I read with interest the letter by V. Debono entitled “More comfortable in English” (TMID 4 September). Firstly I shall not go into the issue on whether Ivan Filletti was right or wrong in addressing the crowd in English as I have no idea as to the audience that Mr Filletti was facing since I believe that it makes a difference whether the audience was mainly Maltese, mainly foreigners or a healthy mixture of the two. I cannot however leave certain remarks written to be left unnoticed.

The writer remarks that there are thousands of Maltese who feel more comfortable expressing themselves in English. Up till that point, no sane person can contest that claim. The question is however is this an ideal state of affairs? I would challenge the writer to name five other countries where there are people who berate or belittle the native language in preference to another language. I would challenge him or her to take a trip to some other country and see if they have the same situation where natives seemingly refuse to express themselves in the native language.

It is indeed sad that as we near the celebration of our independence from the British Empire certain people still seem attached to the days when anything British had to override anything Maltese. Having said this, before the writer and his or her entourage of English speaking “Maltese” people berate me as some paranoid fanatic against English, I must say that I am one of those people mentioned by the writer who have a job in the summer months thanks to the fact that we are an English speaking nation. I have little doubt as to the great importance of the English language and of the utmost importance of fluency in the language with English fast becoming the widely recognised lingua franca of the world.

I am not one of those who believes that Maltese is particularly endangered, and I believe that claiming that it is so is in itself berating our language for it gives the impression that our language cannot live side by side with another. Being bilingual is exactly that, having two languages living side by side. Having said that, people like V. Debono are not promoting the bilingual situation but they are merely promoting the supremacy of English over Maltese, promoting the idea that the use of Maltese is limited and so it should remain.

Angelo Micallef

Marsaxlokk