has no form of centralized air conditioning and due to its construction slurps up heat with a voracious appetite, thus making it into a veritable oven. Teaching going on? I think not. To date, the average temperature for the past 3 days in the class has been from a minimum of 28 degrees at 09:00 AM and has risen into the 30s as the day goes on. This, with only one small fan. These are not suitable working conditions nor is it suitable for learning.

What have been your experiences? This type of behavior is unacceptable and while the ministry may be just fine working in its air conditioned offices, I personally am sick and fucking tired of being praised for our "resilience" and "flexibility". Please let me know what you have been experiencing. If you have photos of your temperature in your room, even better!

With this heat wave bringing temperatures up to 40°C, I’m curious: what’s the temperature inside your house right now? My guest room is the hottest and gets up to 30°C, while my kitchen and hallway stay around 25°C.

https://today.rtl.lu/news/luxembourg/luxembourg-details-sweeping-plan-for-lgbtqia-inclusion-in-schools-958912343

My kids school does not have cantina or cafeteria ... They literally have to cross half of the neighbourhood on foot in all weather conditions (umbrellas not allowed for safety reasons) and cross the busiest streets just to get lunch!

Capacity of Maison Relais is way bellow capacity of local school so every year there are some families who face serious trouble due to this!

Who does not get place in Maison Relais can not get lunch with friends and is socially disadvantaged!!!

And all the government focus on are unisex toilets? Really!?

Does your commune provide basic public services such as PUBLIC preschool education (crèche, precoce) and Maison Relais in sufficient capacity?

*** Is there any science behind the fact that many of those who pretend to be liberal and inclusive in this discussion use personal insults instead of normal arguments...?***

Not sure if I should or not :S It's quite expensive already

I honestly don’t know how much more of this pain and waiting I can take. Sitting here for hours, watching time pass, feeling ignored, and wondering when (or if) I’ll finally see a doctor is incredibly draining.

I’m not blaming the staff here. But logically speaking, in a developed country, why are people expected to wait for hours just to see a doctor - even in emergency situations?

If you’ve had similar nightmare waiting times in emergency wards or urgencies, especially at the “famous” Kirchberg Hospital - please share.