It was with great interest that I read Henry Frendo’s article about the preservation of the Maltese language (The Sunday Times of Malta, July 12).

As a bilingual writer, having lived in English-speaking countries, as well in my native land, Malta, I have great interest in our Maltese language. My cultural background has not only been inspirational but also instrumental in my literary career.

Over the years I have witnessed a sad descent of our language into a form of ‘pidgin’ language. This has been lamented upon over these last years in various newspapers.

As Frendo has rightly written, we are subjecting our language “to an uncalled for inter-generational rupture”. He is not alone in “feeling uncomfortable” in writing in Maltese.

As a writer, over these last years, I have gone to great lengths, both financially and otherwise, to have my literary works in Maltese proof read professionally, because of the changes our written language has been subjected to.

To begin with, we do not need to find so many alternatives to Maltese/English words that have been integrated into the Maltese language. One such example would be the word ‘pram’. Inventing words and adding them to our language would make the learning process of Maltese even more difficult.

The would-be laissez-faire attitude of good speakers of English is carelessly pidgining the language flippantly, using such expressions as “I will come and get you”, meaning “I will come and give you a lift”. It is pure laziness or indifference when expressions in both languages are translated literally.

This is also doing great harm to anyone, especially children, on the way to being taught English, in schools or otherwise.

One should treasure our knowledge of English as a second language. However, both languages should be used correctly.