Norman E. Grech said that while he considers himself to be Maltese he considers English to be his mother tongue (June 23).

This is quite a contradiction. How can a person claim to be a Maltese while at the same time renounces his mother tongue? How can we claim to be a nation if we renounce our language? Is it not the language that unites people into a nation?

I am a Maltese and know how to speak and write English but I would never consider English as my mother tongue. That would be an insult to our fore fathers who made many sacrifices to upgrade our language to its present status.

Persons like your correspondent who belittles our language brings back memories of the past when the Maltese language was treated with contempt in favour of the Italian language. Luckily that period has passed but it seems that some of the new elite want to bring it back this time in favour of the English language. The same arguments brought forward in the past in favour of the Italian language are now being used in favour of the English language.

I have visited many foreign countries and I never found anyone who disparaged his or her language in favour of a foreign one. Yes it is important to know English or any other language well but we must remember that we are Maltese and we live in Malta. So Maltese should be given the rightful place it deserves. It should never play second fiddle. It is our national language.

Those who disparage Maltese and consider a foreign language to be their mother tongue do not deserve to be called Maltese. Perhaps Malta is not their right place to live. Perhaps they should live in the country of their mother tongue.