Henry Frendo’s article contained valid arguments and good sense (January 8). The deterioration of standards in language studies in both Maltese and English is the result of bizarre methods of teaching and wrong linguistic theories, especially the impostion of certain orthographic rules which in terms of scientfic studies are outrightly incorrect.

Inconsistency when establishing guidlines, disregard of etymological and of scientific rules such as the ‘open transition’, sanctioning well-known mistakes in favour of a phonetic rendering, and creating other silly oddities, have all produced the present day strange Maltese orthograpy when compared with that of say eight years ago.

Today’s Maltese orthograpy has been rendered once again “an orthography of conveniece” as of old, when Maltese orthography served as the first step to learn writing correctly in Italian. Today’s “orthography of convenience” is not there to serve the normal majority of children but, maybe, to be somewhat easier for the few less intelligent ones.

With regard to English, I cannot understand how teachers have been advised to spell English words in Maltese during an English lesson. How on earth can a child in the first classes of the primary school then distinguish between the two languages if during both the English and Maltese lessons, English words are spelt in Maltese, giving the same word different and strange appearances in the child’s eyes?

I feel horrified when my eyes fall on some English words spelt in Maltese. Examples: skup, pajl app, kexx, poriġ, inkam taks, ħabbkapp, gest, paff pejstri (scoop, pile up, cash, porridge, income tax, hubcap, guest, puff pastry), and so on. All this junk smacks of strange lingo which is neither English nor Maltese. Why are we treating our tender new generations in this way?

Of course, English words can, out of necessity, seep slowly and naturally into the Maltese language as, just to quote a few examples: ċans, kowt, kejk, gowl, siment, but surely not in inundations and unnecessarily as is being suggested by our educators.