Foreign loan words

It is healthy to have a debate on how foreign loan words should be written in Maltese, as long as we are not dogmatic, or chaotic, in our approach. Guidance from competent institutions that enjoy national backing is most useful. Imposition is not, especially when dealing with an evolving and ongoing process as in this case. There are three important, practical, but separate levels at which this question has to be tackled.

The first is the spoken word by the wo/man in the street. At this level, where new words tend to be given local inflections in pronounciation and nuances in meaning, while adaptation to basic rules of the Maltese language may or may not follow, there is nothing that officialdom can do.

Yet, it is this dynamic process that keeps any language alive and useful as a means of human communication.

The second level is that presented to the public by the media in its widest possible sense. Here a more educated treatment is expected. At this level a measure of consistency, refinement and protection against the indis-criminate or careless introduction of foreign words is desireable. The question is, how does one achieve this? As Malta's Ambassador in Spain, I learned that the Spanish-speaking countries had established a body of learned persons from the academic and the media worlds in its society, which met at regular intervals to study reports compiled by monitors on actual instances in literature, the press, official communications, radio, and TV where the use of Spanish may not be quite correct.

The conclusions reached by this international body were then published and made available to authors, journalists, official bodies, and those running media outlets.

This authority also issued studies on specific topics like how the names of foreign places should be reproduced in Spanish. There was no imposition; only guidance which was generally respected. The third level is in the field of instruction in schools, and the related subject of correctness in examinations.

I believe that here there is scope for debate, and at the higher levels, an opportunity to test a student's awareness of the problem. Let us not be dogmatic since we do not have a pope of the Maltese language.