When the Maltese language was entrenched in the Constitution as one of the two official languages of Malta, many had thought that the much beleaguered stalwart of the Maltese identity had come of age. But is the Maltese language really respected as an official language should be in its country of origin?
The reality is that it is a language spoken by a very small population and this includes any diaspora that still holds on patriotically, if not very realistically, to the tongue of the mother country. Digging deeper into the reality, one finds that Maltese is not even really spoken by all of the people in Malta and Gozo. Also, English is the spoken language of choice of a number of schools on the island and, because of the influx of non-Maltese students, the language of learning in the tertiary sector.
To add insult to injury, the Maltese used by those who speak it is not always brilliant. A study on the linguistic landscape of Malta by Lydia Sciriha and Mario Vassallo as far back as 2001 found that language proficiency had deteriorated drastically.
The situation has reached such a stage that Labour MP Owen Bonnici felt he should write thus in The Times: 'I am sick and tired of seeing us ditching the Maltese language, even in the smallest, mundane things like filling a cheque in English with no provision of 'cheque templates' in Maltese or the government placing a sign near a public building or a monument exclusively in English when the two languages could have been used next to each other".
He was also frustrated by the fact that a shortage of translators meant it is not always possible to speak in Maltese at European Union official fora, even if the language was accepted as one of the official languages of the EU.
English being the other official language is not making matters any easier. Yet, even countries traditionally staunch in the use of national languages are opening themselves up to English, not least because it helps them shed an insularity that is anathema to economic and cultural globalisation.
What can be done to safeguard what is left of the Maltese language?
The Maltese Language Act of 2004 set up a National Council for the Maltese Language to promote the national language and provide the necessary tools for the actualisation of this aim. It outlines the indispensability of Maltese as a main element of our national identity and empowers the council to safeguard the integrity of the language. But, although the council is working quite effectively in gauging trends and making decisions on orthography, it is not a legislative authority, enforcing the preservation of the language by all means possible, particularly in its spoken incarnation.
Nor would this be necessarily effective as a tool to retain usage. Take France, for example, where, since 1975, the government passed a number of laws banning foreign words from advertising, the media, official documents and conferences and so on but has been powerless in preventing English words entering the spoken language.
The bottom line is that the actual retention of a living Maltese language needs to be maintained through good media usage and a healthy and accurate presence in all walks of life. In addition, educators and families must also accept that Maltese is an important mirror of the soul of a nation that might very well lose an essential part of itself if its language is lost or drastically changed.