Moutfort

Moutfort (French) (Luxembourgish: Mutfert, German: Mutfort) is a village in the commune of Contern, in south-western Luxembourg, on both sides of the road from the city of Luxembourg to the German border town Remich. As of 2015^[update], the village of Moutfort had a population of 1,306 inhabitants, and the associated village of Medingen had 112 inhabitants.

People from 47 nations from all around the world live in the commune of Contern. Out of these, only 64% are of Luxembourgish nationality. This very great mixture of nationalities is due to the proximity of the commune of Contern to the city of Luxembourg, which is reachable by car in 10 minutes.

It is usual to speak four or five languages in daily life, even for many children.

The original population speaks Luxembourgish, an old Southern German named "Mosel-Fränkisch" which has a common root with English and sounds a bit like Celtic, but which got mixed with many French words assimilated to the Luxembourgish intonation. In the small country of Luxembourg, the local dialects differ a bit from one village to another. The population of Moutfort used to speak a more Southern variety, but the finer variety of the city of Luxembourg is now mostly being adopted.

At school, the alphabetisation of 6 year old children in first primary class is done in German, which children understand intuitively, although it is really considered as a foreign language. The books are in German, but the teacher speaks mostly in Luxembourgish to the little children. Likewise, the newspapers are mostly in German. The Luxembourgish language is being written for poems,songs, theatre plays,often but not always for private letters. Luxembourgish is being spoken on the radio and TV, and in the parliament "Chambre des députés". Many foreign people who get settled in Luxembourg learn the Luxembourgish language, at least their children learn it at school and like to speak it. Not knowing Luxembourgish may cause a serious problem to integration or even psychological troubles.

In second primary class, children start learning French, which is really a foreign and difficult language for the original population. But many francophone people have settled in Luxembourg, for which it is their language. French is since the presence of Napoleon's regime the public language used by officials and by the court of Luxembourg. When you go for shopping, to a petrol station or a restaurant, it is very probable that the person serving you will speak French.

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