Thursday, 31st July 2008
CATS AND PIGEONS
Not bad, ay? Two editions of this blog in the “most commented” list, I mean. I’m not exactly clear on whether I should, actually, be feeling good about this – does it mean that my opinions and expressions thereof are so irritating that you can’t stop yourself writing in to contradict me, or is that I am thought-provoking and so erudite to the extent that you want to bask in my reflected glory?
OK, I’ll stop it now.
But hey, two editions in the Top 10 – this is Beatles quality we’re talking about.
It’s exam result season, as anyone with kids or who has done exams themselves recently knows. Now is the time when that much awaited envelope drops through the door, or when the text message bleeps or the notice goes up on the notice-board or any other form of exquisite torture is perpetrated on the waiting victim. I’ve been through most of them, though in my day, mobile phones were the stuff of science fiction rather than the bane of our existence, so I didn’t get that one. I’ve walked up to notice boards, with the dread figures blurring (that’s when you know you have a re-sit) and I’ve waited, sweating like a horse, at the Reception Desk of the hotel where I was pretending to do summer work, while the kindly clerk at the other end thumbs through the list, to intone the marvellous phrase “Yes, your name is there – prosit”.
Since the son and heir to all my debts has progressed in life beyond the need to convince some nerdish examiner that he can remember, and put down in some intelligible format, the facts and figures that his hapless educators, fine body of men and women that they are, have tried to cram into his fertile but quirky mind (why else would he have become a photographer, the lucky sod?) I haven’t had direct experience of the fun of waiting for results for some time now. In fact, I’ve been a bit on the other side of the fence, since I’ve had to mark scripts for the unfortunate bunch that I’ve had the pleasure of teaching over the year – something I do every year, for what must be my many and grievous sins.
At this point, a discreet veil shall be drawn over the quality of English demonstrated by your average denizen of Tal-Qroqq, to say nothing of the thought processes adopted by a few of the people who have, self-evidently, been judged of sufficient academic prowess to join the student body.
I’ve therefore only been involved vicariously – and on one occasion virtually - in the thrill of getting results. The virtual event was when a Facebook friend was clearly on tenterhooks, wondering not whether she had passed or not but whether she had got a First or a 2/1. At the end of the day, to her disappointment, she got a 2/1, though from where I’m sitting, having been (and still being) a devoted adherent to the philosophy that just enough is more conducive to an enjoyable life than striving for glory, a 2/1 is pretty darn good and then some. So a hearty and public good on yer, you, a 2/1 is fine stuff, especially since you were working full time while suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous examiners.
From what I’ve been hearing, down the scale a bit, as usual the Maltese MATSEC has wrought havoc on the aspirations and immediate plans of a number of kids whose results in other subjects have been more than good enough. It is therefore time to introduce the feline into the coop, maybe I’ll get a hat-trick of blogs into the list on the right.
Precisely why do we need to have Maltese as a compulsory subject for entry into the University? Don’t get me wrong, we have to preserve our language, it’s one of the few identifiers that distinguishes us from other countries within the Union (not that this seems to be such a vital issue, say, in the environs of Belgium, Holland, Germany and France, not to mention Luxembourg, where French and German and Flemish and other glots in the polyglot armoury of the citizenry are bandied about with gay abandon) but is ramming what I remember as pretty turgid literature liberally admixed with arcane grammar down the throats of rebellious young students the way to do it?
On the one hand, I have little patience for the chattering classes who, in breaks between their tennis sessions and before they head off to sip coffee and gossip with their little fingers crooked daintily, mouth off about “ma, how unfair it is” and variations on this same repetitive them, but on the other hand, remembering the ennui with which I faced having to decipher the dark thought processes of the people who passed for poets in the national lexicon, I have to feel sympathy for the poor buggers who have to go through this.
In a bi-lingual (though sadly rapidly becoming mono-lingual) country such as ours, is it not time to give consideration to keeping a formal qualification in Maltese only a sine qua non for areas of further study that demand it? If Maltese can’t survive except by imposition at the point of a bayonet, which is what it must feel like to the hordes who are driven to it, kicking and screaming, should it, to put it brutally, survive at all?
Perversely, since joining the Union, I’ve been more eager to use Maltese (I have done for years, in my real life) but I recognise that, frankly, you can get by without being fundamentalist about it. On a purely utilitarian level, proficiency in English is way more useful than being fluent in Maltese, for all that it is cringe-making to hear the chattering classes murdering both languages in their efforts to communicate what passes for ideas in their muddled minds.
