It is often that we hear people speaking half English and half Maltese, mixing the two languages even in mid-sentences or putting in a word from the latter language while predominantly using the former.

Few people manage to string together complete sentences in one language or the other. Those that do, often mix up the grammar, which means that they are influenced by the other language anyway. It is hard to go back to the origins, and therefore this situation is bound to stay. The problem is that today’s students are not leaving school with a good background in either language, as their work is corrected by teachers whose basic Maltese and English is just as bad.

I am not referring to teachers of the two languages – but teachers of other languages who communicate with their students in either language, and have to correct their work in one of the two languages. I think that teachers of science, history and other subjects should have a solid base in English and/or Maltese, and they must correct spelling and grammatical errors just as much as they correct wrong dates and other things specifically related to their subject.

Students tend to think that anything that is not corrected is not wrong, and therefore think that it is right.

Sandra Farrugia

Rabat