Some fail to understand how the massive social changes in Maltese society have affected various aspects of our culture. From a homogenous society we have become more cosmopolitan as people from various countries now work and live here. The effects of this phenomenon have generally been positive but some fear the Maltese language is steadily losing its defining influence on our culture.
University of Malta rector Alfred Vella began his address to University students at the beginning of the new academic year in Maltese. He proudly explained he could not “celebrate the start of the year in a different language”. Prof. Vella stressed the importance of the Maltese language on our national identity and as a useful communication tool. His concern is that Maltese-speaking citizens are being treated differently and feeling as though they were in a foreign country.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Education launched a public consultation on alternative methods of teaching Maltese. The context of this development is that, today, more than 40,000 foreign workers are engaged in the local economy. Their children who attend local schools are unlikely to understand or speak Maltese. There are also thousands of Maltese for whom English and not Maltese is the primary language of communication.
Maltese remains one of the 24 official languages of the EU that firmly believes that multilingualism should be encouraged. But this is no guarantee that Maltese, like other minority languages, will survive the onslaught of technology on every aspect of our lives.
The objective behind the EU’s language policy is to foster linguistic diversity and encourage language learning for reasons of cultural identity and social integration. The use of the internet and social media rather than political motivation is the biggest threat to the survival of minority languages. Nowadays, users of IT applications use one of the major languages to communicate, research and interact in formal situations. They only use their native language to communicate at home and with friends and not necessarily, either.
It is people who make languages and not politicians and academics. If learning a language is perceived to be difficult, academics should make every effort to simplify that language. Insistence on orthodoxy in the teaching of languages can paradoxically be a sure way of speeding up the death of that language. Classical Greek and Latin may be good examples of how complex languages can slowly disappear as people find them too difficult to use.
The European Commission promotes the ambitious goal of enabling citizens to communicate in two languages other than their mother tongue. This ‘Barcelona objective’ was agreed in 2002. The best way to achieve this goal is to develop tools to ensure that school leavers have better language skills. This strategy will help young people improve their job prospects by moving around within the EU.
The biggest threat to the survival of Maltese is not so much political as it was in the past. Irreversible social and economic changes in the last several decades have combined with technological innovation and accelerated the mobility of people, goods and information. These changes have led to more cultural uniformity and, sadly, to the extinction of minority languages.
Only innovation in the teaching of Maltese by linguistic academics and ITC experts can mitigate the risks to our national language.
This is a Times of Malta print editorial