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Godwin Ellul: Bilingual Glossary of Commercial Terms: English – Maltese. 2012.

The latest publication from Godwin Ellul takes the form of a bilingual glossary wherein commercial terminology in English is explained in Maltese. The book encompasses more than 3,000 technical terms originating from a number of commercial disciplines, namely economics, private and public management, organisational behaviour, marketing and accountancy.

Ellul’s pioneering work seeks to define the terms in plain and simple Maltese to an extent that they can be easily understood by secondary school students who are specialising in business studies.

This is not an easy task at all, as often it is very cumbersome to come up with practical explanations in the vernacular. The study of commerce and its related subjects is heavily loaded with specialised jargon, acronyms and theoretical terminology that are all invariably in English.

This may create difficulties to those who are new to the field, because they may not understand the meaning and implications of the register of lexis used in business practice and writing. Such difficulties may be even more acute for the majority of Maltese students who do not use English as their first language of communication.

In fact, the trigger point that enticed Ellul to embark on this ambitious project was the outcry from his students to be provided with easy-to-understand explanations in Maltese of technical terms that characterise the learning of business studies.

The book is organised in an alphabetical order and is structured on a dictionary format. It is very easy to use and its publication standard is very high in terms of both content and presentation.

Not easy to come up with practical explanations in the vernacular

This book can truly be a useful resource not only to students studying commerce at secondary or post-secondary level, but also to business practitioners, teachers, translators, journalists, bloggers and to all Maltese who have an interest in the world of commerce.

Wherever possible, the glossary includes graphical representations, charts and tables in Maltese that help the reader understand better the implications of the respective terms. Besides the author’s introductory note, the book contains a keynote forword by Leonard Mizzi, head of one of the units of the DG Agriculture and Rural Development in the European Commission.

In his address, Dr Mizzi expresses the hope that “this glossary should serve as the first step towards more specialised research in Maltese concerning the terminology associated with commerce and its related fields”.

Such a comment is an eye-opener that this glossary would need regular updating in the future, as neologisms are being rapidly coined in the international business arena to define new trends and phenomena.

This publication is another testimony of Ellul’s versatility as a proficient writer. He has already distinguished himself as a poet, translator of short stories and novels, essayist, literature editor and critic and an analytical indexer. His efforts to diffuse the Maltese language in all aspects of literature and research deserve our genuine appreciation.