So there you have it: is it time for this discrimination between people who are good at everything except Maltese to be eradicated once and for all? I think so, but I’m not sure that the solution lies necessarily in removing it from the list of entry requirements.
How about, instead, imposing a quality standard on the people who teach it, making their keeping their jobs dependent on their students getting a decent result in a testing system that measures proficiency in a living language and engenders a love for it, rather than an exam that is perceived with such dread that the subject of it, our own language, is loathed rather than cherished?
How about, then, shrugging off the inferiority complex that drives the people who insist that Maltese as it is taught now has to be compulsory? It’s only people who are not confident enough to break the mould and explore new dynamics who cling to the old ways – in this case, ways that were old when I was young, and that’s way too long ago.
There it is, sitting there purring and licking its paws, while the pigeons flock about – haven’t had time to proof read this, as my driver is drumming his fingers outside, so have fun with that aspect too.
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Comments
Blogs were invented so that people can share their ideas not to fight.
Let me rephrase it just in case:
Andrew, be honest, don't you feel silly for bringing up the OF and IN issue of Franco Farrugia?
Please take the correct one above and ignore the other one. Thanks.
Pettiness and a tinge of snobbery in criticising Franco Farrugia's misuse of prepositions?An Englishmen might misplace them, at times, so what's the big deal? Anyone spots any wit in that?
I never said that proficiency in the Maltese language includes proficiency in Literature - actually, I have been stating the contrary all along, that we should follow the example of the English exam and have one exam for Language and another exam for Literature. But even here, you conveniently chose to misunderstand me.
PS God, I pray that I have not committed any serious errors of English language prepositions - this ABC is sooooooooo perfect in everything that he does!
We may need to perhaps go beyond practical issues, such as selling instruction or books.
Self-importance is our greatest enemy.
It may make one feel good being 'offended' by deeds and misdeeds of others, which deeds fall within the limited area of competence of the offended.
Our self-importance requires that we spend most of our lives offended by someone..... (e.g. by people who are not able to relate to irrelevant aspects of the Maltese language …(or by elves who ... upps could nor resist it...appologies for the wonderful end-spam:)
The world is a global village and as such we must recognise the fact that, like it or not, we must adapt, lest we become slaves of our nationalism. Having said that, I am all for preserving our language, but let us not ridicule ourselves with extreme rigidness in the name of patriotism. Like Aldo Portelli just said, moving the goalpost has become the norm.
With the same token dished out by the same Mr Farrugia that life is 'one big hell of a discrimination exercise', we should all give up and not discuss anything at all. Education sector, did I hear the guy say?
My comments were not to give anyone my history, but rather to emphasize the importance of READING at an early age and not, as young children do these days, spend hours on end watching television.
A language is taught in school but learned at home by reading. Why? To spell it out, reading involves: recognition of words, familiarization of spelling, memorizing familiar phrases, expanding one's vocabulary and learning the correct syntax.
Students preparing for university know the prerequisites and the Maltese language is one of them. Not being sufficiently prepared is no excuse and no one can cry foul if not admitted for not meeting the requisites.
Why, may I ask, are there some who are more proficient in English and possibly a third and fourth language, but not in Maltese? Do they have a mental block for the Maltese language or are they regarding it as an unimportant mother tongue?
Why should the rules be changed for the sake of a minority who look down on the Maltese language?
No, I am not in the Education sector so what's your point?
Being in 'the sector' does not exempt you from still missing the point - evidently!
@ Jo Said: In such cases, every single student is, in a way, 'discriminated against'. I think you should know by now that life is one big hell of a discrimination exercise. It shouldn't be, of course. But reality is reality.
I have met science wizards in my school, thank you - they did excellently in Maltese! They are generally all-rounders.
So, is it fair for a student who excels in most subjects, yet fails Mathematics, and for that, he cannot go to Sixth Form, etc ...? I don't think so, is it.
So, let's not have any compulsory subjects at all. Why not? Let's do it a better way ... let's not have ANYTHING compulsory, in life!
@ R Agius: I STRONGLY OBJECT TO YOUR ATTACKING AND TRYING TO HUMILIATE A YOUNG PERSON (MARK FRENDO) TAKING PART IN THIS DISCUSSION, WITH YOUR UNCALLED FOR COMMENT IN HIS REGARD!!!! I SUPPOSE IT SHOWS YOU ARE NOT IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR!
