One place where English is appropriate

Sometimes people forget that we have two official languages in Malta. Yes, we should be proud that for the size of these islands' population we have a distinct language complete with excellent literary works.

We are also fortunate that our second language is one that the citizens of several other countries wish to master at a fraction of the ability of the critics who contribute to these pages.

One also needs to appreciate that living languages, our two happen to be among them, are continually changing. Living languages are forever adopting words from other languages that eventually the origin is almost forgotten.

Moreover, most of us are fluent in a few languages. The use and mixture should not be regarded as being negative.

Recently the commentary at the Shaolin Monks was criticised in the letter English Introduction To Show Was Out Of Place because it should have been in Maltese (November 17). Could it be that the commentary served as a cue to the performers?

Would they be expected to have a crash course in Maltese to perform here?

There are several entertainment offerings throughout the year that are in Maltese. One's complaints would be justified if our other official language took prominence at these performances.