34U cardboard ruler

What a pitiful shame! Will we ever learn?

I came across a cardboard ruler with the 34U (Tree for You) campaign information printed in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment and Rural Affairs. I wonder who could have been responsible for proofreading the Maltese used in these otherwise pretty and rather informative rulers.

The reason for my negative introductory remark is that I could not fail to notice that the word weraq was not treated as the collective plural noun that it is and considered grammatically in the singular. Hence, for instance: "weraq hodor; weraq huma; weraq iebsa; etc" should have read "weraq ahdar; weraq huwa; weraq iebes" and so on.

Other orthographic errors include: jithawwlu (jithawlu); izda (izda); boskijiet (msagar); jistghu (jistghu); sigra (sigra). Furthermore: zebbug means olives not olive tree for which the word zebbuga would be appropriate (refer to Professor J. Aquilina's Maltese-English Dictionary). The same may possibly be said of harrub (harruba) and ballut (balluta) though I would consult someone more knowledgeable about these.

It would be a matter of great importance to get expert assistance before rushing into print.

Thankfully, these rulers have not been laminated so should not be expected to last. I do hope that while they do, they will not fall into the hands of young students of Maltese! They should be withdrawn and reprinted with the correct Maltese syntax. They make a mockery not just of our language, but of all the top brass at Bank of Valletta and at the Ministry who allowed the printing and distribution of such gross errors

Will we ever learn? I doubt it, but I live in hope. Nevertheless.