I wholeheartedly agree with Frank Salt regarding English spoken in Malta (May 11), except for one point. He writes "Malta is rapidly losing the ability to speak the (English) language", and "Maltese would be taught later and also learned at the child's home, during everyday conversation".

Having a Maltese father and an English mother, and schooled in Malta, we didn't speak Maltese in our home. My Maltese friends spoke English all the time. So by the time I was 15 in the 1960s and mixing with Maltese friends from other schools I found a little left out as it seemed all the jokes were in Maltese - I had to have private lessons to improve my basic knowledge of the Maltese language so as to mix in better with my friends.

What I'm trying to say is that while agreeing with Mr Salt that the powers that be should revert to making sure the knowledge of English and the English accent should be improved, there should be some kind of compromise whereby the Maltese language is also taught at an early age. My Maltese school friends speak English with a very good accent, as well as being fluent in Maltese - and Italian too!