Advert

Bad Maltese

I was so pleased to notice on timesofmalta.com, following my letter Bad Maltese (December 2), that an increasing number of people are really concerned about the bad use of the Maltese language in our media, whether written or spoken.

I can assure them that in my novels I never use such words as teacher, birthday, parents, bathroom, etc. as people do when they speak on TV when we have the equivalent in our language. And I certainly never dream of using such ugly words as bajsikil, woxmaxin and xelta when we have proper words for them. However, words like wiski and brandi are accepted as much as kejk and kowt since we don’t have the equivalent in Maltese.

I do agree with some correspondents that the Akkademja tal-Malti and/or the Broadcasting Authority should take things more seriously where our language is concerned and even penalise somehow those who don’t abide by their regulations.

Advert

27 Comments

Post comment

Comments are submitted under the express understanding and condition that the editor may, and is authorised to, disclose any/all of the above personal information to any person or entity requesting the information for the purposes of legal action on grounds that such person or entity is aggrieved by any comment so submitted.

At this time your comment will not be displayed immediately upon posting. Please allow some time for your comment to be moderated before it is displayed.

Your User Profile is incomplete.
Please click here to complete your profile before posting comments.

Wally Vella-Zarb

Dec 12th 2011, 20:54

Pardon my intrusion but the word 'xarabank' is the Maltese writing that reproduces the sound of the French "char à bancs" : char, coach, carriage (from Old French, cart) + à, with (from Latin ad, toward) + bancs, benches, pl. of banc (from Old French). Until quite recently, the word 'xarabank' was commonly used, especially in Gozo, instead of the English word 'bus' which, as you are probably aware, sounds exactly like the Maltese word for 'wind' that is best let loose!

Joseph Micallef

Dec 13th 2011, 09:56

The reason why is that words are not born that way! Words are not coined artificially, and when they are, they are mostly rejected, such as the artificial word "mitjar" - which is only used on the media but nowhere else!

Ms Joyce Grech

Dec 12th 2011, 18:18

Nahseb li ridt tghid rivisti mhux magazines!!

Joseph Micallef

Dec 12th 2011, 19:36

Ms. Grech. Magazines kelma ingliza, u rivisti minn "riviste" mit-taljan!

Wally Vella-Zarb

Dec 12th 2011, 20:43

"Now according to Mr Wally Vella Zarb’s argument “browser” would be pronounced ‘brovzer’ by a german – but everyubody says (the english version) browser."

You still don't get it do you? For the Nth time, Maltese is a PHONETIC language with the letters of its alphabet largely having ONE sound. German is NOT. As for how a German would read the English word 'browser', YES, if he does not speak English he is more likely to read it as 'brovzer' rather than 'brawzer'. I still remember a coach driver in Austria who was complaining that English passengers always wanted him to drive slowly. He did not speak much English. What he said while referring to them sounded like "Immer zlov! Immer zlov!"

Wally Vella-Zarb

Dec 12th 2011, 20:01

Mr Debono, in the Maltese alphabet there is ONLY a C "bit-tikka" (Ċ); the letter C (without the 'tikka') does not exist! The sound of the English letter K (as in 'key' - or 'Cake' for that matter) would ALWAYS be written as K in Maltese. The letter Y as mentioned earlier, just does not exist in OUR alphabet. Contrary to what you and many others seem to think, the Germans do NOT pronounce the letter 'W' as 'V'. What for us is a 'double U' for them is a 'double vee'. Their letter V sounds more like our letter F. German is not phonetic; their letters do not always have the same sound as ours. Granted that we all use the same sound for the Scottish / Irish drink; we just cannot write it in the same manner because that would turn our orthography upside down!

As for "railing against (is) the whole-sale importation of words resulting from SLOPPY Maltese" I am with you 100% on that, as evidenced throughout my continual contributions on the matter. Unfortunately, the atrocities that are regularly uttered on the media by popular presenters (who, incidentally, do not appreciate the difference between popularity and quality) tend to be mopped up by the lazy members of the population. Expressions like "Żid il-kaler mal-likwid u mmiksja tajjeb" are enough to make one weep!

Please do continue to stand up for our dear language but always keep in mind that we have our own alphabet that has to be used according to our own language's rules of orthography.

Wally Vella-Zarb

Dec 12th 2011, 15:38

When you download you are effectively bringing a virtual load down. There is nothing wrong in saying "Niżżilt minn fuq l’internet". What I strongly dislike is the neologism "Nissejvja". Saving to a disk is more akin to storing (e.g., material inside a space) than 'saving' (e.g., money in a bank). I therefore prefer to use the word "Naħżen", which portrays the action and the effect without any ambiguity.

But who am I to tell the 'experts' what to do? ;-)

Wally Vella-Zarb

Dec 12th 2011, 14:22

Mr Debono, my compliments for being "fluent in the major Eruopean Languages". What you need to learn now is that Maltese is, unlike English, French, Italian or German, largely phonetic. Some of the letters in our alphabet have a totally different sound to those that are similarly written in other languages. Our letter 'C' has the sound of the letter combination 'CH' in the English words 'Church' , Lurch or Birch - but not as in 'Loch'. It does not sound like the 'C' in Cat, nor of that in Cake. Writing 'Cake' in Maltese would elicit a sound like the Maltese word for Pebbles!

Other letters simply do not exist in our alphabet; one of them is the letter 'Y'. How then would we pronounce a letter that, as far as our language is concerned, does not exist? Note that in some other languages even the letter 'Y' has a different sound; in Russian it sounds like 'U'..

Whisky or whiskey should be, quite correctly 'Wiski' in Maltese. After all, transliteration is what the English resorted to when they absorbed the Gaelic "uisge beatha". Why is it OK for them to change the spelling but not for us? ;-)

G G Debono

Dec 12th 2011, 15:38

A small point

Re "(Maltese) is there to communicate with others.

But surely it is better to communicate nicely ?

And there is, of course, poetry literature.......... which put us well above monkeys etc.

AnnMarie Pawley

Dec 12th 2011, 16:18

'at their disposal'

Joseph Micallef

Dec 12th 2011, 13:18

What about the word "Switċ" pasted at the rear end of each Arriva bus when it should be "Swiċċ"?

Advert
Advert