No, in my opinion, a Maltese citizen who does not have a command in the Maltese language (as well as in the English language) has no place at our University.
We can tell why the Maltese paper is easier for you.
As for the rest - I haven't heard a single argument as to why we should deny Maltese citizens, without a good command of the Maltese language, a tertiary education. Who benefits from limiting intellectually capable, albeit Maltese deficient, students from completing their tertiary studies locally?
I guess in your book its fine to discriminate against a few people as long as it is not too many huh? Anyone else shaking their head?
What the debate should be about is whether proficiency in Maltese THE WAY IT IS TAUGHT AND EXAMINED should be a stumbling block to entering a higher education system that is, materially, taught, researched and conducted in English. To my mind, the facts demonstrate that it should not.
The debate should also be about WHY Maltese is taught and examined in the current manner. Are there vested interests in place that resulty in the retention of a system that, to be euphemistic, can be improved?
Back to you all....
@ J. Martinelli - thanks for the history.
After the comics came the 'Classics' - Treasure Island, A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist and so on. More pictures but longer, much longer captions and more complex words - all in English again.
After kinder age, I started to get exposed to the Maltese language, basic literature and grammar. By age 6, I could read and write Maltese with some spelling difficulty which in subsequent years was remedied.
Which brings me to the very late fourties and early fifties when the introduction of television had yet to arrive. So, up to that point, our main interest, when not kicking a ball (or empty tin can) outside, was READING in both languages.
And that's the key!
By the way, the Maltese language is being spoken, and written within a very, very wide variety of contexts, ever since Malt. became an official language of the EU. There are specialised translators and interpreters in the EU institutions who see to this. There is also a wider variety of terminology being built than ever before.
I really think that some of us are willingly downgrading their own mother-tongue ... simply because we have such an inferiority complex ... going back to pre-colonial times.
PS When Maltese became an official language of the EU, the Irish wanted to have theirs as well. In Spain, then, the Catalanians wanted to have their language similarly recognised but they did not succeed, owing to the fact that their language was not a nation's native language, for all that they claimed that their language was spoken by millions of people, compared to the Maltese language. Should this not make us be a bit more positive towards Maltese?
My reference to business communications is in response to your statement
"imagine a student doing a management course without being able to write a letter or email in Maltese. We are talking about university not secondary school!" - Frankly, I can imagine, and know many successful managers/businessmen, who cannot write a business communication in Maltese to save their lives. I cannot make sweeping statements because some businesses will require a good cammand of Maltese, however, in the vast majority of businesses, where written communication is a requisite I would likely prefer someone with fine English skills over someone with fine Maltese skills and a poor command of English.- as I said it depends on the industry.
@Franco Farrugia
You are too myopic. You still cannot see past your emotion and the fact that the rules are more onerous on Maltese students than they are for foreign students and that is discrimination irrespective of any cultural desire to promote Maltese - that is a separate subject and the two subjects should not be confused.
@ Franco Farrugia - you miss the point R Agius is making. Try shifting, at least slightly, from your rigid stand. You may see clearly, that way.
Yes the Matsec examination may need an overhaul but why opt to reward those who refuse to engage one of the official languages. Why get the concession from the Eu at all if no clear Language policy is in evidence at home? Are we that puerile? Somewhere along the line the reasoning on language policy has become illogical.
My last comment is not about the business arena and which is the predominant language used when carrying out business related things. I was talking about the need to reform and change the method by which Maltese is taught in our schools. If we address this problem i think the issue concerning our language would be over. ( in my opinion i think the ability to talk good Maltese and posses good communication skills is of utmost importance but obviously this is my opinion)
I have been among students at SEC level for a great number of years. In my opinion, I have never met all that many students who gave me the feeling that this subject’s material was being pushed down their throats.
Pedagogically speaking, you may wish to note that this material was put in one book (Il-Qawsalla) and all material is taken from it.
Not only that, but the syllabus covers a three-year span, starting from Form 3 and ending in Form 5. I am no teacher of Maltese, but I can say that such a span would certainly make it quite easy even for the more difficult learners, to pass their SEC and hence enter Uni.
But once again, there should be an exam which would only consist of Maltese Language, with no Literature in it.
Seriously.
