Maltese is essential but let’s not exaggerate

I read Robert Henry Bugeja’s article about the Maltese language (September 17) with great interest. However, I would like to add that Malta’s biggest problem is isolation from the world due to bad language skills in general, Maltese included. The standard of English in Malta is plummeting and although most Maltese presume they speak Italian, the reality is that the level is mediocre and involves some comprehension, at best.

I mean, while a Ladin may speak Ladin/Ladino, he also speaks either German or Italian as a means of communicating with the outside world. Likewise a Catalan (Català) is likely to know Castilian (Spanish), an Istrian (cakavski/Istro-Veneto) Croatian or Italian; an Aostan (Franco-Provencal) French or Italian; a Welshman (Welsh), English etc. I could go on ad nauseam about all of the hundreds of official minority languages in the EU, most of which have more speakers than Maltese.

Maltese is the language of a nation state just because it is anomalous in that, due to the blockading of the harbour by the British, we became a nation state and did not pass on to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and hence form part of the unified Italy. The importance of Maltese has therefore already exceeded what it would have ever achieved had it not been for this anomaly.

The point is that these minority language speakers (unlike the Maltese of 2011) have a second or possibly third language which serves as a means of communication outside of their local communities. I have seen a severe erosion of second-language knowledge in Malta to the point where I believe English will eventually be taught as a foreign language much as it is taught to the Spanish or the Germans.

While I agree with Mr Bugeja that we must protect Maltese as an integral part of our cultural, historical and linguistic identity, we should not do this at the expense of the, admittedly and objectively more important, knowledge of a foreign language. Maltese is limited and is not a good vehicle for education. It has never been a language of culture nor of academia (apart from the last few years) unlike for example Venetian or Milanese, both of which have a body of literature and linguistic patrimony behind them. We cannot teach the sciences or the arts in Maltese or we would have to “invent” all of the terminology required to make Maltese a vehicle language. Historically speaking, Friulan and Frisian are both, like Maltese, not languages of high culture. They are used daily and are both written languages. They represent a predominantly peasant culture which is nonetheless extremely important and must be safeguarded.

Turning Maltese into a vehicle language to teach accounting, economics, physics, geography, mathematics, etc. would take years and would limit our future generations. Let us protect Maltese but let us not exaggerate either. Mr Bugeja is very right in many of his assertions but a militant-type revival will have a deleterious effect on Malta and on the Maltese language in the long term as it will leave us adrift from the rest of the world. Festivals, free courses, funding for film-making etc. must all be made available but let it not be at the expense of our “bridge” to the rest of the world.