Roderick Bovingdon, my classmate at University, writes (‘Tackling the Maltese language crisis’, The Sunday Times of Malta, August 23 “Of course, I must not omit Olvin Vella for attaining a first class for his thesis Il-Pjanifikazzjoni tal-Malti. It is a must-read for all believers in language planning. What an abhorrence we have created in the council”.

In an e-mail Bovingdon sent me last year in the belief that I was a member of the Council for Maltese, he praised the proofreading courses which the council organises jointly with the Department of Maltese at the University. These courses were started 10 years ago and 309 people have so far graduated, while another 74 are doing the course this year. This is what Bovigdon wrote: “Congratulations Olvin for the useful work you are carrying out in translation.”

Now I ask myself, which Bovingdon am I to believe? The one who writes to me personally to praise the council’s work or the one who writes lengthy letters to the press to express his contempt for it and call it “an abhorrence”?

The question arises, what is behind this mess? How can one in his right senses change his opinion so radically in the space of a year, if not because he has some hidden ulterior motive?

This is not the first time that Bovingdon, who passes himself off as a champion of Maltese, has savagely criticised people involved with the Maltese language. I have in mind for instance the campaign against Joseph Borg, the current secretary of the Akkademja tal-Malti, who worked so hard to have the monument to Dun Karm erected in Floriana, as well as the one against Sergio Grech, well known for his contributions on radio having to do with literature.