There is no way you can compare Maltese students with their peers in the UK. There, students' native language is the all-important English!!!! On the other hand, Maltese students need to be well-versed in both Maltese, being their native language, as well as English, which is considered to be Maltese students' lifeline with all that happens and with all that is, abroad. So, no discrimination at all. Or, if there is, it is a natural discrimination.
That Maltese is the language of the people (and contrary to what you claim, it has NOT been around for centuries!!! Or else, you have to qualify what you mean by 'has been around'!) is not enough. The Maltese language has to be respected by being used well, adequately and professionally. And this can only be certified through an examination, like all other disciplines.
What percentage of business related text books, newspapers, journals, communications, advertisements, contracts, manuals, emails, procedures, forms, courses, seminars etc are written or delivered in the Maltese language?
You miss my point completely! You totally ignore the simple fact that an English student needs one language pass to get into Malta's University whilst a Maltese citizen needs two language passes.Discrimination pure and simple!
I would love to know where you dream up a hidden agendas to destroy the Maltese langauage. Maltese is the language of the people, the most common form of verbal communicaiton in the country. It has been around for centuries and is likely to be around well beyond my lifetime. So I ask you two simple questions:
1. what possible motive can anyone have to obliterate the most commonly used verbal communication language on the island; and
2. do you honestly believe that by ramming Maltese down the throats of our students we are in some way promoting our dear language?
Perhaps a little more sensibility and a little less emotion might go some way to understanding the point I was trying to make.
A WORD spellchecker in Maltese issued sometime within our lifetimes would be a great help.
I would be far more confident writing in Maltese if I could double check my spelling and I'm sure many others would too.
One could probably get EU funding for such a project!
Perhaps, is this the hidden agenda of many who want to downgrade our national language, our mother-tongue?
I repeat what I said before: the main problem, as I see it, is the fact that there is Literature within the one and only Maltese SEC exam that we have, and this, in my view, proves to be a slight problem for some students - ehem, if we want to continue this trend of destroying every hint of humanities in some of the students (no Maltese literature, no English literature, no literature at all ... is that what is right for our students???) and turn them into robots. We should strive to improve the setup of the Maltese SEC.
Luke, I am in agreement with your point of view.
My argument is that the Maltese Language exam is possibly an obnoxious exercise to demonstrate limits of students in archaic aspects of the language.
It is possibly becoming a form of ‘numerus clausus’, attracting hate emotions rather than love emotions.
Our language should not be perceived as a barrier but as a vehicle that links us to wonderful things. Therefore, the Maltese Language exam must transform from a nit- picking exercise to an exercise of pride in the practicalities of our language.
Does any one know if an english youth could get into Uni if he didn`t have english language 0-level an Italian without Italian etc etc
The point I was making is that Maltese students need two 'home base' language passes to get into our university but students from other EU countries need one 'home base' pass to get into our university.
Re the point made by P Fenech - it is a fact that to further your studies you do NOT need to know Maltese. It may be a shame that students do not speak their mother language properly but they should be penalised from futhering their studies as a result. There are very few Maltese texts used at University and most lectures are conducted in English. The point is that university is about education and denying a tertiary education to those that cannot use their Maltese adequately but can often speak perfect English helps absolutely nobody. It will NOT promote the language, will not help the economy and will not help the individuals who will often simply leave for a land where that is more concerned about intellecutal capability than love of a national language.
Do make up your minds. I guess the newly launched Maltese studies at UOM will help clarify the issue of ambivalent identity. I find it very interesting however, that we keep trying to divorce language from identity
There really is nothing new in this argument it’s been raging for over a century.
RE
‘Don’t get me wrong, we have to preserve our language, it’s one of the few identifiers that distinguishes us from other countries’
Ara silly me,and I thought it was bigilla and ħobż biż-żejt that distinguished us from other countries!
The use of the term ‘preserve’ conjures up formaldehyde solutions and dead specimens. I doubt very much you can apply this to the linguistic reality of spoken Maltese.
to_the_subject...
I often travel on busiess and people just don't stop asking about our Maltese language. They seem to have more interest in it than we do!
Perhaps we should indeed revise the way how and why we teach it - to make it more interesting, if anything.
I cannot stand poor use of our language (or any other language at that), and feel that there is need to further such studies. My friends that went to live and work abroad had to learn native their languages - and not just English - but German, French, Italian, etc. Just because we're small, does not mean we must foresake our mother tongue.
Do we want it out of our curriculum because so many smart guys that we are subsidising their education want to go and work abroad, perhaps, knowing that they'd have to learn another language?
