Living across borders Iwwer d'Grenz liewen
Luxembourg lives with its neighbours: talk about commuting across the border, working with other countries and working in several languages.
By the end of this lesson you can
- Describe a cross-border commute and the countries involved.
- Talk about working in several languages and with foreign partners.
- Understand words about borders, checks and employment.
- Say that people or authorities work together.
26 words and phrases
- de Grenzgänger
- the cross-border commuter
- d'Groussregioun
- the Greater Region (Luxembourg and its neighbouring areas)
- d'Nopeschland
- the neighbouring country Neuter. Plural: d'Nopeschlänner.
- de Pendler
- the commuter
- pendelen
- to commute, to shuttle
- den Auslänner / d'Auslännerin
- the foreigner
- auslännesch
- foreign
- d'Immigratioun
- immigration Plural: d'Immigratiounen.
- d'Integratioun
- integration
- integréieren
- to integrate
- d'Mobilitéit
- mobility
- de Salarié
- the employee Plural: d'Salariéen.
- den Aarbechtsvertrag
- the employment contract Plural: d'Aarbechtsverträg.
- méisproocheg
- multilingual With a neuter noun: e méisproochegt Land.
- den Dolmetscher
- the interpreter Plural: d'Dolmetscheren.
- d'Passkontroll
- the passport check Plural: d'Passkontrollen.
- d'Grenzkontroll
- the border check Plural: d'Grenzkontrollen.
- d'Zesummenaarbecht
- the collaboration, the cooperation
- zesummeschaffen
- to work together, to cooperate Separable: si schaffen zesummen. Participle: zesummegeschafft.
- grenziwwerschreidend
- cross-border
- Dausende
- thousands
- sëlleg
- quite a few
- d'Grenz
- border
- d'Autoritéit
- authority
- béid
- both
- effikass
- efficient
Grammar
Coming and going to work
After kommen and fueren you can add the second verb with no extra word: kommen … schaffen is "come to work". The longer way is fir … ze: fir op d'Aarbecht ze kommen. Across the border is iwwer d'Grenz; "from the neighbouring countries" is aus den Nopeschlänner.
- All Dag kommen Dausende vu Frontalieren op Lëtzebuerg schaffen. — Every day thousands of cross-border commuters come to Luxembourg to work.
- Et komme vill Leit aus den Nopeschlänner bei eis schaffen. — Many people come from the neighbouring countries to work here.
- An der Groussregioun fueren all Dag e sëllege Leit iwwer d'Grenz schaffen. — In the Greater Region, a good many people cross the border to work every day.
- Vill Grenzgänger musse wäit fueren, fir op d'Aarbecht ze kommen. — Many cross-border commuters have to travel far to get to work.
Working together, working as
Zesummeschaffen is separable: in a main clause zesummen goes to the end (schaffen … zesummen), and the participle is one word, zesummegeschafft. Use mat for the partner and als for a role, with no article: als Dolmetscher.
- Vill Lëtzebuerger Entreprisë schaffe mat auslännesche Betriber zesummen. — Many Luxembourg companies work together with foreign firms.
- D'Autoritéite vu béide Länner hunn effikass zesummegeschafft. — The authorities of both countries cooperated effectively.
- Hie schafft als Dolmetscher beim Europäesche Parlament. — He works as an interpreter at the European Parliament.
Practice
14 exercises: multiple choice, typing, matching pairs and word order.