[3] Upon the founding of the country, French enjoyed the greatest prestige, and therefore gained preferential use as the official and administrative language.

German-French bilingualism dates back at least to the 12th century, when the territory of the Duchy of Luxembourg spread over the traditional Germano-Romance language border.

Further, by 1839, Luxembourg had lost its Walloon and hence native French-speaking areas, so that nowadays, the dialectal foundation of the country is only Germanophone.

[4] Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch), a Rhinelandic language of the Moselle region similar to German and Dutch, was introduced in primary school in 1912.

Until the 1980s, the language had been used mainly for poetry and drama but has since become increasingly popular for fiction which now represents a significant contribution to Luxembourgish literature.

French remains the language of legislation, due to the application of the Napoleonic civil code in Luxembourg.

According to the Grand Duchy's largest newspaper, the Luxemburger Wort, Luxembourg does not perceive itself as a "German-speaking country" (the only national language is Luxembourgish) and thus had no right to take part in the council.

[7] This might be due to the fact that Francophonie as an organization seeks to promote the use of the French language around the world, rather than regulate it,[citation needed] and thus includes many members that are not French-speaking, such as Romania and Greece.

At the university level, multilingualism makes it possible for Luxembourgish students to continue their higher education in French, German or English-speaking countries.