Mr Michael Camilleri's conversation at a newsagent's (The Sunday Times, November 7), carried out entirely in English terms used very commonly by Maltese-speaking persons, provides interesting linguistic food for thought.
MC starts off with "Good morning". Now here, he says, the use of "L-ghodwa t-tajba" would sound stilted and affected. I agree, and in fact hardly anyone uses this term except for radio presenters. However, I can recount what has happened in my own household.
As a joke, I started using expressions that are only used on radio and TV, like the aforementioned, il-lejl it-tajjeb, insellimlek, sahha, and so on. Surprisingly enough, these no longer sound funny, and at home we are now using these expressions perfectly naturally.
In fact, I got so used to this that when I entered a colleague's office I once blurted out "insellmilkom", and they all looked at me as if I had gone mad, one of them actually asking if I was feeling OK! In this case, at the newsagent's, one could have used the word bongu without incurring the risk of any funny looks.
He then asks for The Sunday Times. In this case, the Maltese version of his question, fit for the context of a newsagent on a Sunday morning, would be "It-Times, jekk joghgbok". I don't see any problem at all here.
As regards "twenty-five cents", one should consider that this contains just four syllables whereas the Maltese version has seven. Therefore, in a colloquial context, many people (Maltese speakers included) may feel it more practical to use the English expression.
There is another aspect to numbers in Maltese. In Malta, children learn to conceptualise numbers in English, and Maltese numbers end up being learnt as in a foreign language. For example, we tend to find it much easier to memorise or recite a telephone number in English rather than in Maltese. It is rare indeed to find anyone (excluding radio and TV) who will give you his telephone number in Maltese rather than English.
This does not mean that the use of Maltese numbers is dying out. No one would say "one thousand ruh", or "five gebliet" instead of the proper Maltese elf and hames.
The word "cents" is again something else. It's so much less cumbersome than centezmi, that it will probably eventually replace the "Maltese" (Italian) version, so that the new Maltese version might very well become sents. This may also be another reason why the number tagged onto the "cents" ends up in English. We all say "hamsin lira" but "fifty cents".
"Thank you". Grazzi also sounds a bit awkward. It's the officially accepted Maltese version, but almost everyone says tenkjù (not "thank you" - no Maltese speaker pronounces "th" unless they are talking only in English). So should tenkjù replace grazzi? Whether we like it or not, and unless we all start talking 'radio' language like I got into the habit of doing at home, that's the way it will end up.
Finally, and unfortunately, "Have a nice day" is quite alien to our culture, and therefore has no Maltese equivalent that sounds natural. This also applies to most expressions of basic courtesy, and is a sad reflection of our ancestors' crude general attitude (which, alas, we have to some extent inherited). If Mr Camilleri's newsagent were to adopt "Il-gurnata t-tajba" and repeat it to all his customers, people would very soon get used to it. One could otherwise do away with this greeting altogether, and simply use "Caw caw" as many Maltese speakers do.
One thing is certain, however. The Maltese language is in no danger of dying a natural death. All one needs to do to confirm this is to go out and listen to Maltese people talk as they go about their daily activities. Maltese is very much alive, and undergoing important development and refinement, even more so now that it's an official language of the European Union.
If there is one language that we run the risk of losing (at a great cost to our country) this is English. The standard of many young Maltese people's English is becoming quite unacceptable, and the damage is getting even worse as more private schools keep churning out students who talk an obnoxious form of English spoken with Maltese sentence construction. "You did the homework, but?"