There are some who say that our mother tongue lacks the practicality and elasticity needed in various domains such as agriculture, transport, climate change and even Information Technology. But Franco Farrugia, who recently obtained an MA in Interpreting from the University of Malta, has conducted research which proved, yet again, that Maltese language that can be easily used in the various fields and domains of knowledge.
Mr Farrugia wanted to understand how interpreters working to and from the Maltese language were coping and managing to work professionally without the availability of such resources. But rather than merely proposing lists of terms, his aim was to compile comparative terminology and specialised glossaries to provide Maltese interpreters, and especially student-interpreters, linguistic tools for the complex techniques of conference interpreting.
Furthermore, Mr Farrugia looked for original Maltese words and expressions of Semitic origin whose use was waning through lack of use or because people were preferring to use words borrowed from English, Italian or French, and thereby he has contributed to revitalising the language.
When Malta joined the European Union, Maltese acquired the status of an official EU language, and there was an urgent need for translators as well as interpreters to work for the various EU institutions. But whereas other languages had long prepared the groundwork, Maltese translators and interpreters had only few resources to resort to, such as standardised terminology and glossaries in various fields of knowledge.
The University's Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies has recently completed a Maltese Terminology Database, comprising 25,000 entries, which will soon be inserted on IATE, the Inter-Active Terminology for Europe, so Maltese interpreters and translators working for EU institutions will soon have even more words to choose from.
Mr Farrugia, 46, highly encourages people to continue their studies in areas that are relevant and of practical benefit to society. He said that in today's day and age, education and research should be ongoing, and university students should choose modern disciplines that complement the important strides forward that the country is making. Mr Farrugia's research was sponsored under the Malta Government Scholarship Scheme (MGSS).
This and forthcoming articles on MGSS-sponsored research is presented with the collaboration of the National Commission for Higher Education.