Committee on Maltese language in broadcasting

Wish we had many more people like you, Steve. We've got our language - let's use it.

@ Mr Morana - 'Anglicising and Italianising should be outlawed!'
You are wrong.

@apgrech

I am quite proud of our language and the more some of our compatriots love to hate it, the more it inspires me to strive for its protection. That was one of the reasons why I co-founded Etnika and produce Walter Micallef. It all a matter of identity insecurity and lack of awareness.

I agree comletely with D Vella that the level of Maltese and English in broadcasting is atrocious. Where are the today's Charles Arrigos , the Abela Mizzis, (fluent in both languages). Nowhere in sight; why? Because CA was attached to the BBC for a time, Charles Abela Mizzi was trained as well. Unfortunately, the English diction and intonation of most broadcasters is so bad that one can hardly realise the language they are speaking in. As for the Maltese broadcasters they are a bit better but still they are reinventing Maltese words; they tend to translate verbatim from English; even the idioms e.g. 'isibu saqajhom ' from 'find their feet' and sucj like. And then there is the 'obvjament' cropping up all the time even when it's not so obvious! The use of 'gewwa' instead of 'fil-' like gewwa Tas-Sliema, gewwa Londra. 'Gewwa ' means inside not 'in'. In Maltese we say; qed issir Londra NOT gewwa Londra. These people need training, and the trainers themselves have to be trained before they can train others; otherwise it's the blind leading the blind.

Steve, we should be proud for having our own language and we should all strive to use its full potential. There may be a few technical words which I would digest if they are said in English but for basic discussions, when we have the word for it, we should use it.

I am Maltese, proud of my country and proud of my language and we all should be.

As our great Dun Karm once wrote:

Ghaliex immela tichad, Malti hija,
lil dan il-Lsien li bih int Malti sewwa?
Hobb, jekk jiswewlek, l-Ilsna barranija,
izda le tbarri lil min hu ta' gewwa

@ Ms Ferstl

It is always a pleasure to get the input of such a passionate student of the Maltese language as yourself. Your observations are invariably always right 'on the money". People in the media, be they journalists, investigative reporters, broacasters, DJ's, or interviewers all have a responsibilty to enunciate and use properly reseached Maltese for the benefit of listeners/viewers. One sometimes wonders what institute of higher learning these people attended to assume that they are using correct language, spelling and grammar. Anglicising and Italianising should be outlawed!

@apgrech

Yes, quite true. I was watching a programme featuring cooking on a main local tv station and the chef kept calling the herbs by the English names, such as rosemary, which he informed us, came from China. Quite ludicrous since in Maltese it is "klin", a native plant, for which we even have a locality named, l-Iklin.

Quite fastidious are those morning radio shows, when we are told who did a boob job in L.A. and guess who is now dating Jennifer Aniston?...blah, blah, blah. Now really, who gives a hoot what underwear Brad Pitt wears? Yet, we are fed this trash on a daily basis.

I have always maintained that pluralism in broadcasting was a good political decision, but please, did we have to end up with so many country bumpkins whose commentary is more colourful that Borat's Kazakhistani rants. The most absurd are those country music programmes, with locals wannabes wearing cowboy hats and boots, at locations such as l-Ahrax tal-Mellieha, singing about some ranch in Alabama, while some Mellieha fisherman is caught in the background passing with his luzzu loading with octopus traps. Funny, yet sad, showing the mediocre standards that seem to flourish.

Borrowing some of the words mentioned below :))

Il-gimgha l-ohra gie varjat ktieb li fih artikoli fuq diversi soggetti. Dan bla dubbju ta' xejn se jkun ta' interess u obvjament ser jinteressa lil many nies. Kullhadd jikkoppja b'dan il-book u toqghodux tiwworjaw ghax fih soggetti fuq hafna paesi differenti nkluzi Malta, Italia, c-Cajna u ohrajn. Hemm ukoll sezzjoni li tittrata fuq il-cooking u jaghllmek kif anke tiffrajja hafna oggetti.

Il-bejgh tal-ktieb ser isir fi Triq il-Bellus, jew ahjar Silk Street u nispera li hafna jiefqu biex jaghtu vista u anke jikkomprawh. Il-press m'huwiex very caro - solament €1 euro.

@Alfred Farrugia

You are perfectly right. I find it revolting to read legal documents in "Maltese". They are pidgin Maltese with a heavy dose of Italian, with "stante" this and "stante" that.

Some bloggers have shot down this committee. Please don't be so pessimistic. They fact that this committee has been founded simpy implies that the BA is aware of the free for all that whoever ends up in front of a microphone has.

I recall recieving telephone calls from Charles Arrigo, a serious and committed broadcaster if there ever was one, even if I chose one particular word rather than another during my FM Bronja broadcasts. It would really be worthwhile if this committee distributed a qualitative survey amongst the licensed stations to enquire about the amount of scripted programmes, the checking of texts for syntax, morphological and linguisitic contents and to enquire what reference library they have in stock.

