The Akkademja tal-Malti disagrees with Henry Frendo’s arguments published last Sunday.

When the Council for the Maltese Language was set up in 2005, orthography became its responsibility. The current council is made up of 11 members, and five of them are highly qualified linguists. This guarantees that decisions are made after the issues involved are carefully evaluated.

Frendo’s reaction is a demonstration of the fear many people experience in the face of language change. Many are afraid Maltese will die out. The members of the Council for Maltese are doing their utmost to counter such tendencies and allay irrational fears.

The Council for Maltese needs to make every effort to publicise each initiative it has taken, including nursery rhymes for Maltese primary schools (available online), the publication of the football register in Maltese (Ballun Pinġut, 2012) in association with the Għaqda Ġurnalisti Sports, bilingual wayfinding signage at the Oncology Centre (next to Mater Dei) and the establishment of hugely successful proofreading courses co-organised with the Department of Maltese at the University.

If the council’s work is advertised adequately, public support for the Council will not be very different from that displayed by the Akkademja tal-Malti towards the same council.

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