In the world of fiction, there is only one Maltese author of modern times who I have come across by chance in international literary journals and periodicals, to have his works analysed and commented on even years after his sad demise – Francis Ebejer. Though most people in Malta associate him with his ground-breaking 1960s plays in Maltese, his short stories and novels in English are still, from time to time, the unlikely source of much academic criticism in London’s Caribbean underground and mainstream literary scenes as well as the Commonwealth.
After all, Ebejer was and still is the quintessential bilingual writer, typical of a generation of Maltese who were brought up in a British culture that was quickly and expediently replacing the old one, geographically susceptible to Italian influence. But whether it was Italian or English, our inbred bilingualism has always been the result of historical and pragmatic convenience, and it has served the population in good stead under whichever foreign power they had to earn a daily livelihood.
But if bilingualism is a reality it has to be treated as such. Over the last three decades, we have been living a linguistic nightmare that has seen both Maltese and English go through a rapid process of decline. Due mainly to misguided social one-upmanship – often shrouded in a sentiment of false snobbery – a situation has developed where a sorry chunk of our student population is unable to express itself properly in either of the two languages. A look at both our English language and Maltese language newspapers, as well as a few hours of listening to local radio is enough to confirm this state of utter linguistic inadequacy.
I would put it all down to indecision over the bilingual character of the nation. We simply have failed to provide a proper legal basis for it. Instead of making sure that both languages in use – the national language by outright entitlement and the practical one, at this moment in time, English – were protected and promoted as two very important, albeit distinctive, means of communication, previous generations chose to simply declare them “official”, leaving the rest of us with the choice of using one or the other. It is why we are in the mess we are today.
Other bilingual nations did not flinch from coming to a firm and appropriate decision in the form of a legal framework that ensures equal and fair use of both languages. It is not just government and official documents and decrees that have to be in the two languages, but everything, from street names to disc jockey job applications.
There is nothing more tasteless than, for example, a Maltese language newspaper with most of its adverts in English. Even our English language newspapers have of late carried a small number of adverts in Maltese. And our broadcasting scene is a linguistic hotchpotch that is not only shameful, but highly embarrassing. Are we really a nation that speaks two languages, or a nation that cannot come to terms with either?
As for children, I have always insisted on my belief that the predominance, from an early age, of the national language is a prerequisite for linguistic prowess. It is a theory previously propagated by most of our more learned and respected linguists, among them the late Prof. Guzè Aquilina, himself an accomplished writer in both Maltese and English. Giving children a proper, native language base is a sure way of putting them on the right track to learn and appreciate other languages, particularly the lingua franca of the day, which in today’s electronic world is English. Children who are denied this natural process are often the least likely to cope and they qualify as obvious candidates to become linguistic zombies that we have scurrying around our journalistic and broadcasting fields as well as other sectors.
Of course, Maltese being the more vulnerable language of the two needs the most protection and the newly set up National Council would do well to take the bull by the horns and tackle this issue in a fast and practical manner. There is no time left for academic hanky-panky. Theirs has to be a hands-on approach, which will guide the Council, made up mostly of well-meaning and highly qualified individuals, to come up with instant propositions that would enhance, if need be via parliamentary channels, the use of and respect for the national language.
Driving through the countryside recently, I was horrified to see a continuous display of traffic signs in English only. One after the other, they all delivered the same message: “Caution: unhindered exit … metres ahead”. I could not, for the life of me, imagine how someone, whether knowing English or not, could really understand what the signs really mean to warn drivers about. Let alone the poor, not so rare individual who only speaks Maltese.
As chance would have it, that same morning in my car, I had just been listening to an irate radio listener complaining about a circular he had received from a public entity only in English. It wasn’t just national pride that pushed him to make this vociferous protest, but the understandable fact that he had had to seek assistance from someone else. A Maltese not given the choice of reading his personal mail in his own language.
It is perhaps about time we stopped giving people the choice. Anything that has to do with the public has to be, that is legally, presented in the two languages. If this is unwisely considered expensive, then the national language has to prevail. It is after all national only because a lot more people have made and continue to make good use of it.
Thank goodness, the Maltese language has far more lives than a cat. People have been murdering it for years, but it’s far from being dead. Mind you, many of us believe that our laws should be rewritten in simple language so that everybody can understand them. If this were done, a great number of lawyers would have to go to work for a living…..
Though bilingualism has helped us survive both economically and culturally through the centuries, we still have not mustered the will to squeeze out the negative element that permeates our linguistic environment. A pride in one’s own need not diminish the infinite necessity of the other. Not one at the expense of the other, but a real and effective coexistence in the hearts and minds of each and every Maltese person.