Unfortunately theres no scientific proof of the benefit of keeping your language alive - but it doesnt mean there are no arguments for it.
I will anytime sign a petition headed: Saving Our Language, endorsing your above point.
I would still keep the lingo compulsory, though. Should the Maltese language slip away we will possibly end up like Cyprus...English Maltese, Italian Maltese and Gabilotti.
Any Maltese Language exams should seek to exalt and not demoralise. The persons responsible for this travesty should wake to the damage that is being inflicted on our Language.
We are a small country. A small people. The way I see things, the only thing that perhaps binds us together, something which is above politics and something which is beyond anything else which is finite - not even our faith! - is our Maltese language. It is the duty of each and everyone of us to nurture this element that binds us together. It is what makes us Maltese. And we nurture it by encouraging its use, and ensuring its correct usage in every context possible.
So, I appeal to all those who believe themselves to be cultured people to feel responsible for nurturing this treasure that we have: in every word uttered and written, in every question put in public, in every gesture and comment passed in front of our youngsters- in short, let us be of a good example to all.
The Maltese language deserves this - and much more, simply because it is fragile.
Good sweet joke.
Regards
Once again, this is my opinion: the way our educational system is set up, in Malta, there is no excuse why any student should not learn his/her Maltese language well enough to pass an ordinary level (post-Form5) exam in Maltese. Only those students who come from backgrounds where Maltese is simply not encouraged, will find things difficult.
Can we find consensus on this?
The real problem, in my view, lies in the fact that, contrary to the Exam setup of English - where you have an exam in English Language and a seperate exam in English Literature - the SEC Maltese syllabus for the one and only exam contains both Language and Literature. If, instead of having just one, there had to be two, exams in Maltese - Lingwa Maltija and Letteratura Maltija - with only the first being compulsory for uni entry, then, I would think that the little difficulty the present setup is causing, wout be obliterated altogether.
A Maltese citizen needs qualifications in English and Maltese to enter University. Does a Belgian student require qualifications in French, Flemish and German to enter Malta's University? Does an Irish student require qualifications in Irish and English? Does an English student require any more than a qualification in the English language?
Very clearly DISCRIMINATORY against our very own citizens!!!
I was unable to pursue University studies not because of my grades and my intelligence but because I could not get through my Maltese Matsec.
The reaction from those that promote Maltese are always the same - "we should be proud of our language"; "those are the rules - they are the same for everyone"; "it is your fault..." etc. The question, however, is really quite simple. Given that most University degrees have English lectures and text books (eg in my chosen profession of Computers). Why am I excluded from furthering my studies because of my limited knowledge of a language I do not need to further my studies?
To celebrate(?!) here's a joke I just borrowed from Readers' Digest. I hope you (and your readers) like it. If not, no hard feelings!
Bert, an avid 83 year old golfer, is complaining with his wife: "I still have an excellent swing, feel fit as a 30 year old, but my eyesight's going. I can hit the ball, but can't see wher it's gone. Imagine how irritating it is!"
His wife, as always ready to give a hand, comes up with the suggestion to take his older brother, Fred, with him.
"But he's 95!!" Bert protests.
"He may be 95, but his eyesight's like that of a hawk", his wife defends herself.
Bert thinks about it. "True...", he mumbles to himself, and the next day, he and Fred are off to the golf course.
Bert lines up the tee, and gets ready. "You ready Fred?", he asks his brother. "Yep!" comes the reply
With an almighty swing, Bert hits the ball like never before and it's gone.
"Did you see where it went?", Bert anxiously asks
"Yep"
"Right - where is it"
After a short pause: "Can't remember!"
Dr ABC asks about why Maltese should be compulsory for entry into Uni. Well, as I see it, it is the University of Malta we are speaking about, and it is Maltese students that we are speaking about. Maltese is their mother-tongue, hence it follows that they should have an adequate command of that language.
Let us call a spade a spade - if your average student is good at one language, he is good in the other (I am referring to Maltese and English). It is a question of whether he (or she) is able to communicate well, or not.
Around twenty years ago, I was initially turned down from entering an Irish University on the basis that I had no certificate of proficiency in Gaelic - the Irish language. After having pointed out that I was a non-Irish student, I was accepted, ON THE BASIS OF MY CERTIFICATE OF PROFICIENCY IN THE MALTESE LANGUAGE - my mother-tongue. It compensated, you see.
Whether the present Maltese SEC is the correct one, that is another story.