While preferring English is, undeniably, a right of Mario Schembri Wismayer, I could not but cringe when I read how my strangely deniable right to choose Maltese had to "summarily be dealt with" by a group of individuals, who are holding the "banner for English". Reading these conspicuously "jingoistic" phrases, I could not help myself imagining some kind of Dad's Army, holding English Dictionaries instead of rifles, marching down Strada Rjali (note the vibrant Maltese and Italian influences) on their way to a Maltese dictionary book-burning session. Decades after Maltese was enshrined in its rightful place, it seems that someone, from a throne of indifference high above, is organising a crusade to squash it.

However the "poetic" expressions used in the attack did not succeed in tarnishing the beauty of Maltese. I do myself compare Maltese to a bird, but not to one that "needs to have its wings clipped", no, my language soars like a living bird, dances in the air, exchanges greetings with other birds, flows and changes, evolving, proud of its surroundings. Living, until a hunter throws an English Dictionary at it, just because it's a "quaint, museum-piece code".

Outright judging seems to be an inescapable pastime. Yes, Maltese does assimilate. It changes and mixes, in order to be a living language - it assimilated Italian and Sicilian vulgate, changing verbs and idioms until they became irreconcilable to their Romance origins. Some words fell away but other words stuck on to be used by the people. And they kept on being used for generations, and are still in use today. People then spoke Maltese in the "scullery", (a polite word for dishwashing room, since any mention of "lingwa tal-kcina'" would effectively make anyone like me bring the whole house down), while they also spoke a multitude of foreign languages, including English. Did that stop the development of Maltese? Did it not grow and mature?

The "blurred" line seen between Maltese and English is not due to assimilation, because that is an integral element in our language's development; that blurred line is caused by the inability of certain segments of society to be truly bilingual. To those that believe that Maltese sounds harsh and uncouth, I cannot but point at the multitude of poems that have blessed the ears of those that love the musical softness and richness of Maltese. I cannot understand what is wrong in having Semitic elements, since that renders it unique, the only Semitic-based language in Europe. And I cannot but disregard the "caught dead burping", which speaks volumes by itself.

Finally, if money is the sole decision making god, then let's all revert to slavery, cheap coal, colonies and kings; if culture, the life of a nation, and the will to nurture one's tongue are so inexpensive, then anything else goes. Fortunately, free choice in language will ensure the survival of Maltese, because it is the nation that makes the language, and not dictionary toting, "English banner" holding soldiers of a bygone era.

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