In the Land of Arlon, the traditional language is Luxembourgish, which is also spoken in the adjacent Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. In 1990, the French Community of Belgium recognised the regional languages on its territory, of which Luxembourgish is one; however, it did not take any further measures.
Linguistic census results
The following data are the linguistic results of the census as they appeared in the Belgian Official Journal. Here the language shift from Luxembourgish to French is clearly visible.
NL: Dutch
FR: French
DE: German (to be interpreted as Luxembourgish)
Language that is mostly or exclusively spoken
Year
NL Number
FR Number
DE Number
NL Pct.
FR Pct.
DE Pct.
1910
253
9,997
30,124
0.6%
24.8%
74.6%
1920
217
16,623
22,936
0.5%
41.8%
57.7%
1930
155
21,928
18,646
0.4%
53.8%
45.8%
1947
116
36,467
2,411
0.3%
93.5%
6.2%
Known languages
Year
only NL Number
NL & FR Number
only FR Number
FR & DE Number
only DE Number
DE & NL Number
NL & FR & DE Number
None Number
only NL Pct.
NL & FR Pct.
only FR Pct.
FR & DE Pct.
only DE Pct.
DE & NL Pct.
NL & FR & DE Pct.
1846
299
3,909
24,275
1.0%
13.7%
85.2%
1866
68
127
3,221
6,342
19,465
23
68
1
0.2%
0.4%
11.0%
21.6%
66.4%
0.1%
0.2%
1880
362
161
3,799
9,459
16,007
8
75
60
1.2%
0.5%
12.7%
31.7%
53.6%
0.0%
0.3%
1890
7
179
4,827
13,523
14,818
14
327
2
0.0%
0.5%
14.3%
40.1%
44.0%
0.0%
1.0%
1900
144
323
6,203
18,950
10,108
11
294
1,867
0.4%
0.9%
17.2%
52.6%
28.1%
0.0%
0.8%
1910
122
415
8,045
20,670
10,892
7
238
2,165
0.3%
1.0%
19.9%
51.2%
27.0%
0.0%
0.6%
1920
94
407
11,566
20,842
6,715
2
350
1,346
0.2%
1.0%
28.9%
52.1%
16.8%
0.0%
0.9%
1930
45
432
15,914
18,456
5,562
7
326
1,763
0.1%
1.1%
39.1%
45.3%
13.7%
0.0%
0.8%
1947
14
675
27,234
9,726
733
4
1,071
1,605
0.0%
1.7%
69.0%
24.6%
1.9%
0.0%
2.7%
Municipalities and villages in Arelerland
Map of the Luxembourgish language area within Belgium
These are the municipalities, with their sections and villages, in the Land of Arlon.
