ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how language issues are linked to debates on migration, integration and citizenship. It focuses on Germany and Luxembourg, to examine contrasting situations in different German-speaking countries and on the broader European context. It is frequently claimed that monolingual policies are necessary for social cohesion and, as a result, that people who speak 'other' languages are in need of integration. Many European countries now impose their national and/or official language upon these people through language testing procedures as part of recently modified forms of citizenship legislation. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, a certain degree of harmonisation of policies on migration, asylum and citizenship has taken place within the EU and the so-called Schengen countries. In Luxembourg, a new citizenship law was passed in 2008 that, amongst other things such as allowing broader provisions for dual citizenship, stipulated that applicants are required to pass a language test in Luxembourgish but not a 'knowledge of society' (KoS) test.