One would be suprised to discover that some of our national stations do not have finding aids, or even the Miklem Malti and Aquilina vocabulary editions, let alone other studies on similes, idioms etc...

That it why tonight you may hear that "ktieb gie varat" instead of "mniedi.

But perhaps more important than setting up a committee would be a change in mentality itself. If code-switching were a big NO-GO in Malta, all those tragic events would not happen. I think the vicious circle begins in childhood already.

And if TV and radio presenters spoke correct and un-mixed Maltese not only themselves, but also didn't accept any code-switching and ridiculous mix from interviewees and all those so-called "experts" (well, if they were true experts, they would be able to speak about their expertise in clear and correct Maltese!), there should be an improvement. (If you watch for example "Mhux għal Kulħadd" as it is now, you will realise that those interviewees who don't use code switching or unnecessary Anglicisms, are normally writers or professors of Maltese or... foreigners :p)

How about similar measures – not necessarily in the form of committees – at key government departments, such as the Office of the Attorney General, and the Department of Information at the Office of the Prime Minister.

In the past the DOI used to be a hive of Maltese writers and broadcasters. Additional support might also be needed for students pursuing law courses, and those responsible for translating EU legislation.

Why does the term “Article” used in legal documents and agreements have to be given the Italian slant “Artikolu” when the simple Maltese word “Artiklu” is sufficient? Does the legal profession have a monopoly on the Maltese language?

I, too, hope this will turn out an important step towards better language use in broadcasting.

In fact Maltese is the sole language in which I use to consume broadcasting services, although I don't live in Malta. I do it for the language (via the Internet), while I don't have a TV set at home. And I'm disappointed so often. Each and every time when there is announced some programme for example about science, I say to myself, "Great, I'll learn new words" and then... nothing! They don't use Maltese terms, so I end up searching the English words and then angrily searching for the Maltese equivalents myself or bothering native speakers.

A really shocking recent example was the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Not only did the commentators speak a ridiculous mixture, saying for example "Ċajna" instead of "Ċina" most of the times, but instead of "it-Triq tal-Ħarir" (Silk Road) a commentator used "it-Triq tal-Bellus" lots of times - the correction came only after 13 minutes! A real scandal, as a foreigner I was truly shocked.

ABOUT TIME TOO ! ! The standard of spoken language (BOTH Maltese and English incidentally) of some broadcasters and newscasters is nothing short of shamefully abysmal!!

@J Farrugia:

Why not Charles Flores or Trevor Zahra? Mr. Flores is particularly knowledgeable about broadcasting, as well as the Maltese language. Sounds like a good choice to me. Generally, in such committees, the individuals present need to be willing to work in them, they need to have the time and everything. Besides, the National Council for the Maltese Language has many other subcommittees - for all I know Mr. Sammut might already be active in other areas.

i'm glad to hear that somthing is done for our language. i live in italy since 1984 and every time i come to malta my mother langauge seems diferent.as they pronouns maltese in english accent and use forgine words.america is such a big contry but they speak english because they don'thave a languag of their own.we are a little island and we have our own language so we should be proud of it and speak it in a proper way.

Would this committee kindly create a Maltese word for "Grand daughter" and "Grand son".

There is a big difference between a nephew and a grand son but in the menatime, we don't have a word for such a dear relative.

Would be possible for this Committee to include in its terms of reference, the curtailing of the insertion of the word OBVJAMENT, between every other few words, during interviews, and all other kinds of broadcasting ? It is so frustrating. Thank you.

What a brilliant Idea !!

It is about time that we listen to our mother tongue in a decent way on local TV stations, ommitting words like "niffrajja" when "naqli" is the correct version.

Well done !

I think that the BA made a mistake. Why Charles Flores, why not Frans Sammut, who is better known for his love of the maltese language, why trevor zahra, ? Who chose these persons in the first place? another autogoal by the BA.

I just hope that this committee takes care of the very basic and rudimentary things first - like eliminating the habit of saying "jiefqu" instead of "jieqfu" or "jiqpaw" instead of "jibqghu". Some people in broadcasting seem to have forgotten their primary school Maltese language lessons where they were taught that the verb has a "mamma" and "gherq" and that the consonants in the "gherq" do not change their position. Just to illustrate - had "jiefqu" been correct then the "mamma" would have been "x'ghamel hu? - hu wafaq" (instead of the proper "waqaf"). Unfortunately even members of parliament and the Prime Minister himself do such mistakes continuously! Another annoying habit is that of saying "dubbju" instead of "dubju" - a contribution from our previous Prime Minister unfortunately!

About time! With the media being one of the most influential factors affecting the contemporary maltese language, something needs to be done urgently. There is surely no place for words such as "tiwworja" instead of "tinkwieta" or "tikkopja" (to cope) instead of "tkampa"!