Another day, another language opinion. But this time I won't be boring you with yet another 'Make Luxembourgish great again' speech, but I would rather discuss Article 4 of our language law.

It reads as follows:

Art 4. Administrative requests

When an application is drafted in Luxembourgish, French or German, the administration must, as far as possible, use the language chosen by the applicant for its reply.

In theory this means that if you write a letter or email in German, thou shall receive an answer in German. In reality this only seems to be an urban myth, because in my own humble experience, I've never once gotten a reply that wasn't in French.

So I started to ask around, because I was so sure that this rule exists, and while others agreed that they've heard of it, we weren't sure it actually existed as a law or anything.

It did not take long before I found the language law from 24 February 1984, which also recognised Luxembourgish as the national language of the Grand Duchy.

In it, we have Article 4 which indeed confirmed that adiminsitrations should reply back in the chosen language by the applicant.

Unfortunately, as so often, five words present a fine little loophole that any administration can use in defence of not writing back the chosen language. Administrations could therefore claim that is wasn't "dans la mesure du possible", meaning that there was no possibility to reply to my letter in German.

I highly doubt that no one in that administration was able to write that letter in German. Or Luxembourgish even.

As I already said in a previous language opinion, French is not my forte and never will be. While I understand enough to survive daily life, it cannot be compared to my understanding of Luxembourgish and German. And doing anything administration related in French is a nightmare come true.

Considering we are living in a country with three official languages, I think it's a shame (and maybe even a bit of a scam) that no one takes this law seriously.

We have to accept the fact that not everyone in this country speaks all these languages. We also have to consider the fact, that not everyone who speaks French is comfortable doing important administration stuff in French. And since we got this law, that was made to, first of all, give all languages the same status, it is also important for inclusivity in this country.

I would even go so far to argue that we need to include English in this law article, considering Luxembourg has so many immigrants. But it wouldn't matter. Not until this rule is actually executed.

Which brings me to my next point: We need to get rid of this loophole. It allows for French being the non plus ultra language without giving any room to the other official languages. It also means that the 'little man' is losing out. When are we finally coming up with 'user-friendly' means? I don't think it's very user-friendly to reply to a German language in French.

How no one even thinks about the possibility that this letter was written in German because the person on the other end doesn't do well with French baffles me.

In the end we are in a special situation here in Luxembourg. We speak at least four languages, most of them fluently, and have several languages that help us get through life in the Grand Duchy. But it's a shame that even though there is technically no hierarchy, some languages are just as respected as much as others.

Same with Guichet: While the pages mostly exist in German and/or English, a lot of forms to fill out are completely in French. This is a huge barrier for anyone who isn't fluent in French, Luxemburger or immigrant, and should be addressed as soon as possible.

And I for one would really like to understand what I am actually doing and applying for.