r/learnluxembourgish

I'm learning Luxembourgish and often use LOD while reading local news. Copying each unfamiliar word into another tab got repetitive, so I made LëtzLookup.

It lets you select a word and view the LOD result on the same page, including translations, examples, and pronunciation.There is no account, analytics, or lookup history. The selected text is sent directly to LOD only when you request a lookup.

It is still new, so I would appreciate feedback from other learners, especially if a lookup returns an unexpected result.

You can install on:

- Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/l%C3%ABtzlookup/
- Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/l%C3%ABtzlookup/omcanjbpnmjidpphjfhabimfmefejcac

https://preview.redd.it/zn0fl5q6tckh1.png?width=2204&format=png&auto=webp&s=2f5097466df1bd4a4b9bea9fa900cbae54faccc4

A lot of the fear around this exam is just not knowing how the day goes. So here’s the practical walkthrough, minus the parts I’m not certain about.
Before you go. You’ll have your date, time and location from INLL. Bring valid ID. Get there early, there’s a waiting area and you don’t want to arrive out of breath. You can have water with you. Phones and notes stay away during the test.
The listening part. You’re in a room with other candidates, not alone, which surprises people. Headphones or speakers depending on the centre. Three recordings, things like a radio bulletin, a conversation, announcements, and each one plays twice. Then multiple choice questions. Topics are ordinary Luxembourg life: weather, transport, local events.
The way our students describe using the two plays: first time for the general sense, second time to confirm answers. Trying to catch every word on the first pass is how people panic.
The speaking part. Two examiners, in a room, roughly ten minutes. You’ll talk about yourself, describe an image, and answer questions on an everyday topic. You get a choice of images and a choice of topics rather than being handed one at random, which helps more than you’d think.
What comes back from students almost every time: it felt shorter than expected, the examiners were friendly, and once they started talking the nerves faded. These people are not trying to catch you out.
Things worth doing on the day:
Sleep. Tiredness hits language ability harder than almost anything else.
Warm up on the way. Talk to yourself in Luxembourgish, describe what you see out the window. Arriving with your first Luxembourgish sentence of the day already behind you makes a real difference.
If you don’t understand something, ask. “Kënnt Dir dat nach eng Kéier widderhuelen, w.e.g.” Asking someone to repeat is normal conversation, not a failure.
If a word won’t come, talk around it. “The place where you buy bread” beats ten seconds of silence every time.
And smile. It’s an interview, not an interrogation, and you’re allowed to look like a person having a conversation.
If you’ve taken it recently and your experience was different, say so in the comments. Things change and I’d rather this thread be accurate than tidy.

Third post here. Last time was the picture description, this one is about the part people ignore until it's too late.
Almost everyone who comes to us wants to work on speaking. Which makes sense, speaking is the scary part, it's the one where you sit in front of two examiners. But the speaking part is A2 and the listening part is B1. That gap is bigger than people expect, and it catches out even those who've been in Luxembourg for years.
What makes it hard isn't vocabulary. It's speed. Recordings are at normal speaking pace, nobody slows down for you, and there's no face to read. If your only exposure to Luxembourgish has been in a classroom where the teacher speaks clearly and adjusts to your level, the first real recording is a shock.
The fix is boring and it works: RTL.lu, every day.
Not as study. Put it on while you cook, while you drive, while you do the dishes. At the start you'll catch nothing and it will feel pointless. Then you start catching names and numbers. Then single words. Then the topic. Then whole sentences. It takes weeks and it happens without you noticing, which is exactly why people quit before it kicks in.
A few things that speed it up:
Listen to news about things you already know. If you've read about a story in French or English, you already have the context, and context does half the work.
Don't rewind constantly. Missing something and carrying on is the actual skill being tested. In the exam you can't pause.
Once a week, listen actively. Twenty minutes, full attention, and afterwards write down what the piece was about in any language. That tells you what you're really taking in, which is usually more than you think.
Radio over TV. Video gives you visual clues that the exam won't.
Poterkëscht on Spotify works too if news gets dull. Slower, more conversational, closer to how people actually talk to each other.
The reason I keep pushing this: speaking improves in visible steps and listening improves invisibly, so people put their effort where they can see progress. Then they sit the exam and the recording starts and it's twice as fast as anything they practised on.
Start early, keep it passive, and give it more weeks than feels reasonable.